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

How terrible the man lost his house. Iowa has been under "red flag warnings" lately due to a combination of dryness and high winds. Though honestly, why someone would start a fire when it's windy -- or predicted to be -- is beyond me. I see that as much different than a fire sparked, unintentionally, by equipment in the field.

Jim, how is Annie doing?

March is proving to be more challenging than I appreciate.

There's the weather, of course. I was hoping after two blizzards this month that Mother Nature would take a break. Nope. Yesterday, although it was 40 degrees, it SNOWED! Big, fluffy, wet flakes for about half an hour.

The snow -- which melted quickly -- gave way to rain and now the ducks and geese can bathe in the deep driveway puddles. After the rain, the sun came out -- about an hour before it set.

There's still snow left from the biggest drifts, and there's ankle-deep mud. Ah, spring in Iowa!!

Today, I have an appointment with an avian vet in Ankeny -- about an hour and a half away -- because the new local vet who "treats" birds is a disappointment. I took Lucille to him on Tuesday and he wasn't able to diagnose what was wrong, just gave me some meds and sent a fecal sample to a lab. On Saturday, she seemed worse, but I found out he doesn't work Saturdays or Mondays. Apparently, no one calls with lab results then either.

On happier notes, maybe all the snow and rain will start to chip away at the drought conditions, and I now have proof that all six of my pullets are laying. Arabella, a Blue Cochin, and Lavinia, a gorgeous Silver-Laced Cochin, were the last to join the Layers Club.
 
Miserable out. Cold, ice, snow. I feel like the groundhog. I want to crawl back in my hole and go back to sleep.

We replaced our tub and surround with a shower and surround over the weekend. Still need to do a few things to finish it up. Nothing ever goes easy.
 
I replaced our tub with a walk in shower many years ago. never looked back. we have just a shower curtain instead of doors. doors are too hard to keep clean.
I made five pounds of strawberries into jam.
I followed a recipe . it turned out way too sweet.
If we can't stand to eat it, I might make it into wine.
Annie made Spanish rice. I made 2lb of venison sloppy joes. will freeze some of it.
the sun is up at about 7am/14F
Annie is doing much better. getting along with less oxygen. ..from the tank..
 
I personally can't stand shower curtains. I guess that's why there are options. :)

Today is looking better out. Hopefully we cam melt some of the ice off the driveway. My big shed is getting noisy with chickens cackling and geese honking. I always forget how loud spring is.

Good to hear Annie continues to improve Jim.
 
I like shower curtains, but periodically -- and with no apparent provocation -- the tension rod holding the curtain will suddenly crash to the floor. Not only does the noise usually scare the bejeebers out of me, but it's nearly impossible to get it back up by myself.

Sounds like Annie is on the mend and Wisconsin weather is improving. Hurray for both!

I'm not familiar with the process for turning jam into wine. Good thing my dad wasn't either. He made EVERYTHING into wine, much of it was very good. Onion wine, definitely not!!

There's still remnants of the biggest snow drifts in places, but I need to clean mud out of the duck shelters, and off the stepping stones and water dishes today. Of course, it's predicted to rain again tomorrow, so I guess I'll just be rehearsing to do it all again Friday.

Lucille is now the reigning Queen of Vet Bills. She didn't just lose a toenail, according to the senior Ankeny avian vet (whom I suspect is The Best in the World), Lucille "self-amputated" part of her toe back to one of the joints. She also produced a fresh fecal sample on the exam table; I will now be adding Aquasol to everyone's water to get rid of roundworms. And, giving Lucille meds for at least another week. To his credit, the vet who saw Lucille last week called yesterday to see how she was doing.

With all that's been going on outside, my housekeeping has been minimal to non-existent. So, naturally, I invited a friend over for dinner tonight. Now I HAVE to do some house cleaning. Well, honestly, just in the rooms she'll see. 😀
 
It hit 81 degrees yesterday but was too windy to work outside. Today, it is raining, and tomorrow, there's a chance of snow. Ah, spring in the Midwest!

My lone remaining sheep was pacing frantically Thursday night, and I thought she was scared by the truck with chemical tanks running in the neighbor's field.

Then, I went outside -- the chemicals were so pungent that I could taste them and my eyes watered. I felt awful that I couldn't do anything to help Rachel calm down. It may be the first time in her life that an armful of hay didn't make her feel better.
 
Rachel is a good indicator that you should not be breathing those fumes,. I hope neither one of you gets sick.
at ten PM we had a heckofa storm roll through,
it put my computer off line and my cell phone,too,
Kalib just came home from work at 6AM,
he had to detour because our bridge was underwater,, the water has to rise ten feet to get that high,.
to get me back on line, Kalib had to reset a breaker downstairs,,. I would never have thought of doing that.
Lisa, maybe you don't like shower curtains because you saw the movie "Psycho" , lol
Barb, I hope your friend didn't sneak into one of the uncleaned rooms,.
Annie is fretting about our dirty house, I don't think it looks too bad,. but I am not a woman, lol
 
We had some pretty intense storms last night too. Hail, heavy rain lots of thunder and lightning. Lost power for a few moments, but thankfully it came back on. Every time we almost dry out we get more mud. I guess it's better than snow.

Barb, your poor sheep. :(

I don't like shower curtains because apparently I don't know how to properly use them. I get tangled up, they mold, and the floor gets wet. Plus as a kid us poor folk has shower curtains. Rich people had shower doors. I also just find the door cleaner.

Poor Annie. I don't like a dirty house either.
 

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