Long Hard winter

Winter came early this fall. Frost in early October and then got cold.. and colder.. and coldest. No Indian summer.  Garden was not worked to be ready for spring. Plants on the patio not attended to. Chairs and tables left where we used them last.   Not a happy state of affairs.

DH was suffering terribly with his hip and unable to help. BUT!! he gave in and we set the date and ordered his new hip.  The replacement was scheduled for January 17.  On Dec 19 the surgeon called and asked if he could come in early Dec 20 instead. Wow!! No time to fret and worry. He had it done with the Mayo team in Rochester MN.  He is one tough farmer. The nurses and Doctors at the hospital said he was their star patient. I had a cot put in his room and stayed the 3 days he was there. Nurses liked it because I took care of little things, like fetching something he may drop on the floor. Help him get a drink. Nothing technical, but enough to let the nurses attend to more important things.  He is doing very well since coming home 2 weeks ago. I stay nearby in case he needs anything, but as soon as he can climb the 2 sets of stairs to get to his room on the 3rd floor, I will go back to work at the upholstery shop.

Fred put together a hay bale shelter for the geese we bought last fall. It is open to the South, guess which way the wind is coming from today!!  I want to put another bale in front to give them a place to hunker down when the wind blows from the South. Maybe tomorrow we will get that done.

We added a goose and a gander, a runner duck, a mallard duck, a polish rooster, and red silky rooster and hen to our flock this past Fall.  We had a guest at the barn that gave us lots of advice on poultry. He advised us to get a gander to protect our chickens from predators. Hawks were one of our worries. It works. I watched a couple hawks fly right on by when they were searching for dinner. That gander stretched his wings out and started flapping when he saw those hawks. He runs at the fence and hisses if he thinks our dog, Alfie, is too close.  A bonus is the goose has started laying eggs. They are huge.. one goose egg equals 3 large hen eggs.

I must write on this blog more often, so I will remember how to get in to write on it. Lots of fun things going on, but I forget how to work the blog. So this is it for this time, and will try to do it more often just to keep the memory of how to do it.