Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Hope you are over whatever it was that you caught.

 

[farmerjan]

Sat night. 42 out now... actually hit 62 on recording thermometer. I guess it was mostly sun and some clouds here, it was that way over on the eastern part of the state when I went to the Va Poultry Breeders Show... The winds were alot lighter so not near as cold as the past 2 days have been.
There was about 1 tenth inch.... .1 ; in the rain gauge from the cold and wet we got Thursday. Not really much overall...

I still have this cold... but it is more bearable today, with the use of echinacea, goldenseal, vit C, elderberry, and taking 1 tylenol and 1 ibuprofen for the dull ache...Mostly it is a pita cough that is all loose so just annoying... I imagine it will take the week to run it's course... which is about what a cold does. As long as i don't get a sore throat from it... I can deal with it.

I did not get up super early like I would normally do, to go... since I was not showing any birds... and had a chance to walk around and look. Actually turned out to be a good day. I had offered by text several weeks ago to help but nothing ever was made firm, so I didn't offer again even though they had asked for volunteers. So, I got to visit with several "older members" of the club that were showing as well as a couple other long time breeders...
OF COURSE, Douglas... who has the nice Buff Leghorns I was going to get... looked at me and said...oh no, I FORGOT.... he has been like the superintendent of the show and said he worked late last night getting the last of the cages set up and the coop tags on them for the birds... and just forgot when he went home and was back this morning at 6 or so to open up the show for people to start coming in... He said, I promise I will get you a good trio or 2 pair... we will get together soon to do it... I gave him my phone # too...
But that might be a good thing... Because another member of the club; who is also a poultry judge like Douglas... has NH bantams like I have been looking around for... he has a TON of extra roosters but next to no hens... said he got 3 to 1 males to females hatched this past year... but would probably be able to let me get a dozen or 2 of eggs in the spring... and he sometimes goes to the poultry swap (Gilmans) that @Mini Horses and @canesisters and I went to this fall... OR... he could send some with Douglas (he had the pretty buff leghorns there that were the "culls" but they were still really nice)... In the meantime... if I get the adult birds from Douglas in the next month or so... I am going to get a couple of his NH bantam males as he said he would give me a couple to just not have to kill them or keep feeding them... So all was not lost there...
AND there was a pair of NH large fowl there in the show... found the man who had them and he has a trio of 2-3 yr olds that he wants to sell... In MD... and I got his # and will hopefully make a trip to get them in about 2 weeks... The male and female he showed were pretty nice... and the birds he wants to sell are the parents... Don't know how many others he has... but he said that he would hold them and I offered to pay him now but he said, no, what if something kills one or something else... AS we ALL KNOW, can too easily happen. He said he was going to take them to the "Poultry Congress show" which is held in Springfield Mass, at the BIG E..... in January... That show has been held then for as long as I can remember showing... He also said that he has some Alzheimers and forgets things alot (probably late 70's-early 80's ?) so I wrote down my number for him, also.... He rode with another judge that was there judging chickens... and that judge knows who I am, so I am pretty sure, that the older man will be able to remember who I am, and I will be able to get them.
Then in the process of things, another long time breeder, known him for years... who has some of the BEST Cornish chickens in the country... both large fowl and bantams, had bought some Rhode Island Red bantams as he want to fool with making a few more colors in the cornish... and there was a NH bantam cockerel in the bunch... he said I don't want him as he wanted the RIReds.... so he gave him to me. He is too young yet to tell how good his color is going to be... so I wound up coming home with just 1 single little cockerel... there were no females of anything I would consider to bring home for him for company.... so for now he will be the sole "chicken"... at least until I get the standard ones... and then we will see if the big rooster will bother him... being how he is not mature... he might be able to mix in without causing any sense of dominant behavior in the big one. The big hens might bother him... but we will see.

I really didn't want to bring home a single young bantam rooster... but it is only one chicken... so not going to break me... He might turn out to be mediocre and he might turn out to be decent... We'll see when he moults out these juvenile feathers and gets his next set... his hackles and saddle feathers are just starting to come in and his wings are what are still mostly the juvenile feathers.

Spent $20 for tickets for chances on different things they had for the "silent" auction... and won a 50lb bag of feed... so not "out" anything...got a free young rooster..... $5 for hot dog and drink at lunch... and the gas for the 275 mile round trip so I basically had a nice day for next to nothing....

Finally left about 4:30.... they were picking champions for the show, but I had had enough.... so left. Filled up with gas at 2.87 which is about 10 cents cheaper than here at home... and got home about 7-7:30...
Traffic was very heavy on the interstate.... surprising for a Saturday... but there is just more traffic on the roads all the time it seems.

I will not set the alarm tomorrow morning... for anything... as I work on fighting off this annoying cold...
I have to test tomorrow afternoon, and another farm on Monday afternoon... neither needs meters... YAY.

I left the jersey in with the calves Friday late aft... and put extra hay in the bunk... so she should have been okay... calves won't starve but they will probably be hungry tomorrow morning... I will take a 1/2 bottle extra for the jersey calf in case he wants some... and will have to take a barrel or 2 of water up for the bigger holstein that is in there too... May as well do it tomorrow and maybe more on Mon or Tuesday... while it is warmer... supposed to get mid to low 20's next weekend... I hate to haul water in the cold... the fore warnings of winter coming... It is supposed to be 60's and 40's the next couple days... then 40's and 20's for a few days... So, I will get some in the troughs... easier to break a little ice than to haul it and have to deal with dumping the 15 gal barrels and getting wet in the cold...

I'm ready to get a shower and quit for the night.

Although it was not near as cold today as the last 2 days... it was still really, really NICE to have the flannel lined jeans.... legs were comfortable all day.... They will be a "staple" for the better part of the winter now...

I did stop yesterday, on my way home from dropping off the samples to go out UPS... my car was done... Turns out it was BOTH front wheel bearings... and both lower front ball joints... $700 for parts and labor...right about 1/2 parts and 1/2 labor.... Got the key and hope to get DS to run me down to get it tomorrow.... So that ought to be good to go for a long time... There is about 240,000 miles on it and nothing in the front end has been touched up to now... except replacing the engine... nothing structural... I have NO complaints...except the "ouch" to the bank account....