Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends

[Opa]

Quite a storm blew thru in the early hours this morning and the amount of rain was unbelieveable. We got 5" of rain in about six hours and some areas not far away got as much as 8". The rain continued long enough that I cancelled working today and given how hot and humid it became I'm glad that I did. More heavy rain is predicted for tonight but not in the amounts that fell yesterday. We needed the rain but wshen it comes down that much and so hard much of it runs off. The orchard will benefit from the rain since I had only watered it once while the garden gets watered almost daily.

It looks as though we will be having a bumper crop of beans and I probably will have to start picking and canning the pole beans by the weekend. Given how high grocery prices might rise this winter I don't intend to let one single bean go to waste. The horticulture bean plants are looking full and lush but haven't bloomed yet. I like to pick them after the pod has started to dry and then can them as a shelled bean. I gave seed to a friend last year and he waited until they were totally dryed before picking and shelling. Sadly his wife won't cook them and she gets upset if he cooks anything. I'm considering waiting this year until they are dry. I might put them in the dehydrator to insure they are totally dried and then put them in vacuum sealed packaging.

Unless the zuchinni starts blooming again it may be done the the year. The plants are huge and it seems a shame that such a good looking plant is going to stand in the garden and not produce for 2 more months of growing season. My oldest son is always teasing me about the fact that he has his garden in almost two months before I get mine in but now his winding down mine is just getting started. The heat and drought curtail his gardens production and while I'm not positive I think if you were to compute the actual growning season daylight hours we exceed his. We are enough further north that the length of the day is noticeably longer.

 

[Opa]

Have you ever wondered why the universe seems to be governed by such strange rules. For instance, you get 5 miles from home and wonder if you shut off the coffee pot. You return home and find it off. However, if you don't go back to check when you get home it will be boiled dry. If you have an abundance of fertile eggs you don't have a broody, yet 3 weeks after your rooster dies 6 hens turn up broody. The same perverse laws seem to apply with shooting coyotes. Three days in a row a large coyote strolled across the field behind the chicken coops. Since Hope's grandkids have been here alot I have kept all my guns locked in the safe where I was unable to reach them before the coyote left. Now with a 22-250 sitting within easy reach he doesn't show his furry face. How much would you bet that once the gun is safely locked away he shows up again?

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:
You know it will happen!! Why it happens..........

......but you know he'll show up as soon as you lock up the gun!!

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

Thats sort of like when your tryin to take a nap and a darn fly starts buzzing in your ear. Sure there are plenty of other places more suitable for a fly besides your ear but he can't help it. Some indeniable force draws him there
But just as soon as you get up to get the flyswat that fly mysteriously disappears like it got sucked into a black hole or something.

 

[Opa]

I've noticed the same strange phenomena when hunting. It seems that the game spotted is always in inverse proportion to the season open. When squirrel hunting you constantly jump deer and when deer hunting squirrel put on a show worthy of the Flying Wallendas right over your stand.

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

I have also noticed while hunting that the noise an animal makes is inversely proportional to its size. I almost always see the deer before i hear them, but a chipmunk or squirrel make more noise than a band of gypsies performing with a log chain and an old wash basin.

 

[Opa]

I will never forget the first time I went bear hunting. I was in a tree situated 15' up a tree and about the same distance from the bait pile. Several times I heard a thuderous crashing sound coming my way only to discover that it was a grouse. Several hours on the stand I was shocked to realize that a 400 lbs bear was busy munching away on stale donuts and I had never seen nor heard him come in.

 

[ranchhand]

Too funny Opa!

Hi everyone, been too busy ducking the storms lately. Every day, first thing, I check the weather forecast. I have learned that by sticking my head out the door and looking around I can make a far more accurate prediction! It never shows the thunderstorms on the radar, but we get one almost every afternoon. Lost power for 45 minutes yesterday during a bad storm, luckily it gave us a LOT of rain and cooled it off enough that the lack of AC/fans wasn't too bad.

Wish I could share the rain with those who need it more.

I'm not having any more predator problems currently and the heat has stayed in the high nineties, so I have happy birds for now. I STILL have 5 extra roosters. I moved them to a pen with the three ducks. The roosters did a bit of fighting at first, there was one getting beaten up daily. But now, they seem to have settled into batchelor life and all get along fine. They sure are noisy in the mornings though!

Between roosters (7 total) crowing and ducks quacking, it's a circus out there!

 

[chickencrazymamahen]

Quote:
It also seems that you see the great game during the off season!! A couple of mornings ago we watched an eight point and a six point buck browsing in the orchard, playing tag and raring up.....told my hubby we will probably never see those two again, for sure not in November!! I think squirrels know that when you are wearing orange they have nothing to worry about.

We did have a shower of rain yesterday afternoon and it was wonderful....both of us had to get out and get wet, it felt soooooo good! Felt a little foolish puttering around and laughing in the rain at our age, but it was glorious!!
Have a wonderful afternoon! Hello to everyone!
Blessings, CCMH

 

[Opa]

Another warm day and more forecasted for the coming week. In order to avoid the hottest part of the day I've been arriving at the job site by 7am and am seriously considering moving that up to 6am. One thing for sure I am getting to old to work like this. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have the house closed to the weather and the push to get it done won't be quite so intense.

I've got some country ribs in the smoker and the smell of wood smoke in the air is sure making me hungry. The ribs are probably at least another hour from being done so I may take them out of the smoker and speed up the cooking by placing them on the grill.

Hope everyone is staying cool.