In Which We Get The Entirety Of Winter, In Three Days

The day before Christmas we got a pretty fair snowstorm, it laid down around four to six inches of snow.

Most of it on our cars, of course...

Later on that day, things took a turn for the weird as the wind kicked back up again, blowing shrieking gusts that blew the snow around like a scene straight out of National Geographic show on Antarctica.

I stuck my head out just long enough to snap a couple of pictures, hollering, 'Ow, ow, OW!' as tiny ice pellets peppered my face. So ridiculously painful that I couldn't help but laugh.

The neighbor's house had a cool, wavy drift on the right hand side of the roof...

Before the entire house almost disappeared under a windy onslaught.

But how are things in the chicken yard, I hear you ask--how do the chickens feel about this weaponized snow?

I dunno, 'cause I ain't goin' out there!

We know when Mother Nature has won, and wisely decide to stay in the house and admire the sparkly tree.

The kid put her snowbound time to good use by constructing the gingerbread house kit we'd gotten her.

 

Don't all gingerbread houses feature a crime scene?

 

She says the other penguin committed the murder, but that house is looking awfully angry...

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house...

Came the sound of two parents hauling a truly gigantic Yamaha keyboard out to the living room!

Pardon the murky pics, I took these in the dark.

 

But at last, Christmas came!

I got the husband these two pins from Roamin Bison Workshop on Etsy, and they are GORGEOUS.

 

He got me two novels by John Scalzi--although 'The Kaiju Preservation Society' is a preorder, gonna have to wait on that one...and I'm gonna have to wait on 'Redshirts' as well, since I'm 1/3 of the way through 'Going Postal' by Terry Pratchett right now. Bonus pic of the Effin Birds coffee cup I got last year.

I also got some nifty pins and stickers! A geometric dragonfly (which fits in nicely with the origami I make) by Mary Capaldi, along with a cute cicada sticker. The 'Chaotic Good' pin is from Look Human and I can't wait to wear it.

And then there's this wonderful brass spider hair fork from Bronze Smith on Etsy.

All the way from Wales, the kid got this jaw-droppingly cool Mari Lwyd coloring book from Skulls And Sheets.

 

Bonus envelope art, yay!

A can't decide which page I like best!

And lastly, I forgot to get a pic, but I got the kid this great, 'Be Crow Do Crimes' patch, also from Roamin Bison...because everyone needs a patch depicting a knife-wielding corvid, don't they?

So now, three days later, we've got another snowstorm moving in, which is supposed to dump anywhere from three to seven inches of fresh snow on top of the stuff that is still layin' around from the other day.

Looks like an excellent time to stay inside, make cookies and remark, 'Isn't that pretty!'

Snow, Finally

 After a LONG stint with no snow or rain, we finally got both in droves--and all in the last two days. So when after two solid days of constant rain that left the chicken yard a treacherous, muddy mess--not that chickens sliding about in mud isn't hilarious--today we have a good four inches of snow. Raining when I went to bed last night, snowed in when I got up this morning. Climate change is fun!

The apple tree in the front yard...

And the crepe myrtle in the back yard.

The view of the chicken coop from the back porch. Yeah, I ain't goin' out there.

The kid got this amazing shot of a frosty feather...

I love the colors and changes of light in this shot.

Also, Nyx, the Midnight Marans hen we hatched this spring, has come into lay, gifting us with dark brown eggs.

But of course, since it's us, Nyx isn't quite your normal Midnight Marans--she sports both soft vulture hocks and some white wing feathers and brown head feathers here and there--none of which she is supposed to have. So I've been calling our little oddity a Midnight Marauder Marans. Hey, why not? In truth, I've been kind of holding my breath to see what color eggs she'd pop off with.

Luckily for the chickens, I'd held back a great big pumpkin in reserve, since I knew this snowstorm was coming. I'd planned to set it out with the webcam inside to broadcast Chickam, but our freezing temps canceled that. Instead, today it'll get cut up and placed in the run, since the chickens refuse to come out--chicken foot must never touch snow, after all.

