Haiti needs Prayers

I usually avoid news and world events, but Haiti needs serious help with the aftermath of the earthquake. I have lived through several hurricanes; I know what is like to live without after a serious disaster. And I have seen the good and the evil that comes out of people & governments in times like these.

So many lives lost and what little they have is destroyed. I found a blog of an American family in Haiti keeping the world updated about events there:

http://www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/

Lets keep the people of Haiti in our prayers and give what we can.

The Ice Hollow

We are located near Buck Hollow. It is part of the Ozark Scenic Tour roadway. It is neat to drive the curvy road and see the ice coming out of the cliffs. I have never seen this before, so unusual.

Snow Tracks

The Arctic freeze is leaving the Ozarks for now. A mild winter is upon us as the snow melts back into the meadows. The ice falls back into the pond and tracks appear as testament to the visitors we've had. Rabbits, possums, birds, deer and cat have all crossed the pond super highway to get from the meadow back into the forest.

The Uninvited Guest

Yesterday, as I got ready to feed my two headed dog beast, I had one extra head! It was a huge coon hound with no collar; waiting to eat with my other two dogs. I have a large female shepherd, but this coon hound was much larger. They make them big in the Ozarks. Being fearful of big drooling dogs I called A. to come by to rescue me from a possible rabid coon hound. As A.drove up it was apparent the drool was from hunger and not rabies. The big lug just wanted food and to come into the house with the rest of my ark. I don't need nor want another dog.
It was late afternoon and night was setting in. We figured if we did not feed this stray he will go home. Instead he ate from my compost bin and howled at the moon from our deck ALL NIGHT LONG! Yes folks, coon hounds howl and there is no off button.

So this early Tuesday morning I got on the phone and called/woke up the neighbors. Turns out one had just gotten a male coon hound stray and had not had time to get a collar on him. And they were out off town. They asked we drop off the hound to an in-laws farm nearby. Great! We packed up the hound into our car and drove him to the horse farm. It was just what the dog needed, people who would give him attention and food. All before 8am in the cold 13 degree morning on our way out to work.

We were lucky to find his owners. So many strays turn up/get dropped off at rural farms these days. Their care then falls onto the rural farm owner to deal with, no fair. I am sure city folks would not like it if we dropped off a few cows, pigs,chickens and horses on their front lawns one Tuesday morning before work!

Two headed Dog Beast

Ok, it is not a weird deformed dog. Instead it is a solution to my wandering dog problem. Hickory, my small city dog, keeps wandering off our land and chasing after cars and cows. We had to keep him on a tie out so he would stay put, very boring for an active dog.

Osa, our shepherd, stays on the land and behaves. My husband suggested I tie the two together to make a better dog. Eureka! By using my twin dog lead to tether them together; I created a two headed dog beast.

Now Hickory gets to run all around our property all day long with Osa. They eat birdseed, visit the compost bin, chase squirrels and pee on the run. A full day for Hickory is just a normal day for Osa.

This is all grand for Osa, she loves to pull. Hickory only weighs 30 pounds and is getting more exercise than he ever got before.

And at night when it is bedtime, Hickory sleeps like the dead for a change. No more waking up in the middle of the night. And the next day it starts all over again.

The Cow Gloves

I was on a mission to find the warmest gloves I could find on -line. I got gloves from all over the place. But the neatest was an Ebay find. Cow hide gloves owned by a cowboy named Will Brant. These are real winter cowhide hand sewn with Will's name in them. These are real cowboy gloves. They looked like they were made of Ewok. If anyone has heard of a Cowboy named Will Bryant let me know. These gloves were used but are still in usable shape.They are a neat item from the cowboy past. Cowboys are real popular still here in the Ozarks.

Ice Walking

It has been so cold in the Ozarks for so long that our pond finally froze solid. My husband and Poppy went on the pond ice for a walk. We observed several animal tracks on the ice. Who knew our pond was such a busy place. Poppy enjoyed walking the ice with A.

Snow Cat House

We have a barn cat, Annie, that came with the farm. She lives free outside all the time. She does not like to be held nor caged, but loves to be pet and left wild. We have a pet carrier left outside for her to sleep in as she likes. But then the cold and snow came and we had to rethink her digs. So we insulated her plastic carrier, added several old quilts, wrapped the thing in plastic sheeting. We put in a quilted cat bed with a hot pad. The hot pad is one of those good ones that stays on. We set it to medium heat and placed it under her bed. Then we had to protect the hot pad from the elements. So we wrapped the cord in pipe insulation and put the pad selector in a Ziploc plastic bowl with a lid, worked great. Annie spent the night in her new heated digs then left in the morning. We saw her paw prints in the snow. It might not look pretty but it keeps her warm and dry.

The Coldman cometh

We got an Arctic front hitting us hard for an early winter in the Ozarks. Woke up to 3 inches of powdery snow everywhere. This was not the good kind of snow for making snowmen, but light and fluffy kind that was easy to shovel.

Oh and the shoveling I did this frosty morning. Three inches of snow becomes 18 inches of snow in a shovel very quickly. I had to clear our deck so if it melted ice would not form. Then I trod out to A's car to get it uncovered. It got so cold his logo came off his Subaru. So sad to see the logo just sitting on the snow. Took almost 20 minutes to get all the snow off the car and a path cleared for him to get to his car.

The dogs ran around like kids chasing the "snow-nadoes" created by the wind.

I got half the deck cleared when it was time to make oatmeal. After getting A off to work I finished the deck. Then I found all that deck snow had blown on to the bottom porch, ugh, more shoveling.

At lunch we got a call from a neighbor who had a whole truck bed full of wood for us. He brought his truck to our garage and we got busy unloading all the split wood. We learned a lot about chainsaws and cutting wood from him. Being city folks, we have not bought a chainsaw, yet. We are very happy with Stihl weed eater. Seems to be the one maker everyone uses around here in the Ozarks for logging and firewood.

I found a chipmunk's nest under the older split wood. It had used my broom bristles to make a fine nest. The chipmunk was no longer in residence. I guess he went south for the winter.

Upon coming home, we discovered A's Subaru had a flat tire. Something else that needs fixing. But he filled it with air to get to work. We shall deal with that tonight. Good thing it is not cold or anything.

Just life as normal in the Ozarks, except just colder.

Fire in the sky

This cold Tuesday morning brought a rainbow of colors in the sky. As the sun rose above the frozen clouds, the golds and red shimmered on the purple bed of ice.

Snowy Ozarks

Snow days

We had some snow last Sunday; but today is a dry cold day. Out in the Ozarks NOAA says we are having an Arctic blast for the rest of the week. So we are getting ready for that. Snow starts on Wednesday and single digits until Saturday.

Norrobottenspets

We have a Norrobottenspets we adopted at the SPCA back in Houston, we named him Hickory. We are not sure of his age since he was an adult when we got him. We've had him for about 6 years. He guards our cats and rabbits when they are outside. But that is his only saving grace. He is disloyal, hyper, runs off and barks all the time, not the best farm dog. Turns out his breed is known for this. I have worked hard to train him and get him to be on task. But you just can't fight his genes. So we have a good German Shepherd, Osa, to keep him in line. She balances out the stupidity in Hickory. Osa stays on our property, does not bark and obeys. She makes my life easier on the farm.