Sunday 25 November 2018

My, How You've Grown

Wacky weather. Just days ago, the weather was so nasty that some buses were cancelled, snow plows were out, there was just a LOT of heavy, wet snow. Then the temperature dropped! Now we have had a mild spell, some rain, and much of the snow is gone. Great chunks of it tobogganed off our metal roof with thuds.

If you recall, I mentioned that husband put up a coop heater that looks like a little flat screen.

There it is, mounted to the wall behind their roosts. It does a fine job keeping them comfortable. They are, in fact, able to withstand quite cold temperatures like other birds in the wild do. They fluff themselves up, sit with their feathers over their feet, even huddle close together. The "flat screen tv" keeps it just warm enough. They also need ventilation in the winter to release the build up of moisture in the coop. The remodelling of the coop this past summer now provides that perfectly with two vents up at ceiling height, away from the birds so they don't get a draft.

However, we just went through a wicked cold snap, ridiculous for November with temperatures of "feels like -18 degrees Celsius". Because I give the birds the option of stepping outside through their little chicken door, the heat does not stay trapped in the coop during the day and their water kept freezing. I would smash through it in the morning, but by evening it was frozen again, sometimes almost solid in a bucket. It was time to drag out a purchase made a few years ago that never got used, until now.

Voila! The heated water bucket to the rescue. Because husband redid the wiring to the coop there was no problem attaching the bucket cord to a short extension cord which I secured to the conduit with some zip ties (don't want any crazy flapping to pull down any cords). That should do a great job keeping their water from freezing in the next cold snap (which I am hoping doesn't come again for a little while!)

I grabbed my phone to take some pictures of the roosters while I was out there because they are quite remarkable now. Here is what they looked like when I first got them at only about four months old.




The orangey / light coloured one on the left is Buffy. The brown /black one in front is Nugget, and the brown /black one at the back, right is Bruce. At the time I didn't even know they were roosters. Have a look at them now, at about seven to eight months.


Here is Buffy, all windblown and sexy with his white tail feathers.


Here is Nugget, no longer just a little chicken nugget, being a little younger than the other two, not quite as magnificent yet...


For the grand finale, here is Bruce. Normally his tail feathers are in a beautiful, iridescent black/green arch, but it was windy today. He is the biggest of the three, the dominant rooster, and quite handsome. He is, however, approachable, not at all a jerk like the tiny Rusty we once had. I am trying to get rid of the other two, and I intend to keep Bruce. Unfortunately, nobody is interested in two free, gorgeous roosters. I want them to join a flock, not become supper. I personally will not be eating them, that's for sure. They have names and personalities.

Tomorrow, husband and I are taking his mother (is in a senior's home, has dementia, is perfectly healthy otherwise), to have her first cataract surgery. It has been an incredibly long wait to get this done. There have been initial consults, follow-up appointments, and of course the usual ridiculous wait time. We kept wondering when the surgery would be, hearing nothing. Husband phoned Friday only to find out that they are closed in the afternoon. Then, much to our surprise, we got a phone call at 5:45 p.m., Friday, as a courtesy call from the hospital reminding up of her surgery... THIS MONDAY at 7:30 a.m.  What????

Husband told the person he was talking to that he had not received this information. She replied that they had let his mother know. Oh good lord. She would have forgotten the conversation within moments of hanging up the phone. He politely, yet firmly let them know that he had left instructions that he was the one to be contacted, not her, as she has short term memory issues. So, much scrambling was done, arranging to book time off work, informing the nursing home, finding paperwork, realizing there was a prescription for eye drops that she was supposed to be using a day before the surgery... Everything is now arranged. We will bring her here to spend the night at our house, as the hospital is not close by and we will have to leave early the morning to get her there for the beginning time of 7:30. All of this running around and last minute arranging could have been avoided if instructions had been followed. We've just had too many incidents of people messing up, not doing their jobs, that we almost come to expect it now.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the surgery (it's laser surgery now) will go smoothly and there won't be any issues. They only do one eye at a time, so hopefully when it is time for the other eye, we will be contacted with an appointment time well in advance. I also hope that this cataract surgery improves her quality of life, as she does enjoy watching tv, but must have a tough time of it right now with her vision as bad as it is.