But they are not pleased. Kana from three days ago, in happier, snow-free days.

In the  background is Spork, who waded into the water dish to play with the ice chunks we'd broken loose that morning. The little feathered weirdos will stand in freezing water to play with ice, but adamantly refuse to walk in snow.

Go figure.

Whoooos That In My Tree?

The kid heard our local crows yelling like crazy, and discovered our resident Great Horned Owl snoozing in one of the elm trees that separate our yard from the neighbors.

This is the guy who likes to sit out there 'Who-Who'-ing his brains out all the time, so he's pretty chill with us standing under his tree and commiserating what it's like to have two crows and a hummingbird harassing your ass.

Because owls just aren't safe from the tiny fury that IS a hummingbird when you are too close to his feeder.

Poor guy. Sorry dude, nothin' I can do.

Chicken Bomb

 Oh...terrific. Pele, one of two hens in the house right now due to all the wildfire smoke, has decided that now, yes--NOW is the perfect time to molt. Pele has a congenital respiratory issue that causes her to wheeze very badly when it gets smoky like this, so for the time being she's in the house, occupying one of our bathrooms. The other hen is 9 year old, mostly blind Wiggles--the rooboys have decided that she is a GILF and have been after her too much, so she's keeping Pele company. This super-heavy smoke is expected to last at least another week, lucky us.

So here's what we woke up to this morning, which prompted a loud, involuntary 'Oh, God!' from me...feathers creeping out into the hallway.

Pele has chosen her spot (as humans we have -zero- say in this, the chicken will simply return to the chosen spot again and again like some sort of weirdo farmer's perpetual motion thing the minute your back is turned), up on the counter so she can admire herself in the mirror--chickens love gazing at themselves. So more feathers adorn the countertop.

The rest of the bathroom is beginning to swim in feathers, all we can do is clean them up and wait for the inevitable Pele-bomb to come...because Pele is one of those chickens who only indulges in a HARD molt--we're talking uber-creepy, naked chicken here.

Going by what she's done in the past, this is what we'll have to look forward to in a week or so:

YEAH--can't wait.

Smoke Gets In Your...Well, Everything

So right on the heels of the Tamarack fire, which burned to within 4 1/2 miles of us, comes the Caldor fire!

We had lots of smokey nastiness from the Tamarack fire, then the Dixie fire...but Caldor seems to want to up the ante and show what it can do.

Just for reference, normally our backyard, coop & skies look like this: 

Today, our air quality went to shit and by 2PM it looked like this:

It only got worse from there.

At 4PM the air quality climbed into the dark purple 'Hazardous' range (the worst it can get) at 488.

And at that point things took a turn for the surreal. Our normal time for full dark this time of year is 8-9PM. Today it got full dark at 4PM--all due to the Caldor fire smoke. Bear in mind that this fire is 35 miles away from us. The light flecks in the photos are raining bits of ash. The same view as above, out my back door towards the chicken coop at 4PM.

You can almost see the chicken coop, below. The chickens were so addled at this point they didn't go to roost in the coop as they normally do when it gets dark, they just sat down wherever they were in the yard. The kid and my husband went out and picked them up one by one and stuck them in the coop.

The view from my front porch, looking across the street at 4:45PM. Full dark at this point, the flash fired. Fairly heavy ashfall.

It stayed like this, only lightening a bit at 6PM. This is the same shot as the one above. My daughter said it looked like the sun went down and then came back up...except it was rising in the southwest.

All of this is absolutely unreal, never in my life have I seen anything like this, and hope I never do again.

Chickam Chicks, Eight Weeks Old!

After much (no--MUCH) drama and chasing about, we got pictures of the kids. Eight weeks old, they are getting tossed out into the big, bad world with the adult chickens.

So in order of hatch, oldest first, here they are! All were hatched from eggs laid by our backyard flock, unless otherwise noted. Pardon the crummy pictures, I did my best with very uncooperative subjects.

