Over the Fence Chat - wk of 3-22

[diane]

Happy first spring Monday to all. Our first day of spring brought sleet/snow/rain, but that is pretty typical of Michigan. So, you folks having real spring..........what you all doing this week? Make me jealous :haha:

[marvella]

ok, i can do that.:-)

i have the next two days off from work, so i intend to clean out the barn and other animal shelters, and build a new compost bin and pile. one thing i love about living here is, by golly, when the calendar says spring, here it comes! just like it says! it's supposed to be high 60's/ low 70's, and not a drop of rain in sight. until later in the week anyway. i got them all wormed yesterday, which is an accomplishmenet in itself.

i love spring.:-) it's so darn hopeful!

[mommymushbrain]

Don't be too jealous... we have a "moderate risk" for severe weather, including isolated tornadoes!

Then there is my creek that floods so badly.

Ah well, I have my corn, tomatoes, and flowers planted... the rain will do them good.

If you can't find me, I'll be in my 'fraidy hole, hiding from the storms. :haha:

[Kazahleenah]

Originally Posted by diane

Happy first spring Monday to all. Our first day of spring brought sleet/snow/rain, but that is pretty typical of Michigan. So, you folks having real spring..........what you all doing this week? Make me jealous :haha:

Wish I could make you jealous Diane, but I live north of where you probably are, and our first day of easter was freezin drizzle, then a lil sleet followed by a couple inches of "the white stuff". I look at the flats of plants I'm growing and it feels they'll never be in the ground. lol. It'll warm up... always does... (for that 5 days we have summer)
Kaza

[NativeRose]

Happy Spring everyone!

It is cloudy here today. It is 60ish and drizzley. We got 2 inches of rain Saturday night and everything is soggy again.

Hubby and I nearly killed ourselves Saturday. We didn't do anything yesterday as we were so sore from everything we did Saturday. I will be doing inside chores until the ground dries out and I can get back to the garden.

Praying for a moderate, not so wet, spring.

Rosemary

[Topaz Farm]

Finally!!!! we got the rest of the meat chickens butchered. I hate to do that kind of stuff on Sunday, but didn’t have much of a choice.

The GS cleaned out the chicken house and pen while we butchered the 9 birds. All I can say, is that I have a freezer full of roasting chickens. Then we helped the GS finish up his chore. Got all the pullets out there and they sure were glad to have more room to stretch their wings. We had them in the spare bathroom in the tub, which now needs a good cleaning. DH has to be at work at 6, and we got woke up early this am, so we were out there at 4am checking on them. Right now we are going to keep them in the house, chicken house that is.

And, yes, it looks like spring as arrived here too. Beautiful day yesterday a high around 76-78 or so. It is supposed to be around 74 today with a stout west wind blowing.

When I went to feed my horses this morning, I heard my first Bob-white. Always am glad to here them, now I have to wait for the whip-o-will. We don’t seem to have a whole lot of whip-o-wills here, so I am always afraid they won’t show up for some reason. About 3 years ago, we accidently came across some baby whips. They were so cute and fuzzy brown.

It was a blessing to hear that bob-white this morning, it kinda got me out of he dumps and am trying real hard to stay out of it. Got a little family problem concerning my two grown twin sons. Remember them in your prayers if you don’t mind. Of course, when one of the kids has a problem, it seems to affect me more than them.

[Caitedid]

Well, the weather here is looking up, 50 something today, and maybe the rest of the week. I'll be busy learning this week, wading through 7 more weeks of animal science homework. On the positive side, making some calls about goat kids to look at for next spring, trying to figure out how much $ I'll need (and multiplying by 2, as always), helping Mom look at farmsteads, wondering about getting a dog, and looking for resources. I never thought I would be this excited about moving back out to the country, heaven knows I whined about it when I was younger. Things are looking up, and I hope they are for all of you too. Happy Spring! :yeeha:

[debitaber]

Happy spring!!!!!!!!
I too live in michigan, saw the sun for about 2 minutes this morning, what was it, now back t odark and deary, cold, rain, snow mix, and just plain nasty.. SO enjoy your spring, everyone, some of you live where it is really spring, you are blessed.