Apart from all of that, there were fantastic sales on at Canadian Tire this weekend and I bought new outdoor Christmas lights for our rail fence. We have had multi-coloured lights, but I wanted all white to make it a bit more "classy". This is called 'warm white'. Unfortunately, I underestimated, so I shall go back in and buy two more boxes, still at the sale price. Today was a perfect day to put the lights on the fence because it wasn't too cold and I could have my thin gloves on to be able to wire them into place.

That's it for me, hope you had a good weekend!

39 comments:

  1. Good luck with the cataract surgery tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks! (And welcome, I'm not sure if you've commented before, or maybe not recently?)

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  2. Oh My! What handsome boys you have raised. You should be proud of them...they are pretty boys for sure. I am glad you got your heater in the coop for them. I have used a heated birdbath for years for my winter bird feeding. I won't be doing it at this new place this year--next year though.

    I hope you MIL's cataract surgery goes well. Poor woman. Dementia is such a horrible thing.

    Have a wonderful Sunday night- xo Diana

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    1. Yes, it really is, but then I think of Susie and her husband, and I know we are lucky that she is otherwise healthy.
      We have a birdbath that the birds never use. Don't know why not.

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  3. How I hope your nursing care exceeds ours, down here. The surgery will go well, I'm sure, and exceed expectations. It will be interesting to hear what MIL thinks of it.

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    1. I'm hoping she notices a big change, maybe even doesn't have to wear glasses? I don't know that we have better nursing care here, just free. But as I said, even though we have an excellent health care system in that it is "free", our wait times to have procedures, or even regular appointments is ridiculous.

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  4. Bruce is gorgeous, hope you find homes for the other two. That's maddening about letting you know at the last minute. We've been lucky so far with medical scheduling, I missed one appointment and no one called me to remind me, but that was my fault for not keeping better track.
    Hope the treatment helps your Mother-in-law.

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    1. Thanks you! I know you've been well acquainted with health care recently!

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  5. Well they are getting to be big boys, now! I used to have white lights on the tree for years thinking they looked better but they died one Xmas and all I could find at the last minute were coloured, which I just love now. Devolving taste as I get older, perhaps?

    Your hospital tale is so common these days, yet following simple instructions isn't rocket science (or rather brain surgery!). I hope it goes well for her, and you with the sleep over.

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  6. I chose the coloured lights a few years ago because I remembered that special childhood feeling of seeing coloured Christmas lights and being so excited. Now I want something a bit more simple, but I still have the coloured lights in case I change my mind again.

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  7. Too bad about the hospital mixup. Fingers crossed for a successful outcome. Dangerous to give your roosters names - now you won't be able to part with them!

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  8. Hope her surgery goes well. Still recovering from this bitter cold snap, brrr.

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    1. Holy cow, this morning we got significant wet snow - Mother Nature, make up your mind!

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  9. WOW! Your birds are stunners! I couldn't have them for dinner, either. Glorious. I might have to try to paint one of them if I ever get time to paint again.

    Good luck with the surgery. That's gotta be tough and made all the worse when people don't call the right folks to let them know. Hang in. I hope it all goes very well.

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    1. Thanks Jeanie- they would make magnificent subjects, if they would just stop moving around!

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  10. Yes, your little "boy" roosters did grow up to be handsome cocka-doodle-doos! But we know from experience that more than one rooster in a small flock makes for nothing but trouble. Good luck finding homes for the two who didn't make the cute.

    It seems that there are so many . . . what would you call it? . . . disconnections in all types of businesses (health care included) today. It's kind of scary when it comes to medical procedures and hospital care. Hope all goes well with your MIL. What would she do without you and your husband to handle it all for her?

