“…And the fewer who don’t even care.”
Miscellany on an undeservedly beautiful day.
I moved the laundry operation back outdoors this morning. Didn’t even have to heat the water to get it…well, not warm precisely but not at all numbing. I was working with music playing through the Lair’s open window, having lit the woodstove briefly to take the chill off the cabin but now the temps were already near 60 and still rising. And it occurred to me that my musical tastes have changed a lot in the last few years. I used to be practically emo in the things I liked to listen to, y’know, music to slit your wrists by. Lots of darker stuff from Leonard Cohen and Emmylou Harris. Not so much anymore. Now I want it more upbeat and cheerful – which means I should probably buy some different tunes, since I’ve been listening to the same recordings for decades.
Been doing some recurring chores today…
These are some of Landlady’s hens. That’s Agnes the Red in the center, one of the three original Rhode Island Reds. She’s been perfectly integrated into the flock for a long time now, since I moved her here when she tried to kill one of her original flockmates. There’s nobody here she can push around, so she became a model citizen. Funny how that works.
That’s Mayor Quimby, the only surviving cock. Landlady has decreed that even if we end up slaughtering the Brahma hens – because they kind of suck as egg-layers – he will survive into the next iteration of the flock. We’ve had a lot of problems with trouble-making roosters, but he’s easier to get along with. Once in a great while he tries to defend the eggs against me, but I just kick his ass and he remembers why that’s a bad idea.
Every month or six weeks I top off the electrolyte in Landlady’s batteries. It only takes a few minutes as long as I don’t let it go longer than that.
The local drilling company is putting down a new well on a ranching exception at a corner of Landlady’s property. I disputed whether they were really on the exception, but it looks like I lost. Not that I mind another well – the more the merrier – but I do deplore that this means a new stock tank, and the Secret Lair is right in the cattle’s path to it. This will make the cattle situation much worse in the coming summer. According to the well-drillers, the lease got bought by a big ranching operation and I think I’m going to try and make friends with the guy they’ve got tending the cattle. I don’t want any problems with him and the boys, and driving off the cattle may no longer be a workable option.
On the way home I stopped by the range for a little pistol practice…
I keep spray paint in an old ammo can near the target rack, and try to remember to paint the targets when I know Ian’s coming. Makes for better video, if nothing else. But it fades in the sun so fast I normally don’t bother. The new chain arrangement is working much better than others I’ve tried. Now and then we shoot through one, but repairs never take long.
I was afraid that the new well would mean that you had to put up with a resident a herd of thirsty cattle. Also, it’s been a while since you have blogged about the chickens. I guess all has been going smoothly with them?
Yeah, everything has been placid with the chickens. Most of the older ones have finished up their molt, so now Landlady is coming up to five or six dozen eggs instead of the usual nothing, and that’s really been the only chicken-related change.
Lions are lying down with lambs, most likely. It’s 60 there; it was -1 here when I got up. You have nice dirt to drive on; all the roads here are white, with snow & freezing rain scheduled to arrive about 1200 tomorrow.
May I come stay with you, Uncle Joel? I’ll eat the boys’ leftovers ( as if such things exist) so as not to inconvenience you.
Seriously, congrats. I’m glad you got a good break. You were due one.