The Weather

My husband makes fun of me sometimes for watching the Weather Channel. Lately, there have been some stories on there about how extreme the weather has been this winter. It isnt just here in the United States though. England and Poland are getting a heavy dose of extreme winter too. It has been said now that this is the longest coldest stretch of winter since 1985.

I have seen a lot of folks say, "Where is the global warming?" in jest, but in fact if you believe in global warming, you know that it isnt always warm weather that results from it. Balance is thrown off and it can be excessively cold in places it didnt used to be so cold, like what is happening now. The polar ice caps may be melting, but we are freezing our tushes off at the same time, moreso than usual.

I like the Weather Channel. I will admit it. I like it for several reasons. One is the obvious, you get your weather forecast. I like the stories in other parts of the country that pertain to their weather, and the coverage of other countries weather too. There is something soothing about this channel. If I get up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, I will often turn to this channel. Why? Because you don't get SO interested in it you stay awake. Its not BORING, its just not a LOUD overbearing channel. Does anyone else ever notice this? It seems like some of the channels Ian watches are loud. Sports channels are loud. The UFC fighting stuff is loud. There is always someone shouting...Joe Rogan to be specific. Even Ian finds him annoying.

I am not that boring. I don't just watch the Weather Channel. I do watch movies that can have a lot of loud bangs and crashes in it, but that is part of watching a movie like that. What kind of shows do you watch? Does your husband or wife watch shows where there is a lot of yelling and banging? Maybe Jerry Springer...or Maury...lol.

We have a weather forecast for snow this evening. I am torn because it has been so cold, a little snow might make it prettier than how dead and frozen everything looks. On the other hand, Ian has to drive an hour away to work in it, and that worries me. No matter how bad the snow is, he will try to get to work.

I wonder what the grocery stores will be like today. I have to go out and pick up a prescription from Kroger and a few essentials like milk and cereal, orange juice and sandwich meat. I bet there will be a lot of people getting off work this afternoon and headed to the grocery stores to STOCK UP for the snow coming. It will stick no doubt. The temperatures have been below freezing for days and days now so the ground is frozen. The thing is, usually it doesnt last long. It melts in a day or two. I could be wrong this time. Our temperatures have been extreme for what seems like an eternity. It might not melt as fast. The weather forecast calls for wind too. Maybe that will dry up the roads so Ian doesnt have to ice skate to work.

Now that winter is officially here, I am hoping to direct my attention towards blogging more. There just isnt much else to do. The holidays are over. Now its just a waiting period until Spring.

There are the poultry shows coming up. I do have that, if I have any birds left to show. Remember Rocko? The bantam silver spangled hamburg rooster I bought from the show in Dalton from a top breeder? Well, yesterday, he went down hill...at a screaming pace. His comb lost its color and his wings began to droop. He drank vitamins, electrolytes, and antibiotics I put in the water. This morning when Ian left for work at 4 am, he was dead. I have no idea what caused it. It was so fast. Maybe it was just something random. Maybe he had some sort of organ fail on him, something internal just quit working right, I don't know.

Apparently I am not supposed to have silver spangled hamburg bantams. I have had a heck of a time with other birds of this breed. I have had two with colds that I was able to nurse back to health. I have one girl now, she is in pretty bad shape. I thought she was going to make it, seemed she was getting better, but now it is all going downhill this morning, very quickly. I will not give up on any animal though. I have seen some come back from the brink of death. Several years back Tim, my first and best japanese silver phoenix rooster, got sick. he wouldnt even stand, he was so weak. I was able to save him. I believe he had botulism. He is still alive today, strong and doing well. He will be five years old this Spring.

So, right now I am left with two hens that are healthy of this breed. Actually, they were both a touch sick with colds a couple of weeks back, but I have been able to get them completely well. Both are laying well, and unfortunately now I have no show quality rooster to breed them to. I don't know what I want to do. Should I try again and buy another rooster from the guy, or should I just give it up. The bantam barred rocks are doing very well and I already have two fertile eggs in the incubator from them. They are a good future show line for me. I do love the silver spangled hamburgs. There is not a flood of those at shows like some. I have discovered one of the breeds of chicken I love and wanted to show, is VERY popular and there are just so many to compete against it becomes overwhelming. That would be the brown red modern bantams. So I am abandoning showing that breed, for now anyway.

Shelby will be showing some birds this season. She has never shown, but she has Rayne, her sweet little house rooster. He has such a good disposition and good type I told her she should show him. She will be showing the barred rock trio and a few other seramas in the youth. I hope she will bring home some ribbons and maybe a trophy and it will inspire her to get into it more, maybe have her own line of seramas.

For now, I will be showing the same guys and gals from last year. I will probably show a few of Buckbuck and Babes offspring this show season, but not at the first show in Jefferson. There is a one weekend lull between shows and it is really hard to keep everyone looking their best for long periods of time, so I will wait til there are the three shows in a row for that.




A moment of silence for Rocko. For what he could have been. He wasnt with us long, but I will miss him.