I know, we’ve been absent a lot recently. We’ve been busy, and sick, and injured. So the blog has taken a back seat. What’s been going on? Let’s do a really quick recap.
I can’t remember. Ha! Wouldn’t it be funny if I just left it there. Sometimes that’s exactly what I feel like doing. Anyway~ let’s start over with the every day stuff. So, our friend and neighbor, Elise, had a birthday. Sue made her a Vodka-Lemon Cake… delicious! I think that was the highlight of our week. By Friday I was coming down with a cold hand felt like crud. THEN- we started in on a wind storm that lasted 3 days.
This is a photo off of my phone that is connected to our weather station in the back yard. The wind gauge is attached to the southernmost gabion garden. You can see that we had a micro-burst of around 98 mph. The winds gusted between 25 and 80 mph all tha rest of the night and finally stayed down in the 20-30 mph range starting at 3pm.
Monday morning we found quite a bit of wind damage. I stayed home from work for a few hours and we worked on the Chestnut trees in the orchard. Many of the tree stakes had broke off and blown down and we didn’t want them to end up taking the trees as well, in case the winds came up badly again. The white electrified netting that is around the chickens was also down in several places – we were still fixing that this morning. The large century plant near the road that bloomed this summer took a hit, you can see it here pulled up by the roots.
When the winds are that bad, I always have difficulty sleeping. We are so grateful that we didn’t loose any chickens, nor any of their shelters. The RCW remained steadfast throughout the storm. The youngsters that are in the coop by the goat boys were fine as well. They seem quite happy there. We did more winterizing this morning by putting up covers on the Dove Enclosure and the goat’s chickens’ window… I took this photo this evening, and you can see that the light still comes in, but the wind will no longer blower right in there. Helps keep things warmer.
We are hopeful that we’ll be able to get back to normal soon. Last night our overnight temperature was 30°… so normal is relative. I guess you never quite know what the weather is going to throw at you; even when you watch the forecast. Hopefully Saturday we’ll be able to finish our 2nd concrete planters by the big coop. I think I still owe you an unveiling of the first one. So maybe that’s what we’ll do on Thursday. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!
Hello. I hope your Christmas was wonderful. We started out with breakfast with Sue’s Son’s family. Got some cute photos of Irie opening presents. I didn’t blog on Thursday because I was studying for a final on Friday (which I passed, FYI). We’ve had some cold, cold days. Yesterday we had snow, which was beautiful coming down in the morning. Our first inkling was when SweetPea, the German Shepherd, came back in with snowflakes all over her back. It was still quite dark and we couldn’t see past the porch. As it began to lighten, it was obvious it had been snowing for some time. 
We’ve had some amazingly low temperatures the last few days. Yesterday was the coldest by far 29°, if I remember correctly. We warmed up a couple of degrees today. I’m talking about morning temperatures. Today we warmed up into the high 60’s! The next few days will remain a bit cold and then Christmas eve we’re in for a bit of rain… maybe snow if it doesn’t get too warm. The cold gives us some issues that we hadn’t really thought about before. 
…winter isn’t coming, it’s already here! So, I knit and I read, so after I read the “Game of Thrones” I chuckled heartily when this little phrase started popping up all over after the series started to air. I always try to knit faster, but I’m easily distracted. Now winter has arrived with truly gale force winds heralding its frigid arrival. 
The weekend has been really quite normal, apart from the winds. We did regular tasks yesterday, and some good things accomplished. The winds came up in the afternoon and all through the night, they are still here and we’re watching them tear through the property from all directions, creating little tornadoes, knowing things over and blowing trash from all over. It whistles through the drain holes in the window sills, it sounds low sonorous moans as it blows over the hollow fencing posts. It drives the chickens and the goats inside; only the ducks and the geese try to brave the buffeting. 
Autumn arrived in the Sky Islands today! I know the Autumnal Equinox was yesterday, but we had our first Fall day today. I saw somewhere that we had 2.6 inches of rain! That was a good rain for us. We had/have a flash flood warning for today, until 8pm, but it looks like most of the rain is over for tonight. This photo was taken during dusk this evening looking to the South East, what I usually term “down Mexico way”. You can see the remnants of our storm, but it is starting to clear up for the evening. 
We have been waiting for weeks and weeks! Yes, we’ve had smatterings of rain here and there, but not the all out downpour that we’re used to getting on a regular basis during Monsoon. Last night, we finally had our first downpour on the property. Not sure when it started, but by the time I arrived home around 5:30 it was in full swing and it may have been going for a bit of time. Lasted about an hour I’d guess. Stopped raining for a couple of hours and then started again around 9pm. Always nice to lie in bed and listen to the rain. 
How are you all doing in your corner of the world? Summer is here in full swing. Today we may even have entered into the monsoon season at last. There are showers all around us, but never really quite reaching us here. Lots of virga… the heat keeping the moisture in the air. The extremes have taken a toll on all of us here – seeking relief from the heat has been our pastime of late. We’ve already talked about a few things we have doing to help the chickens beat the heat, there are other issues – though – that we have to think about due to weather. 
When I postponed writing until today, I didn’t even think about it being Father’s Day; however, it is only fitting to wish all the fathers out there (especially mine!) a very happy day to you! Nothing about the rest of this post has anything to do with Fathers’ Day… shall we get to it? 