Winter storm

Two days late with my weekly post. Terry and I went to the Natural Landscapes Seminar at MCC all day Saturday, which pushed my grocery shopping to Sunday, and lunch preparation for the week to Sunday night. So it goes. Monday evening, I was grading exams (rather horrible exams, which is always the case for photosynthesis and respiration) like a maniac. Winter storm Rocky today delivered a visit from the Goddess of Unexpected Free Time. The college closed at 2:30, so I was spared a meeting that would have lasted until 4:00.
By 2:50, most of the cars from the parking lot were parked instead on the entrance road waiting to get onto Highway 14. I went back to my office and graded more horrible exams until 3:30, at which time I was able to drive right out. It took more than twice as long to get home because I kept getting behind people going 15 fricking miles an hour. The conditions were certainly safe at 35 to 40, at least in my car. Oh well.

The weather continues to be wonky. Last Tuesday I drove home in a downpour. The next morning I drove to work in a blizzard. Today is only the second time all winter that we’ve had snow that was not preceded by rain/ice. It’s been messy and slippery.

Because I had such a busy week and had to get up at 5:30 every day including Saturday, I turned off the alarm Saturday night in order to sleep late Sunday morning. I slept all the way to 5:42. I’m so wild! It was my turn to do the chicken chores. The girls love to peck snow off of our boots. I intentionally walked through snow on my way to the coop just for them.

Ingrid (left) and Julia (right) start pecking at the snow on the top of my boot (bottom right)

Bridget (lower left), Giada (lower right), and Clarissa (top) want in on the snow action

It was a calm morning. The prayer flags hung straight down for the first time, I think, since we put them up.

Prayer flags on a calm morning

Even though it was 0°F Sunday morning, the hens ran right out into the yard to enjoy the morning sun. Everyone seems very happy. Egg production is up in anticipation of spring.

Stretching our legs in the morning sunshine

Cold but sunny

Much of the snow melted during a couple of warm days last week. A cold front moved in; it was four degrees below zero at 6:00 this morning. When I went out to do the chores, there was a hen in every nest box. Sarah was the only one there to lay an egg. The others, I assume, were in the boxes because it is the wall next to the heater.

Clarissa (left) and Sarah in the next boxes. Bridget is in the box at the far right (corner shown), but there wasn't enough space in the coop for me to get back far enough to include her.

The prayer flags survived a Big Wind on Monday and Tuesday. They raveled considerably, but that is how they always look when I see them on the Travel Channel. Maybe the raveling helps release the prayers. Each flag has printing on it. I wish I knew what they say.

Close up of the prayer flags showing the inscriptions

Tattered prayer flags blessing the chickens

It isn’t very windy today. Hilda opened up the coop at 11:00, and the girls came right out to enjoy the sunshine. I’ve probably said this before but IBR (it bears repeating). The chickens don’t seem to mind the cold, but they can’t stand being out in a heavy wind. Everyone seems to be healthy and eating well. All evidence indicates that whatever done Ellie in, it didn’t spread to the others. It’s a relief. When I was cleaning the coop this morning, Giada pecked at my hand just like Ellie used to. Perhaps she will step up to take Ellie’s place in our affections.

Enjoying the sunny but cold afternoon

Tibetan New Year

We had a truly beautiful snow Thursday afternoon. It didn't seem that way at the time. The college closed at 4:00 because of poor road conditions. I had come home early to make some video clips of lectures on carbohydrates and lipids (snore). When Hilda got back from the doctor, we set out in the heavy snow to get chicken food. Don’t ask why.  Hilda thought we were almost out, but we probably could have waited a day. It wasn’t too bad. Our only mishap was that I saw the driveway too late and skidded past it when I put on the brakes. I pulled over to let the person behind me around and backed up. I reminded Hilda of our vow from last summer to never, ever complain about precipitation ever again. We are glad for the moisture.

Friday and Saturday, I nearly drove off the road many times, but only because the snow on the trees was so breathtaking. I took a picture of the Piscasaw Creek where it passes through the north section of Beck’s Woods conservation area.

Snow stuck to the trees and shrubs yesterday (Beck's Woods)

Sunday was the long-awaited Tibetan New Year. My long-time friend Amy sent me prayer flags that she picked up in Nepal when she was there on a Fulbright sabbatical last fall. I was thrilled when I got the package. I had thought many times that prayer flags would be the perfect thing to deter hawks. They are colorful and mystical as well as a visible barrier to landing and taking off. But I didn’t ask Amy to get me flags. Her blog suggested that she had plenty to deal with—rolling power outages, no hot water, lung irritation from the pollution, etc., etc.—without me sending her on errands. As if she had psychic powers, she got me two rolls of prayer flags without being asked!