[Chris in PA]

This weekend I started all the usual veggies in the green house along with some herbs. Then DH and I potted 6 black walnut trees which we will plant in the woods later. Then we planted some winterberry to provide fruit for the birds, and then started on the hemlocks. I started lettuce in the cold frame but have not gotten either my peas or onions in the garden.

The weather Saturday was beautiful but Sunday was damp and chilling with some rain. We will get rain again on Wednesday. By then I should have the peans and onions in so it will be welcome - I guess.

We are still running about 5 degrees lower than normal for the season. I cannot wait for it to warm up a bit more so we can stop using the wood stove and open the window!

[wildwanderer]

The weather was great that ment another weekend of rock removal here in arkansas. We are doubling the garden, which means 1/2 an acre of rocks need to be removed from the ground. My back is sore, my head hurts. But I got my first tan
I have never been so glad I had to go back to my low stress, no physical day job in my life. The up side is my first chickens will be coming in a week or two.

[Cindy in KY]

Hey Kids, I've been a bit busy, catching up on my web sites, getting all my stuff done outside. We had fun Sunday up in Louisville at the agility/cluster show. I took a BC that I have here, a red & white sweet boy, that I need to place in a new home. His owners had some stuff come up and they couldn't keep him. He did great, crowds-noises did bother him at all. He loved the people & all the kids. We had a good time, we had a group of quite a few BC friends from all over up there. Lots of neat stuff to see, and every single kind of dog known to mankind. I love dogs, and I love seeing them all. Oh, they were all so beautiful. The Newfies, the Pyrs, Deerhounds (not so pretty but BIG), St Bernards, Great Danes. I couldn't find the Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, the Swissies. We saw them last time, and man, those are dogs! Huge, said to be the best farm dog out there, pull carts, guard, etc. After we walked, we all sat and watched our friends run their BC's in the agility trials. Too fun. But had allot of work to do yesterday to get caught back up from 'my day off'. You know we don't ever get a day off, just postponed.

Big thunderstorms coming, hope they pass me up. I have to do all my chores in a hurry before it rains here today. We did let the woodstove go out, but it was kinda chilly at night & especially in the mornings, so we lit it last night. Temps are 60 high-32 low. 32 is a tiny bit nippy to be without heat, even with my 4 layers of clothes on. The breeze is what's making it stay nippy. The slight wind never did quit yesterday.

Topaz, you heard a bob-white allready? Too cool. Love the whip-o-wills too. Haven't heard any here yet, but lots of birdies singing everywhere. Every spring, we have one stupid Wild Turkey hen who has allot of babies, and she runs up our gravel road, right in front of the truck, looking back over her shoulder, with her babies in tow, ALL the way up. Gotta go really slow, untill she finially darts off to the side. She is either really stupid, or insists on showing us all her babies every spring. We sure do get a good look! Over and over. OK, we've seen them, very cute, now MOVE please.

Hope you all have a warm day today, me too.

[Topaz Farm]

It is nice and sunny here, but the wind is blowing from the NW at about 35mph today. Same thing yesterday. Hopefully it will stop soon.

Everything is greening up here. The wren is checking out the wren nest, the birds are singing. I like to listen to the birds, but that little titmouse gets annoying after awhile.

Cindy I didn't here the bob-white this morning. The one I heard must have been practicing.

[NativeRose]

The sun is shining. It is a beautiful day. It is still too muddy to go out and work in the garden.

The birds are singing and Miss Nosey (house wren) keeps trying to get in the house if I leave the back door open. She has raised 5 families on my back porch. I just leave the old nest alone and let her come and go. She wakes me every morning about 6:30 singing her lungs out greeting the day. She nearly runs over us in the evenings getting onto the porch where she roosts each night. I really enjoy having her as she is so funny and so nosey. I have lost count of how many times I have had to get her out of the house.

