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

[Callender Girl]

There was No Rain last night, which is a relief. Looks like we might get a couple of days without rain. Other parts of Iowa are flooded and some folks had to be rescued by helicopter.

But, sleep was still difficult because a determined choir of coyotes kept singing -- and the dogs responded by barking. I yelled a lot.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How is everyone this morning!?!??!

Okay. Warming up outside.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Okay. Warming up outside.

Same here. I walked Brewster.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Same here. I walked Brewster.

Off to walk my pack. Gonna be a lot of plowing through the water just for fun. The dogs, not me.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Off to walk my pack. Gonna be a lot of plowing through the water just for fun. The dogs, not me.

Hahahaha I thought you meant you at first

 

[Callender Girl]

The big headline in today's Fort Dodge newspaper is about flooding -- the Des Moines River is set to hit its third-highest level in history. Some folks in outlying areas spent Sunday filling sandbags.

While I'm not going to be underwater here, there is a heat advisory from 1 to 8 pm., when it could feel like 105 degrees.

And just to think, over the winter when I was snowed in and couldn't leave the property, when the wind chill was in double digits below zero, I was looking forward to summer. This is not what I had in mind.

 

[jvls1942]

I fell asleep watching tv. woke up at 3;3o
went to bed. couldn't sleep. got up at 5;3o
had my coffee. went out to the shop. put the last piece of gutter on.
dragged the magnet around the floor to pick up the four screws I dropped yesterday., nothing.
took a screw out of the box. nope, the magnet wouldn't pick it up either.. but I did find two of the tiniest drill bits I ever saw. probably .o2o". I didn't know I had any that small.
and what were they doing on the floor ??
we live on a sloped hillside. not much standing water. at the bottom of our property it is very sandy. the water soaks right in and then oozes out the side of the steep bank into the flood plane and into the river..

 

[Callender Girl]

Funny how the same steamy, hot weather that drains all of a person's energy during the day doesn't translate to enough exhaustion for a good night's sleep.

I worried about how hot it was in all the coops, whether the house critters were okay since there's no air conditioning and if I was really going to stick to the bedsheets all night. We all survived indoors. I ran out with my night vision headlamp on about an hour ago, and all seems well so far outdoors.

The county is putting in new culverts on my road, and rather than have flagmen, there's a traffic signal just feet away from my driveway. I'm kind of liking having my own personal traffic light ; makes it seem like there's something special here.

Congrats on finding your tiny drill bits, Jim. Progress on my garage reorganization is at a standstill under the weather cools down a bit. It looks like the heat should break tomorrow. Yesterday, it was in the mid-90s, today will be cooler at high 80s.

I cut up some strawberries that were a bit soft in the fridge and tossed them with some water into a tall Jello mold, then froze it all. The chickens loved it! I have a couple of freezable "cooling bowls" that I filled with water and put out. But the goose girls mistook them for bathtubs and refused to let anyone else enjoy the water.

This weekend is Murray Fest, put on by Murray McMurray Hatchery. I'm looking forward to the speakers, the entertainment, the chance to meet other "chicken people" and the opportunity to buy chicks onsite, without having them shipped or having to buy a minimum amount, especially of the Bantams.

The hardest part is narrowing down how many and which breeds -- provided they have in stock the ones I really want. I probably should have some kind of adult supervision to stop me from buying too many.

 

[jvls1942]

I wonder how I can nap so easily and then not sleep in bed. Last night I fell asleep in my chair before 8PM. woke up at 12:22 AM
went right to bed. listened to the thunder in the distance and watched the lightning show. at 1AM the storm reached us. It rained and lightning'd nonstop until 1:35AM. it was windy , too. the rain was hitting the window and side of the house. might have been some hail, too. all in all it was nasty
bro Dave helped me get the gutter installed.,
I did not get the down spout on, though.
I positioned a barrel on the ground under the down spout drop hole. with the wind, I don't know how much water actually fell into the barrel
today I hope to get the downspout and barrels installed.
Barb, buy lots of chicks. you can always eat the excess ., just don't name them.
Lisa, cut hay on Friday. Sat and Sun look good for drying.

 

[ShrekDawg]

How is everyone!?