When the package first arrived, Jane did some research and discovered that the prayer flags should be put up on a sunny, windy morning for best good luck. The prayer flags are replaced during the Tibetan New Year, which began this year on February 10. Since that was only a few weeks away, I decided to wait. Just of clarification, I’m not superstitious, but I am well aware that attitude is everything. If I believe putting the flags up at the New Year will bring good luck, it will.

The weather did not completely cooperate today. Sunny was out of the question. I had morning, windy, and New Years, and figured 75% wasn’t bad. I ventured out in the blowing rain in temperatures just above freezing to replace the CAUTION tape with the prayer flags.

Here is what the chicken run looked like with the old CAUTION tape we’d put up for hawk prevention before:

Before: Yellow CAUTION tape used to discourage hawks. Bridget is sitting on the windbreak to the right. The prayer flags are in a pile on the snow.

When I first unrolled the prayer flags in the house, it seemed about a mile long. Once in the chicken run, however, they didn’t go nearly as far as I thought they might. Here I am tying the two strings of flags together.

Tying the two rolls of flags together

And around the fence post:

Threading the prayer flags around the fence post

And tied off:

Tying the end of the flags to a support post and taking down the CAUTION tape

Here’s the view of the chicken run after the prayer flags were installed.

AFTER: The run with the prayer flags installed. The girls are huddled behind the windbreak.

To celebrate the day, we invited a few friends over for Thanksgiving Observed. For the last several years, we have not been home at Thanksgiving. I buy a turkey when they are on sale anyway and cook the traditional Thanksgiving feast in the dull days of February. It was less work this year because Hilda and Dad pitched in to do the gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn casserole. I did the turkey, dressing, cranberries, and pumpkin pies.

Joined by Pat, Nancy, Chuck, Kathy, and Jane, we talked, laughed, and ate too much, just like regular Thanksgiving. An hour after the guests left, the dishes are done; the leftovers are in the refrigerator; the bones are simmering in the slow cooker for stock, and I am looking forward to a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

Wonky weather

What a week it has been! It was 63 degrees in Chicago on Tuesday. The heat wave corresponded nicely to my lecture on the carbon cycle and climate destabilization (a better term than global warming). In the last 10 years, record highs have outnumbered record lows 2 to 1. A lot of the time we don’t notice. On Tuesday, we weren’t saying to each other, “Whew! What a scorcher!” No, it just seemed like a nice day. But it was a record high nevertheless. It isn’t supposed to be in the 60’s in northern Illinois in January. It didn’t last long. Temps were below 0 two days later. Wonky. It’s still cold. We left the girls in the coop on Friday and Saturday. We had to let them out today to air the coop more than anything. They came out long enough to eat some carrot peelings I saved for them. They were back on the roost by 4:00 even though there was still quite a bit of daylight left.

We have put a heater in the human side of the coop for these cold days. We didn’t want to put it directly with the chickens because 1) there was no room, 2) the extreme dust is a fire hazard even though the heater is supposed to be very safe, and 3) we didn’t want it to get pooped on. It keeps the coop in the low 30’s, which seems warm when it’s 5 below zero outside. I probably like it more than the hens because my fingertips don’t freeze while I’m doing the chores. I had a mild case of frostbite in my foolish youth. It turns out that once that happens, your fingers and toes go white and numb quite easily after that, and the thawing out process is remarkably painful. Funny how you never know at the time how the stupid things you do will seal your fate the rest of your life.

The heater in the storage room

But I digress. The morning after Hilda fired up the heater, she came into the coop to find 6 of the chickens crammed into the three nesting boxes, which are along the wall next to the heater. I have not personally witnessed this. I would have taken a picture. Even with the heat and supplementary light, egg production is down. Some days we only get two eggs. A good day has 5 or 6. It takes energy to stay warm. Nothing left for egg-making.

Another big improvement in the coop is a heated water bowl to replace the other waterer that was such a pain to fill. The water bowl is easy peasy—dump, wipe out, position in coop, fill, done!

Bridget and Sara line up for a drink of fresh water.

In an odd way, it is a relief that Ellie died. We have always known that we would lose chickens along the way. Ellie broke the seal. I’m no longer holding my breath for when the time will come. It has come. We are dealing with it. It’s sad, but we carry on. The first cut is the deepest….