There is a hawk that has been hanging around for months. I hate the thing. He thinks my bird feeders are his private bird buffets. I chase him out of the yard daily. If it wasn't illegal I would do away with him. He killed the last of my pet ducks last week. :waa: I used to have wild ducks of different kinds that would nest in the duck habitat which is behind our property. He has picked them off one by one. The first part of the month when a lot of the hawks were migrating we counted 6 that were hanging around here. I don't believe they are as endagered as the experts say.

Are you all planning to cook anything different for Easter or just the traditional foods?

Take care all and have a blessed sunshiney day.
Rosemary of the soggy acres

[Cindy in KY]

No sunhiny day here. Been raining buckets since yesterday evening. I mean buckets! But I did get all my chores done outside before it started, well almost, got a little wet and forgot to get the wood. ALL of our firewood is soaked, fire is out. My fault, I didn't think to cover the pile. It's not really that cold. I should go load up some wheelbarrow loads and get them in the woodstove room, but aaahhh, haven't done it yet. I trudged thru the rain and mud this morning and got big double loads of hay in all the barns for the poinies and goats-sheep, and came back in. Been working on my websites, trying to get everyone updated.

OH, I did hear frogs last night for the first time. I don't think we'll have anything special for Easter, this month is really tight. Somehow, all 3 of our truck insurances came due this month (paid every 3 months) AND the 3 tags are also due the end of the month! About $600 for all that. Usually I pay truck, truck, farm (one a month), but then we added on the 93 Dodge ins to get firewood, hay, etc. I think we'll have eggs & toast the rest of the month. If I get to buy anything at the store, I am in the mood for velveta con queso dip & chips, and LOTS of it!

[NativeRose]

Cindy in Ky The sun is trying really hard to break through the clouds but it looks like the rain is almost upon us again. :no: We are supposed to have a nasty rainy cold weekend also. I am so tired of tromping around in my mud boots.

Once again the coyotes kept me awake last night. They were having a coyote convention or something. :haha:

My seedlings are getting bigger and bigger. I desperately need to plant them outside. There is another cold front coming in Friday and the temps will be in the 40's and still too cold to plant some things outside.

The birds are singing like crazy. My "pet" wren is keeping me entertained and I am not going to let this weather get me down.

Smiles and Sunshine to all
Rosemary

[VALENT]

Down here near Houston yesterday and today are both very nice. I have been cleaning up brush piles and removing copperheads. And the birds have been wonderful with their songs. This morning there were a pair of ducks right behind where we are building our house. They were a delight but skedaddled as soon as they saw me.

[Topaz Farm]

NativeRose we have a wren that hangs around here too. One year she built her nest in the folds of a moving blanket that was on the porch. I just happened to look out and saw all the babies fly away. Last year she built in a wren house that Mother put up. I cleaned out the wren house today and found two baby mice skeletons. Yucky

I don’t do Easter dinner anymore. I told my grown kids that Easter was their holiday to cook. Most times since they have taken over we have steak and baked potatoes. The grandsons are too old to hunt eggs, so it isn’t quite the same as it used to be.

Valent.....I have been cleaning up brush piles and removing copperheads.

Eeeeegadddd!!! That is the part that I don’t miss about East Texas.

Nice weather temperature wise but the last few days it has been wwwiiiiinnnnddyy. Went to the vet yesterday and got the second strangles and WN shot for 3 of my horses. Wormed two and gave one her WN. And that is all that is going on here.

[LindaT_AK]

Here is Northern Maine March roared in like the biggest lion I ever saw. A couple more storms after that and now the weather is warming up. Still lots of snow out there though.

I have been having so much fun watching the birds at my feeder. I have had it up all winter, but with the snow and especially the hard winds that come up I have hardly seen any birds. Now they are out there all the time. I love it.

I have decided to have home made pizza for Easter day dinner. I have not had a good pizza since we moved here, so I guess to get a good one I'll just have to make it myself. Oh but that is okey.

I haven't visited here for awhile so decided to stop by.
Linda T.