Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thought this was appropriate for this year.

Thanks everyone for chatting it up on my garden thread. Sorry I haven't posted much this year. It was a sad one for me, and I get silent when I'm sad. Here's hoping next year is better for everyone.

I'm already starting to think of next year's gardening plans and will soon start making plans and looking through the catalogs. Maybe I will set up a memorial garden for my little dog. Means I will need to go look at the concrete statue places. One of my favorite things to do. Perhaps I will find another concrete pup to add to my collection.

 

[Callender Girl]

Lisa, I joined this thread pretty late but have enjoyed it so very much. Thank you for starting it. I think a memorial garden for your little dog is a beautiful idea. My sincere wishes for a better 2023 for you.

I thought I was getting a Seed Savers Exchange catalog in my mailbox during the blizzard. Imagine my surprise when I ran inside with the mail and found all that had been delivered was the cover! Maybe the rest blew away/ Right now, it seems impossible to remember being able to grow anything outdoors.

When my sister comes up today, she will have to park halfway up the driveway. There is still a shoulder-high, frozen drift blocking the way to the garage. Another drift -- a couple inches short of the top of my gate -- is blocking my deck ramp. I have to climb onto and off of it. I focused all my shoveling on getting access to critters and birds.

However, the worst part of the storm was the death of my sweet Maxie. All the chickens in her coop decided to ride out the blizzard by crowding together in the same nest box. I kept trying to relocate them into separate boxes, but overnight, she apparently smothered at the bottom of the heap. I found her Christmas Eve morning.

Maxie, who was named after a beloved, late friend, was one of my favorites among favorites. She was a dark Blue Cochin Bantam who had the most crooked, most gnarled toes I've ever seen. I tried to straighten them when she was a chick, but nothing worked.

She was spunky and never let her feet hold her back.

Another hen, who is in the middle of a very bad molt, was doing poorly and I brought her inside on Christmas so she if she didn't make it, Eleanor would at least be warm and well fed. She is showing improvement.

Today's weather will be at least in the high 20s. I am grateful.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I lost a young bantam Cochin rooster in this last cold snap. I'm pretty sure he had something else going on. That type of weather sure tests our critters. Sorry about your chickens Barb, and the loss of your sheep. How's the other one doing?

Yesterday the high of 12 degrees felt like a heatwave. I took a walk and it was nice. I also tried to shovel a path for my geese to get to their outside water bucket. My arms hurt last night. That snow is still rock hard. Not sure if I want to see rain this coming weekend. Winter in the Midwest is always an adventure.

 

[Callender Girl]

Thanks, Lisa. Rachel has calmed down quite a bit, so I'm not worried about her right now. I'm probably overfeeding her, and she's seems quite okay with that.

Sorry about your rooster!

It's a balmy 15 here right now with plenty of sun. I feel your achy pains. I've been trying to clear rock-hard snow for days. I've spent a lot of time with my heating pad and my microwaveable neck wrap.

While I understand rain means warmer weather, I am more than a little frightened about what will happen to all those still-unmoved drifts when they get hit with rain.

BTW, I let the ducks and geese out yesterday. The ducks tried to soak up as much sun as possible. The geese, who couldn't wait to be released from their shelter, decided to hang out inside the duck shelter -- while I was lying in it, trying to move stubborn chunks of snow. Coincidence? No, Gussie and Golly have always been naughty girls who delight in making me work harder. Good thing I absolutely adore the silly things!

 

[jvls1942]

If it has to rain, I hope it rains hard. maybe it will make
the snow slide off of the roof. a gentle rain might just
add more weight to the snow. I am not worried about
the roof caving in, though.
the Dish tv tech came yesterday. unlike what the person
on the phone told us, it was not our receiver. It was snow
on the dish , just like we suspected..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Barb I have 12 geese currently. I had to make mine go out yesterday. They are not impressed with the snow. Glad your sheep has calmed down. I had sheep years ago. They were fun critters except for the shearing.

Jim glad you have tv back. I can't survive without it. I was raised by a tribe of tv's.

 

[jvls1942]

I had lots of goats, but never sheep.
our power flickered off and back on last night.
just long enough to cause all the clocks to need
resetting.
the warmer temps outside are noticeable inside.
the hint of chill is not there.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's me outside today wearing the same clothes I wore last week. Need to adjust my layers apparently. The problem with a warm up is it gets more moisture in the air so it often feels colder than it should.

Yesterday we managed to get our water hydrant thawed out, so that was worth a victory dance. I don't need to carry as much water out of the house to my big shed. Husband also got a path plowed to the shed. It had drifted over. I plan to get the snow off the deck today now that it isn't so hard.

Decades ago we bottle fed a lamb with a broken leg. Kept her in the house for a month or two. She would run around the barn while we milked cows. She played with the dogs and enjoyed milkbones. She was a fun girl. One day she ate some silage that must have been spoiled and despite vet care she died. No other sheep was quite the same after her. I tried a few more, but than switched to goats, and never went back to sheep because no other was the same or could live up to that one sheep's legacy. Still miss her today. Her original name was Cassidy, but we ended up calling her Stupid, which sounds like a bad thing but it was with affection. Sheep don't seem to reason the same as goats. I can still see her hippity hopping down the barn aisle.

 

[Callender Girl]

Lisa, couldn't decide whether to use a heart emoji or a haha in response to your post. It was great, and I can relate on so many levels.

Yesterday, it got to 40 degrees, and my sister and I shoveled a car-wide path through the 3-foot-high, 25-foot-long drift that spanned the width of my driveway. Usually, the entire drive fills in, but the weird blizzard left most of it clear -- except that glacier that kept me from leaving the property since a week ago Wednesday.

I cleared a foot-wide path on the deck yesterday afternoon so I can use the steps, but the ramp is still blocked by a drift that has been solid enough to walk on and is about 2 inches lower than the gate. I made toeholds so I could climb in and out, but if we get the threatened rain, it will freeze over and become treacherous. I will try to clear that out today, but my aching muscles would rather skip the whole thing.

I was wearing layers of clothes yesterday and had to change several times since I was sweating buckets. Ah, the joys of winter in the Midwest.

I also loved the story about Cassidy, aka Stupid. She sounds amazing! I also agree about shearing. That's one of the biggest reasons I went with Katahdins -- hair sheep that scrape off their own wool every spring. We had Suffolks when I was a kid and finding someone competent and affordable to do the shearing was a challenge.

And, Jim, while it's great that the power wasn't off for long, isn't it just So Annoying to have to reset all those darned clocks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Barb I was lucky that the guy i got my sheep from would come over and shear them for the cost of the fleece. It was small town mentality back than. When people helped each other out and we all knew the people in our neighborhood even if that neighborhood was in square miles. I did envy katadin sheep, but we could never find them back than. I also always like the sheep from Looney tunes. Stupid was a Suffolk. The rest looked like this buggar.

One of my geese has an abrasion on her foot. Bleeds and bleeds apparently. The goat area looks like a massacre happened. Took me a long time to find where it was coming from. Not much I can do about it.