by Pa Rock
Farmer
It has been so cold this week that my major focus has been on seeing that the poultry have water to drink - and the water freezes fairly damned fast! But so far all of the feathered fowl seem to be making it just fine. This morning I found nine eggs in the nesting boxes - not a bad effort on the part of eleven (or possibly twelve) hens.
I'm proud of you girls!
The adolescent peacocks have decided that they are really geese - and have begun honking! They now have a completely sealed enclosure with a flood light for heat - in which they spend the evenings. (Probably playing cards and smoking little cigars!) During the day they step outside into a completely enclosed pen. It is colder, but they prefer to be outside where they can see what is going on. Yesterday Jake, my occasional farmhand, and I were out by the peacock pen making some modifications to the chicken coop. Our work involved the occasional use of noisy electric saws - an activity which irritated some of the peacocks. A few threw up their fans and honked in protest!
I have company coming.
Valerie, a good friend with whom I worked both in Arizona and on Okinawa, will be here a week from Sunday and stay for two weeks. She will fly here from her old job in Germany, and when she leaves the Ozarks she will be flying out to her new job on Okinawa. Valerie, like myself, is a social worker. She works as a civilian for the military. While we were both employed on Okinawa, we toured Taiwan together and made two trips to Guam.
For those who have never been to the U.S. Territory of Guam, I recommend it highly. You can rent a car and circumvent the entire beautiful island in two hours. There is lots of history and breathtaking scenery on Guam, as well as American stores.
My other company will be Daniel, a psychologist with whom I worked on Okinawa. He will be here for a couple of days in mid-December. Daniel, too, will be home on leave while changing jobs. He will be going from Okinawa, where he has worked for the past five or six years, to mainland Japan. Daniel is also a civilian who works for the military. He and I visited South Korea and Taiwan together, and we were in Vietnam from Christmas Eve 2011 until New Year's Day 2012.
Daniel visited me in Arizona in June of 2013 for a couple of days in which the temperature hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit each day that he was there. Now I fear he is likely to experience the opposite temperature extreme!
I miss my travels and my friends!
Time to head back out into the cold where I will pull some winter weeds and insulate an outdoor faucet. (I have already spent an hour walking the property line and picking up trash kindly left by passing motorists.) A farmer's work is never done - and seldom convenient!
Farmer
It has been so cold this week that my major focus has been on seeing that the poultry have water to drink - and the water freezes fairly damned fast! But so far all of the feathered fowl seem to be making it just fine. This morning I found nine eggs in the nesting boxes - not a bad effort on the part of eleven (or possibly twelve) hens.
I'm proud of you girls!
The adolescent peacocks have decided that they are really geese - and have begun honking! They now have a completely sealed enclosure with a flood light for heat - in which they spend the evenings. (Probably playing cards and smoking little cigars!) During the day they step outside into a completely enclosed pen. It is colder, but they prefer to be outside where they can see what is going on. Yesterday Jake, my occasional farmhand, and I were out by the peacock pen making some modifications to the chicken coop. Our work involved the occasional use of noisy electric saws - an activity which irritated some of the peacocks. A few threw up their fans and honked in protest!
I have company coming.
Valerie, a good friend with whom I worked both in Arizona and on Okinawa, will be here a week from Sunday and stay for two weeks. She will fly here from her old job in Germany, and when she leaves the Ozarks she will be flying out to her new job on Okinawa. Valerie, like myself, is a social worker. She works as a civilian for the military. While we were both employed on Okinawa, we toured Taiwan together and made two trips to Guam.
For those who have never been to the U.S. Territory of Guam, I recommend it highly. You can rent a car and circumvent the entire beautiful island in two hours. There is lots of history and breathtaking scenery on Guam, as well as American stores.
My other company will be Daniel, a psychologist with whom I worked on Okinawa. He will be here for a couple of days in mid-December. Daniel, too, will be home on leave while changing jobs. He will be going from Okinawa, where he has worked for the past five or six years, to mainland Japan. Daniel is also a civilian who works for the military. He and I visited South Korea and Taiwan together, and we were in Vietnam from Christmas Eve 2011 until New Year's Day 2012.
Daniel visited me in Arizona in June of 2013 for a couple of days in which the temperature hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit each day that he was there. Now I fear he is likely to experience the opposite temperature extreme!
I miss my travels and my friends!
Time to head back out into the cold where I will pull some winter weeds and insulate an outdoor faucet. (I have already spent an hour walking the property line and picking up trash kindly left by passing motorists.) A farmer's work is never done - and seldom convenient!
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