The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[1muttsfan]

Some idiot shot her in the leg. The bullet must have disrupted the blood supply and maybe the nerves as well. Very likely given enough time her leg will just fall off, but it's a question whether she will die or recover.

 

[speckledhen]

Some idiot shot her in the leg. The bullet must have disrupted the blood supply and maybe the nerves as well. Very likely given enough time her leg will just fall off, but it's a question whether she will die or recover.

I completely agree. If I had not seen the wound early on, the further damage would have obscured the cause of it. Thank you for backing up what I told my son today about the leg falling off if infection didn't set in or some coyote pack doesn't get her while she's slowed down by the dead appendage. My husband won't shoot unless he has a very clear pathway for it without risking some stray bullet going past her. I am making sure she has some food here and the mineral block, though I have never fed the deer in the past. There is plenty of natural forage because we have hemlocks and rhododendron she can browse and some grassy plants are still green(ish) but she can't easily get to them. I can tell this is wearing on her-she seemed exhausted.

 

[speckledhen]

I haven't seen the doe today. She hung out here all day Thurs and Fri. I saw vultures circling my bottom lot more than once today so I hiked down there, crisscrossed the property looking for her and didn't see her anywhere. Someone shot a rifle earlier today, just one shot so it wasn't target practice. If they shot her, I hope they did it efficiently so she could have some peace.

 

[speckledhen]

We'll be preparing more tomorrow for this upcoming Sunday night weather:

COLD WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM SUNDAY TO 8 AM EST MONDAY...*
WHAT...Very cold wind chills as low as 8 above expected.*
WHERE...Portions of central, east central, north central, northeast, northwest, southeast, and west central Georgia.*
WHEN...From 6 PM Sunday to 8 AM EST Monday.* IMPACTS...Wind chills in the teens with and a few single digit values will be possible across north and central Georgia Sunday night into Monday morning.
Please prepare for a cold morning commute and avoid prolonged exposure to the cold when possible.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Use caution while traveling outside. Wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves.

We'll be fine, but I worry about my older chickens in this type of cold. We'll be adding hay to their various pens. And I hope the power stays on! We have a woodburning stovel and wood ready to go, plus solar and a dual fuel generator in case we lose power, but I can't bring 20+ chickens into the house.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Stay warm Cynthia. That's pretty cold for your area.

 

[speckledhen]

We will. I know it's nothing for Wisconsin or Ohio (where we lived for 12 years) but it's a huge drop from today's low-60's. I hope my oldsters make it through.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That is quite a drop for your birds. Hopefully they do okay. We have -30 plus wind chills tonight into tomorrow. Winter has shown up early this year for sure.

 

[speckledhen]

Been there while living in Ohio. -25* real temps, plus ice, plus snow. Yuck.

 

[speckledhen]

I've been up since 1:30 a.m. because our power keeps glitching and I'm praying it doesn't go out entirely. Every time that happens, the landline base unit in my bedroom comes on and the electric standing desk I use for my fabric cutting table comes on. I finally unplugged the desk so it didn't blow it.

AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER:
It's 3 a.m. Our low is supposed to be 12* and it's 13* now. The power is out entirely, as per usual. My power company needs a new squirrel for their treadmill. Most of the county's power is above ground so susceptible to falling trees and such. Our solar is now running one half of the barn's heat lamps; that side is Bash and the Dirty Dozen, some of whom are semi-naked like Dove and Juliette. The other side has no power because the solar won't run all of that wattage for a long time. Eventually, we'll have to plug in the refrigerator. The freezer will be fine for a couple of days (Lord forbid that happens, yikes) Bash sleeps in the floor in the coldest corner so he has to have heat.That leaves all the BRs, young and old, and little Mace without power for light or heat. We have the barn divided in half, electricity coming from two different sources to prevent overload.
I hope the power company gets it back on before too long. We reported it right away. I won't be able to even submit this post until the power is back on and our router is back on because we have fiber optic internet and landline. No phone, no internet until we have power again. I have a cellphone and so does my husband, but his is barely useful at this location. Mine is on a different service, but even that runs on WiFi for the most part.
I went ahead and made coffee, but the machine is on the little Kodiak generator, useful little thing. I really think we ought to get another similar one, maybe a Jackery that has more power than the Kodiak. If worse came to worse, we do have a dual fuel 11K watt generator; it's just very loud, as they tend to be.

AND LATER, STILL:
It's 3:35 a.m. and our power is back, mercifully fast this time. I am so glad we built our solar and still have the little Kodiak.