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

[Hillbilly Hen]

Good luck with your tests Opa.
We had 5 below this morning at 9 am.

 

[mamagardener]

Wow heat wave today...it is going to get up to around 30 degrees and the sun is shining. I would say that makes it a good day! Hopefully some of the snow will melt off the roofs before we get our next storm tomorrow. Yup that's right another storm tomorrow, at least it is not a school day, I don't think I want anymore of those or we will be going to school until July.

It is so beautiful to drive around and look at the ice just hanging off the roofs. I have seen plenty of roofs where the icicles go from the roof all the way to the ground. I wish I could drive and take pictures at the same time, but I wouldn't try it because I would end up in a snow bank.

I feel bad for the wild birds though, they are just hanging out in the trees because they have no where else to go. If you try to give them fresh water it just freezes, I can give them some today though because it shouldn't freeze in these temps.

 

[Opa]

As irritating as all this snow and cold becomes, my area of the country is much better equipped to handle it as are most of the drivers. Talked with my oldest son, who lives in southwest Missouri, and they definitely can't handle much in the way of snow. The roads closed by Tuesday's storm finally were opened yesterday with a single lane.

Morgan's school is still closed and probably won't reopen until Monday. Most of the secondary roads in his area are narrow and don't have shoulders. His neighbor called and asked Joe to come and pull him out of a ditch he had gotten into. After about an hour of work extricating the neighbor he and Morgan decided to go meet Elizabeth for lunch; a trip of only 7 miles. Just before arriving they encountered a driver who refused to leave the center of the road forcing Joe to the non existent shoulder. Just when he thought they were okay his right front wheel dropped into the ditch requiring him to call the recently extracted neighbor for help. Once free they decided their expedition was fruitless and returned home to await warmer weather.

 

[cabincrazyone]

Hi Uze guys. That's Minnesotan for yall. I'm the newbie from Duluth ... who doesn't even have chickens yet. Dan's Feed Bin will be taking orders for chicks the first part of March.
Opa, your mention of folks in Michigan being more able to drive in ice and snow reminded me of a humorous story ... and I can ramble randomly with the best of them. My problem is making sense.

I started active duty in the Navy in '66 at Norfolk, Va. Everyone in my division (E) got along famously. One of the guys was a great young fellow named Jim from Atlanta. His dad was the third largest electrical contractor there and Jim pretty much got whatever he wanted ... and that was a new Mustang GT350. He was very enthused about it and told us stories ... like when he and his brother (in another new GT350) would scare their girl friends by driving down a winding gravel road at 80mph, pulling alongside each other as they flew making dust, and passing a cigarette from one car to the other. All sorts of daring-do stories. My new wife and I (still soul mates) had an apartment there, and I bought a '63 Chev 327 four speed. (Newest car I've ever had.) Well, it snowed Christmas Eve for the first time that season. It was a typical warm season snow fall .... about one inch, and it melted as it fell onto any pavement ... stayed only in the grass. I was surprised how the fast car savvy Jim acted about the snow ... very apprehensive. We had to go somewhere while there was still a little snow on the street. I was the only one with a car. Jim was in the front seat with me and two more guys were in the back. Jim was acting nervous and telling me to be careful. I said this is nothing. If we were to slide it would be just a bit ... you can't loose control in this stuff at 30 mph. I said watch and gunned the engine enough to break traction at the rear end, and steered back and forth a bit to make a few S tracks. Just the sort of thing that we young folks did all the time at home just to see how slippery it is. Well Jim dove under the dash. I couldn't believe it. He caught a lot of kidding for that!!

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
Even when you are prepared....somethings happen that are unexpected!
I missed work for the first time day before yesteray.....no snow...but plenty of wind....these are pics of the driveway.....

My 4X4 is good....but not that good

 

[Opa]

I have one hen who lays an extremely long pointed egg. I sent Joe a picture of it and queried do you think this hen has a tight butt?[/b] His answer is that I should start saving them to hatch a breed of pointy headed chickens.

 

[Opa]

Technically spring isn't that far off. Only 43 days until in arrives according to the calendar, but if you are looking outside at knee deep snow and the weatherman is calling for additional snow followed by an "artic blast" of subzero temperatures it is hard remember what green fields and blooming flowers actually look like.

This morning the temperature has soared to 18 degrees and a flock of wild turkeys are in the yard making looking out the windows a little more enjoyable. The last year of my father's life one of his pleasure came from sitting at a window watching the birds come to the feeders. I wish that he were here now so he could watch the turkeys with me. I think today I'll go pick up some shelled corn for them to make their lives just a little easier.

 

[Opa]

Bitter cold, deep snow. Pretty tough on all the critters out there. Fourteen hen turkeys and one jake spent most of the day scratching in the plowed areas of my drive and the path to the coops. After watching the turkeys fly down and then plow there way into the open areas, David suggested that I plow a path to the back edge of the property and also make a landing area for them to fly down into. I thought no way am I doing that, but after watching them step, break through, step, break through I decided why not.

So tomorrow when they fly down they should be much happier birds. Easy walking and a gallon of shelled corn.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Opa, that was very sweet of you to do that

 

[chickencrazymamahen]

Quote:
awww......you big ol softie!!