House-a-Keeping...You Need Cleaning?

"Hello, you've reached housekeeping, how may we assist you?"

"Cluck, Cluck, Bok, Bok, Cluck, Cheep, Cheep, Cluck, Cluck, Bok!"

"Absolutely, we will send someone out right away to take care of that for you." A nice warm day lends itself to the cleaning of the chicken houses......all six of them!No, there is no outbreak of some strange virus in our area. Countrychick and I both wear face masks to protect ourselves from all of the chicken dust...and the smell of course.

The chickens just love it when we do a deep cleaning and fill their houses with fresh pine shavings.

And then Countrychick gives the bedding a nice "fluffing" and the chickens go berserk with happiness. Happy cows may come from California, but Happy Chickens come from our backyard!

Aprilcicles

Whatever happened to the "drip, drip, drip of an April Shower?" April showers bring May flowers...or weeds in my case, but the snow....really, come on, the snow needs to GO!! We had a fast moving storm come through last week and it left several inches of snow in our valley. I had to put my car in 4-wheel drive to get over the road leading out of our valley to get to work. The fields which are springing to life with green were covered in a blanket of white. The temperature dropped to an amazing 28 degrees! As the snow melted off the roof it formed the icicles below. It felt more like a cold winters day than a spring day in April!

The next day saw our temperatures climb back into the 60's and the snow melted and disappeared just as fast as it appeared! Two days after this chilly spring storm our temps were in the low 80's! Amazing weather!

Just Stuff

Thought I had better drop in and say...Hi. I have been very busy at work. It is a fun kind of busy, but busy non the less. I have been planning an Open House for our 4-H program and the big day is this Thursday. I have had the help of my 4-H teen ambassadors and we have been busy making posters, putting up fliers around town, writing articles for the newspaper, etc...the past few weeks. I still have a few posters to make and a trip to the store for extra supplies and decorations. Hopefully all will come together nicely on Thursday afternoon as we set up for the Open House. I have eight clubs participating and we sent out enough fliers for all of the fourth, fifth and sixth graders in the school system, so we are hoping for a good turn out.

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Countrychick and I will be at our local Community Garden giving presentations on poultry and using chickens for organic pest control. Chickens love bugs, but they will eat your plants too if you are not careful. It should be a fun day as we will be presenting to first, second, third and fourth graders. Some of these young children will be seeing a chicken for the first time! I can't wait!

Okay, it is time to get back to work on our monthly 4-H newsletter. Another of the many things I have going on this week.......

Day Hike and Hidden Wonders

A few weekends back, Hayman, Countrychick and I went for a day hike. The photo below shows the area and the entrance to the canyon that we took our little trek in. It was a beautiful spring day with bright blue skies and a slight chill in the spring air.

After unloading the car and packing on the gear, we headed up the trail with Hayman in the lead. He was packing our picnic lunch in his pack along with other essentials and his fly-rod of course.Hayman stopped along the trail to point out the moss growing on the rocks. This rock had an interesting pattern of moss on it. I see a little winged Dragon, what do you see? The photo below shows debris that piled up from a flash flood that happened back in the 1980's. The creek is about 30 feet below the debris piles. The canyon became blocked when a flash flood occurred causing the water, trees, logs, etc...to back up into the canyon. The pressure from the build-up finally became so great that the canyon blew and water rushed with such force that it caused damage and closed the highway which is located about three miles from the mouth of the canyon. The creek flows down and under the highway when there is enough snow pack to cause a good spring melt off.
Stopping for a rest on a natural "bench" of rock.

The gentle meandering creek. There was a tiny bit of ice left around the edges of the little drop off. The trail became very narrow and full of shale. We had to watch our footing!

A nest left from last year awaiting the arrival of new occupants.
Countrychick near the waterfall. The waterfall still had ice on it.

A view of the waterfall...up close and personal. It was stunning!
We came across these holes further along up the trail. Hayman informed us that they were drilled into the rock at one point for blasting purposes. I believe the Army Corp. of Engineers was essential in building this trail and at one time they must have planned to blast part of the rock along the trail.
This is the view looking back out over Orovada. The fields were just starting to show their spring green.
This tree was located where we stopped to have lunch. A woodpecker had been very busy at one time or another and left his mark behind.

We enjoyed our hike and seeing the wonder of nature and the hidden treasures that await to be found in our lovely high desert landscape.

Tuesday's Quote

"Live in the present and forgive your past."

Happy Easter

This is Bob (say it with a French accent.) Bub and his girls wish you a Very Happy Easter!Bub with his lovely ladies...Lila, Rena and Bertha. Bub is a very happy egg!

(Countrychick and I colored eggs this morning...we got a tad carried away...or maybe we were on some sort of jellybean high!)

The Easter Chicken made a stop at our house and left these lovely Easter boots for Countrychick. One must have stylish boots for doing "chicken" chores in!
From our house to yours....we wish you a very happy Easter Sunday!

Now where did I hide those eggs?????

Take a Guess

On Saturday Hayman, Countrychick and I went on a hike. We hiked a canyon called Falls Canyon which is located twenty or so miles from our home. It was a beautiful day and I took lots of photos, but I have not had time to get them all loaded, let alone time to blog the past few days. This track was spotted by Hayman as we neared the end of the hike (the trail was getting muddy and we had to turn back after hiking four miles in and up). So take a guess....what critter does this track belong to? Have you looked closely?

This photo is a tad fuzzy, because yours truly was starting shake in her boots!

The track belongs to a young mountain lion. Yes, we have many of them in the mountains that surround our area. They are beautiful, majestic cats. We were in it's territory and if it was around, I'm sure it was watching us. We enjoyed our day and I will post more photos when time allows.

Hooray...It's Friday

I have had a very busy week at work! Yesterday I spent the day with 280 third graders at the USDA/Nevada Farm Bureau, Ag in the Classroom event. It was an outstanding experience! I will post photos of the event this weekend. For now...I will leave you with the following quote:

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship."

Louisa May Allcot