    Our weather went from really cold (early this year), to warm and melty, and now we're heading into very cold weather again. Lost almost all our snow cover which isn't good for the bare ground now with the cold coming back. Sigh.

    P.S. I prefer the white little lights, too.

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    1. So far they aren't attacking each other (they're actually afraid of the hens!!). Yes, medical mix ups are scary. When we got to the hospital early this morning, they had none of my husband's contact information. Now they do, so hopefully for the second eye it would go better.

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  11. My Jenn your birds are magnificent, Bruce looks like one with attitude. I do hope all goes well with your MiL's eye surgery. Silly slip ups from the nursing home. Yeah to lots of Christmas lights. I can never decide which I like better, all white (warm or cool) or the multi lights SO I have my upstairs tree with warm white lights & the horse tree in the family room in multi lights, that way no one is disappointed. Hope you have a good week. ... Mary-Lou =^..^=

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    1. Two Christmas trees? My husband keeps suggesting this, but for me that's twice the storage of ornaments, twice the clean up... (we have a real tree). My mom spent many years in nursing homes and there were some significant mistakes! It wasn't the nursing home that made this mistake, however. Miscommunication between Dr.'s office and hospital. Bruce is actually a gentle giant.

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  12. Those chickens look more comfortable than me.

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    1. They don't have a lot of deep thoughts, and I provide for their needs, so life is pretty easy!

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  13. Your roosters are gorgeous! (Sorry guys, if I've offended you by not saying handsome, but I think gorgeous is more emphatic! :) ) I hope the surgery and recovery goes well!

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    1. The surgery went very well, recovery will take a little longer than usual because her cataract was so significant.

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  14. So enjoyed your post and pictures. Have a wonderful day.

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  15. Why can't people follow simple instructions? WHY? My mom gets lots of calls for my dad, who doesn't know what time it is, where he is and insists he lives in Ohio (they live in Vermont). The callers always insist on talking to him and I told my mom to just go ahead and let them. That would take care of any second calls.

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    1. I meant to comment on the beauty (handsomeness) of your roosters! I have two and they are both gorgeous. I'm trying to see if they will coexist peacefully and, if so, will keep both. Otherwise, I'll have to make the tough decision of who stays and who goes.

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    2. I smiled about your dad. My MIL presents very well. She's spry, looks younger than she is, has fabulous stories to tell, but about five minutes in, people start to realize she's Dory.

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  16. Your roosters are beautiful. I agree, dementia is not a very nice thing. Your MIL is lucky to have your help and care. Here's hoping her eye surgery goes well and she can go back quickly to have the other eye done. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

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    1. Thank you, Edna. She is at a senior's home, so the nurses there will administer her drops and put her eye patch on at night - they are great, there. I think the other eye won't be for at least another month.

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  17. Great photographs of your roosters.
    Hoping your MIL eye surgery goes well.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thanks, it did go very well. Only about 20 minutes in total and she didn't feel a thing!

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  18. Well, I'm late getting to this post, so after reading some comments, I see that everything went well with the surgery! That is great news.

    Wow, those birds have grown. And they are gorgeous! They also have some fancy quarters, the buggers :)

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  19. Hi Martha!! Yes, they do have pretty fancy accommodations, thanks to hubby.

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  20. Hi Jenn :) I'm a little late too so I'm glad to hear the surgery went well. I get so frustrated when people slack on their jobs...you go to so many lengths to ensure things are done as you NEED them to be done and people seem so flippant about it. Ugh.

    I LOVE ADORE LOVE your birds!!! They are wonderful and such great ideas for keeping them and their water from freezing!!! Lovely! When we get chickens in the future, we won't be eating them. They'll have names too and hopefully lots of eggs for us. :)

    Our weather got mild again too but I believe the snow is here to stay now until May, sigh...can I start complaining yet??? I'll wait until January! :)

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    1. Yes, oh yes, you can start complaining. It's the Canadian way. That will be exciting when you decide to get chickens. It's fun naming them. -Jenn

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