It was a wonderfully hot day yesterday which I enjoyed so much I ended up with pink arms and pain in the soles of my feet from walking in sand-shoes without socks. But my feet will toughen up and after that long winter and spring I cannot bear to waste a moment of this fine beautiful weather.
In the evening squalls complete with rains and wild winds blew past us like trams stopping at the bus stop to pick up rain-coated passengers. The short storms roared in with much clanging and banging, paused, rained, then slammed their doors shut and roared off again scattering puddles in their wake. The downpours watered in all the 100 lavenders I had planted, all the vegetable seeds and the thunder left Ton cowering in the barn. The man who rents the land that surrounds us from John’s uncle had just finished planting all his soya beans so I am sure he was happy.
We had an unhappy event earlier yesterday. The ducklings had come out to play in their new swimming pool and seeing them I dashed inside to get the camera, in those few moments Boo must have jumped the fence, I was back out literally seconds later and one duckling was dead under the tree with a deeply upset Boo standing over it. He knew he had done a bad thing and simply bolted. I was wild with fury. Losing even a little unnamed baby like that through a moments lack of attention made me so mad. Boo was severely chastised and in the end was grateful to be sent to his chain. So we began with six and now we have two. Ducks are just not meant for this farm.
Poppy the Wanderer was found in the Salad Bar field with the two plonkers. When they saw me they all ran over but luckily Poppy got to the gate first so I could let her out. She is a shape shifter that pig. She still throws herself at my feet offering her belly for a scratch. Sheila is deeply unimpressed by the visitors in the field next door. She stands and stares at them then moving her massive head slowly sideways she stares at them again, sniffing the air for clues then lumbering off. She spends a lot of time sleeping on a hot day.
Daisy is clear again of her mastitis, it definitely seems to be tied to her cycle. When she is in heat she gets sick. It is possible that when we get her pregnant (at the end of next month) that her metabolism may be able to manage it better. I hope so because milking three times a day wears us both out. And milking the bad quarter and then changing buckets and milking the good quarters so we can all drink that milk makes for a long milking session. Yesterday was a breeze in comparison.
And now the hay is almost ready to cut. It is just starting to flower. So today I shall get in touch with the hay man and we will discuss the weather!
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Today will be fresh and clear after that rain and maybe more on the way!
Love your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
43 responses to “Squalls”
Oh C. poor Boo didn’t mean it…I think he just got over excited with them running and splashing about and his chase instinct kicked in and well, it was just a very unfortunate thing. The little duckling probably didn’t even know what happened, it was so quick. I’m sorry though and I’m sure Boo is too…
Love that lil muddy Poppy face! 🙂
Ditto to all above. Boo is still a very young dog. I must have missed something. It there were six ducks and two left, I am wondering what happened to the other two?
Poppy is priceless–a wanderer and a wallower.
Hope Ton is okay! Article in Tribune this morning on the heroics of two border collies who keep a certain Lake Michigan beach free of gulls and subsequent E-coli. yay for them. They keep O’Hare runways free of geese too.
morning darling. Six were ordered, two were dead on arrival, another died the next day, and now another dead too. So now we have two.. I am just back from the Old Codgers and so far today Boo has not put a foot wrong. So hopefully that is the last duck disaster.. c
Two things—our alfalfa is budding out also! By this weekend we shall cut the alfalfa and leave it lay until the sun bakes it into hay. The only draw back is we are supposed to get more rain (lovely for my yard, not lovely for making hay) for three days this weekend. Although, it is finally hot here. I had the wood stove on for two days last week. I adore the ‘hot’.
The other thing is I ran across an old Mayonnaise recipe my paternal grandmother used to make. It is tad hard to make, but it taste yummy. If you would like to have a copy please email me and I shall send over to you.
¸.-♥´¨)Linda
http://coloradofarmlife@wordpress.com
Celi, do you think the Poppy Pig sun cream would work on humans, if so put me down for a large tub!
What a shame about the duckling – I know Boo wasn’t really being deliberately bad, it’s instinct, but a shame for you all 😦 Love that photo of the bench!
is there anywhere close that you can buy an adult duck or 2 to get boo used to duck behavior?
bantam swap or ad in paper?
Sorry about the duckling….
it must be in the nature of some dogs to prey on birds…I had two dogs a few years ago that killed my chickens and next doors little kitten.
poor Boo he must feel bad and I am sure that he is very sorry. Maybe bigger animals are better for Boo..how about Geese
Herding dogs sometimes get a little rough and don’t realize that baby ducks are so tender and frail. I am sure he was mortified. It was an accident.
Hopefully Boo will have learned his lesson, but I’m sure if he could speak in his defense, Boo would tell you that he was overcome with excitement at the sight of the ducklings brisk movements & didn’t grasp the cause & effect concept. I still believe that the farmy would do well to have some ducks living on the land. Either Boo will need to mature & know boundaries with fowl or higher fences will be needed to keep the duck safe from excited young dogs who follow their nature. Maybe starting with a few adult ducks would be the way to go. I don’t think Boo would like the way an adult duck would protect themselves with strong wings wildly whapping at him, a few nips from a strong bill and then chased by a whirling dervish of feathers. Ducklings are easy pickings for a dog, but confronting an adult duck is a whole other thing – especially Mama ducks in protective mode.
It makes a lot of sense that Daisy’s mastitis worsens with her cycle. I don’t know much about cow physiology, but women actually experience a significant increase of inflammation just prior to cycling or approximately 10 days out of the month. The belief is that the hormones involved are responsible for the inflammation. It would explain why Daisy’s mastitis flares & recedes in a predictable pattern with clearing in between cycles. Poor Daisy, her estrogen is not always her friend. I’m sure many of us can relate.
I have two cockers – bird dogs. They LOVE to flush ducks and geese especially when there are goslings because the adults are so protective. The geese peck at the dogs, swoop at them, flap their gigantic wings – scares me! – but my dogs are in heaven and afterwards they have geese-flushing dreams with whimpering, tails wagging and legs twitching. Rudy, my older dog, is a bit of a scaredy-cat and he even loves the goose attacks. My younger cocker will try to jump out the window of a moving car to go after big birds. Irresistable!
Oh dear, poor Boo and poor duckies. Seems so out of character for Boo.
Oh, naughty Boo! He meant to play, I am sure.
Happy Tuesday to you as well down on the farmy. Much excitement and dismay. Sunshine will make it all better.
It’s glorious to be outside in the sun. When I get the opportunity I’m the same, I can’t bear to go in, stay out too long and do too much then collapse in a heap… Sad about the duckling… I can only think Bo was fascinated or trying to help in his way and it ended badly. Poppy the Wanderer is delightful.
Don’t show Poppy the photo! It might change her self-image forever!! Well, you have ‘won’ on the chickens so far and lost most of your ducklings: do hope you have a pair!! [And, don’t talk about weather people put themselves in: the Giro last night, our time, was subzero in snow and sleet! Heartbreaking to see!!] . . . [oh, off topic – a signed letter should be crossing the Pond today 🙂 !]
Poppy the wanderer. Priceless.
So sorry about Boo’s moment of madness…
maybe the solution is more ducks? Lots and lots of ducks? If they look like a herd of something, maybe the it’s-moving-fast-better-grab-it reflex wouldn’t kick in?