Jonesy--We didn't hatch Jonesy, we got her at the feed store, and she is two weeks older than the rest of the chicks. A buff Orpington, Jones is a very sweet hen.

The Leaning Tower of Chicken.

Kana--Kana's daddy is Bobbie, our buff Brahma roo, mom is either Strychnine, our gray Giant Cochin/Brahma mix hen or Tingle, a mixed breed Easter Egger. Another sweet, pretty hen who refused to stand during picture time, preferring instead to be a chicken puddle. Here she poses like she should be holding a current newspaper with the date displayed, accompanied by a ransom note.

Moosebaby--Moose is a very uppity rooboy, Daddy is likely Bacon, our bantam Belgian d'Anvers rooster, mom is kinda up for grabs but is likely one of our bantam hens, maybe Paprika or Marble.

Taffy--Taffy is a sweet little rooster, Daddy is likely Milton, our tortoishell cochin/d'Uccle mix roo, mom is one of our black bantam Cochin mix hens.

Octavius--Octavius is a very friendly little girl, daddy is likely Bobbie, our buff Brahma roo, mom one of our larger black hens. Octavius is kinda thinking about growing a classic Cochin downward-pointing bun tail, she'll get back to you when she decides.

Ouzo--A white Leghorn (Boombox) mix, daddy possibly Milton. Ouzo, together with his brother Harvey, win the Baby Butthead award. Both rooboys freaked out and ran around the house during picture time, requiring chasing and doing their level best to get behind the couch and refusing to come out for the next 5 years.

Saber--Another roo, Saber's mom is likely Bonesaw, daddy likely Bacon. Saber has interesting feathering like his mom, it looks like feathers from three different chickens just kinda stuck on willy-nilly.

Biscuit--Biscuit's mom is Cheerio (she looks just like her), dad is likely Bobbie.

Sybil Disobediance--Sybil is another roo, daddy probably Bacon, mom one of the brown mixed bantam hens.

Harvey--Ah, the other half of the rooboy Baby Butthead twins. Harvey and Ouzo were both informed of how handy the junior-chick-sized stewpot was after chasing them hither and yon. Harvey's mom is Boombox, our white Leghorn, daddy is Bobbie the buff Brahma roo.

Spork--Spork is a Dominique chick from the feed store, a hen. She was friendly the minute we brought her home, and demands attention and pets. She is also steadfastly resisting growing a tail, but it is coming in nonetheless.

And no, Spork isn't leaning, it must be you...are you sure you feel okay?

When your chicken tries to gaslight you right out of the gate, beware.

Slick Charlie--Another feed store chick, Charlie is a partridge Rock hen. She is very sweet and has finally given up looking scruffy in favor of a proper suit of feathers.

Nyx--Now, Nyx is a bit of a mystery. Very shy but still sweet, she is supposed to be a Midnight Majesty Marans hen. But Nyx is growing undeniable vulture hocks (though soft feathers and not stiff) and has some white primary wing feathers coming in that are not supposed to be there. I suspect she is a bit of a sport, so I call her a Midnight Marauder Marans.

Charlotte-- Charlotte was a late addition, she was the one in baby jail for weeks due to her smaller size. She is a dark Brahma hen, and two weeks younger than the rest of the chicks. Charlotte has been doing the Brahma thing though, and eating...and eating...and eating. Growing all kinds of long legs and chicken meat. Char is pathologically friendly and DEMANDS attention, frequently shoving aside the other chicks if you accidentally pet one of them instead of her, foolish human. In this picture Char has been enjoying corn, apparantly rolling in it so it's all over her chest, the little slobette.

So there we go! As usual, the roos and extra hens we decide not to keep will be rehomed. Yesterday all of the chicks went out into the flock except for Taffy and Charlotte, they go out in two weeks--Charlotte being too young as yet, and Taffy kept with her to keep her company, as it's cruel to keep chickens by themselves--they are flock animals and require company.