'Twas a Dark, Stormy Night.....

Well, so far this season, we have dodged four tornado warnings. Two of the funnels took a nearly identical track about 4 miles east of here and angled away to the northeast. The third and forth - which were last night - were a bit closer. We actually heard the sirens from town go off.

There were several reports of tornadoes and high winds from all over eastern Nebraska. A lot of creeks and streams are flooding or near flood stage. The problems are nowhere near what the people are experiencing in Iowa and other states, but it is devastating to those involved.

It reminds me of 1993. We lived near Paxico, KS at the time, and I worked for the State of Kansas. My wife and I ended up helping to sand bag the Kansas River near Wamego and St Mary's, Kansas. It was an interesting event.

After the waters receded, we were able to go to the spillway at Tuttle Creek Dam (near Manhattan). The water had eroded the base of the spillway to where it became a geological "playground". It was said that you could look back into history several thousand years.

While interesting, it's not an event I would enjoy seeing repeated....

Last night we had lots of lightening, lots of wind, and - what seemed like - lots of rain. We ended up with right at an inch of rain - it seemed like 3 times that much. We could tell the wind was blowing hard by looking out at the trees, but couldn't really HEAR it.

We both kept a watchful eye on the radar and one hand on a dog, just in case we had to "Hit The Hole" (a concrete hole under our porch). Thankfully God didn't let it come to that.

There might be bugs and spiders down there......

Today was cooler, but humid. I worked a bit on the chicken house to get it ready for the broilers when they get a bit older. I HOPE to finish it tomorrow or Saturday morning. It's pretty close to being done.

I ended up moving the Cornish Cross hen and her Lone chick today. I needed to start getting the barn ready for hay and she was in the way. Out of - if I remember right - 4 eggs under her, only one hatched. Today was his 1 week birthday. I moved him in to a small brooder box with 3 other small chicks from Orschlens. They are a week or two older, but not much bigger. So far, so good. We'll see how it goes.

Mom did NOT want to leave her nest, though. This evening, she was sitting on a hay bale near where she hatched her chick. I carried her back to the coop and set her on a roost. She stayed, so maybe she will be ok. I hope that she goes broody again some time soon. Now that I know she is willing to set, I will put more eggs under her if she does. She has the body to cover about 3 dozen.......LOL!

While I was working in the chicken house today, I heard a "fog horn" go off. It was LOUD and high pitched, just like those "canned" horns you used to hear at ball games. It turned out to be one of the Cornish-X hens that didn't like me in HER coop. Even though I was on the other side, she felt "violated". I turned to look right at her, when she did it again.

NOTE - NEVER stand within 4 feet of a hen that is capable of letting loose a foghorn blast, without ear protection - especially if said hen is in a metal building......

Sometimes I think these birds are part goose....although they walk like a duck....

Either way, I couldn't hear for an hour...

Yesterday afternoon, I hooked up the 8N to my Letz grinder and made chicken feed. I emptied my "Cat Torture Device" (patent pending.....) and mixed in several loaves of dry bread. Our neighbors came back from "the city" with some more bread from the surplus store, so I have that hanging to dry now.

It seems like just a few days ago that the pullets I bought couldn't figure out what whole corn was. Now, when I toss it out, they have learned to "body slam" with the rest of them. It's funny to see the heavy Cornish-X birds just stand there and wait for the corn to hit the ground. The other birds see the grain and come running. They will try to body slam the Cornish out of the way, but end up just bouncing off.
They get their share, though - all crops are full.

I THINK we are going to make cheese again in the morning. Deb is also making some yogurt in a machine her mom gave her. Hopefully it will turn out good.

Both of us like yogurt.