Rancho Sin Pollos (Ranch Without Chickens)

 

Welcome to the "Rancho Relaxo" blog for February. Well...this month's edition is pretty much on time. It's been somewhat settled down around here and things are only frenetic; glad to slow down some. 

Part of the regression to sub-sonic speed is related to Connie's recovery from the nasty fall she experienced just prior to Christmas. For a couple of weeks, it was almost impossible for her to crawl out of bed. She's up and about and only has to take a few breaks during the day when her back gets stressed. 

Winter has, for all intents and purposes, ended. We still haven't had to break out the heavy jackets yet. The “La Nina” whether phenomenon has crept in and has deprived us of our seasonal rains. This also means that we have warmer weather along with far less rain. We only get 10” of rain for the entire season so, it there’s hardly any rain, we suffer accordingly. There’s no worrying about frozen water pipes and frosty chickens but….hey…..rain is our friend and we hate being without such pals.

There is still the possibility of a freak temp drop where we'll have to wear a heavy jacket but we're not holding our breath. We've been experiencing mid-40's for lows and mid-60's for highs and both temps are steadily rising each new day. A friend of ours already has a flourishing garden that he planted more than three weeks ago! No frost on the pumpkin this year but no snow pack, either. That's not a good thing in these parts. 

There still is an inconvenience to deal with regarding out coop, though: the man-eating bog that lurks in there hungerly waiting for any fool human to get within reach. That's because It takes a long while to dry since the temperature still isn't warm enough to hasten the evaporation. That makes the Henhouse Hilton about as useful as fishing tackle at a drag race. That's why we made some changes to our chicken program around here: no mas pollos (see report below). The problem is that the Ol' Rancher has to slog through there to be able to feed Piglet and Squealer, the two newest ravenous additions to our zoo. Thankfully, the rear section of the coop is just barely dry enough so that the hog chow (boxes of veggies) doesn't get muddy. 

Anyway, the Ol' Rooster and Ol' Hen just wanted to share what's happening here at our humble rancho (which doesn’t even come close to meeting modern industrial standards) nestled in the beautiful and almost Irish green foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Thanks for stopping in at Dirty Bird Central, the chicken ranch being run by two old turkeys.

This is a shot of Success Lake looking west toward

Porterville. It shows the valley fog rising up to the same level as the dam and spilling over into the lake. When we left this beautiful clear area, we immediately drove straight into the fog.