Ice Storm 2005

It's time for

Farm Friend Friday

over at 

Verde Farm!

Today we spent the afternoon trimming trees

here on the farm that had been damaged 

a few years back by a severe ice storm.

This brought back a lot of memories for us

and so I thought I would post about it. 

This winter has been a tough one for most of us

here in the USA and Canada and overseas. 

Some places have been hit heavy by snow storms

that just keep coming and I'm sure we 

wonder if it will ever end.

So far here in Kansas we have had our share 

of snow and storms and even

a little ice....

but nothing compares to the winter of 2005.

This is what I saw around 9pm out our French doors.

It started around 4pm with rain turning to 

freezing drizzle.

By 8pm it started to sound like a war zone.

At first I heard what sounded like a loud crack

somewhere near the house. 

Then there was another and another right 

outside the window.

This was no little branch breaking...these were limbs!

My hubby had left for work around 3:00 pm so I was

alone ...and I was scared and I was worried for him.

We lived in the city at the time and we had HUGE

elm tree's on our 1 1/2 acres.

One very huge tree grew very close to the house 

with HUGE limbs that grew out OVER the house.

I figured it was only a matter of time before 

one of those limbs would come crashing 

through the roof.

Thank heavens that didn't happen...but the aftermath

looked like a war zone.

Hubby made it home safely but it was slow going

as the roads were treacherous.

The next morning we were shocked to see just 

how much damage the storm had done...everywhere

 you looked there were huge limbs either down or

hanging broken from the trees.

I couldn't hold back the tears.

Those beautiful old trees!

That whole day was spent talking to neighbors and 

surveying the damage but thank goodness no 

one was hurt or had their homes severely damaged.

The next day it was a whole different scene...the sun 

came out and the damage was transformed into

a glittering world of sparkling crystals.

This tree above is a Chinese Elm and was right out front of the house.

Not one limb was broken...the limbs and branches bent instead of breaking!

The other elms were American Elms that grow more upright.

This last photo is of the most severe damage

we received to the house other than bent gutters, 

bent fencing, bent BBQ shelf and chair.

All in all we were pretty fortunate.

Now we just hope and pray that this winter

goes out like a lamb. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend 

(with NO snow) and for 

those of you who haven't entered my 

Give-Away 

..please do!

I will draw a winner on Monday Feb 28th.

Good luck!

Maura :)

Farm Friend Friday - Fur And Feathers Around The Farm

Bubba showing Shep who's boss last spring

It's time to join Amy over at

Verde Farm

for

http://www.verdefarm.com/>Farm Friends Friday

I really enjoyed visiting the other

blogs that took part last week.

It's such fun seeing all the 

sweet critters and lovely farms

and meeting others who love 

living or dreaming about the 

country life.

This week I thought I'd show you

a few of our furry and feathered 

friends here on the farm.

Some are still with us

others are not.

But we 

love/loved

them all.  

Percy and Priscilla spring of 2010

Percy and Priscilla

Talk about two geese with

totally different personalities.

Percy is very shy and sweet

while Priscilla is the curious

bold one who was always the first

out of the barn.

Heaven help the cats if Priscilla

spotted them in the barnyard!

Buttercup

Buttercup was given to us along

with her sister Marigold.

We raised them as chicks in a plastic 

storage bin on our kitchen counter

until they had enough feathers that

they could be moved to the coop.

She was the sweetest chicken.

As a chick she would fly up onto my hand

and then walk up my arm onto my shoulder..

then she'd softly peck at my chin or ear.

One time she flew up onto my head and

then promptly pooped.

Who'd have though a little bird like that

could make such a huge smelly mess!

As she grew up that bond remained.

Unfortunately one morning I went out to the

coop and found her laying on the floor.

She had died during the night although

there were no signs of any health 

problems. Sometimes this happens

but I just didn't expect it to hurt so much.

I still miss her and it's been nearly a year.

Shep guarding the spring chicks

The picture above is of Shep our Akbash.

He's like no other dog either of us have 

ever had. He's very loving and kind 

and very protective.

He's our big 'love bug'.

He's grown since this picture was taken!

Our wild feathered friends visiting us yesterday

I love watching the birds at the feeder.

Actually they were pretty lucky

when I took this picture...usually there are 

about 5 squirrels lined up waiting to take their turn at the feeder. They must

have been full as the birds had the

feeder all to themselves

this time.

Our neighbors cows that surround us on 3 sides

We have about 75 head of Black Angus

surrounding us. 

When they arrived it was just a bunch 

of cows. Now we have young

calves joining the herd as mothers

give birth out in the field.

They are curious creatures and sometimes

come to investigate when they 

hear us working outside.

Our lilac lane and a young Shep

Hard to believe that in 

two months those 

lilac bushes 

will be in full bloom.

Can't wait!

  

.

Our handsome and gentle Romeo

Above is our wonderful

Australorp rooster we call

Romeo.

He lives up to his name as all the 'girls'  love him. None of them 

complain when he wants to

'woo' them ;)

He coo's and dances.

He's very charming.

Chelsea the 'stalker' trying to get Olly to run

Chelsea is our little Shih Tzu 'farm dog'.

She looks cute and sort of innocent 

in this picture but believe me...

she's NOT. 

Out for an evening stroll around the farm last summer

All the animals get along pretty well. 

Shep is a bit of a pest especially to poor

Bubba our other Shih Tzu.

Hopefully he'll grow out of it for Bubba's sake.

In the very first picture you see Bubba tearing

a strip off Shep. It was a hoot  because shep

was just playing but Bubba was serious

and was pulling out mouthfuls of Shep's hair!

I guess it was finally 'payback' time.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit

to our farm and I hope

you will come back

and visit us

again.

Have fun visiting all the others

who have joined Amy

over at 

http://www.verdefarm.com/>Verde Farm

PS

I hope you'll join me

for my 1st Year Blogiversary

coming up this weekend...

I'm having a give-away!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



'S' Is For Snow

A typical heavy snowfall over night.

Here in our part of Kansas we don't get very much snow.

I think the most I've ever seen in one large snowfall here is

about 12 inches...at the most.

As many of you who follow me know...I moved here from a ski village in the mountains of British Columbia and each winter we got somewhere between 40-60 feet of snow.

During an El Nino winter we sometimes got a bit less snow and more rain but it was always a white winter.

Me shoveling the roof the first time that winter

The picture above and the two below show a particularly 

bad winter where we had to shovel our roof off 3 times.

See that large window? At the end of the snow season as I was laying on the living room floor (split level home with another large window under that one) my children

walked past the upper window on snow that was higher than the bottom of the windowsill. 

My two oldest boys made shoveling the roof

fun. They'd make chairs and TV's out of snow

and do flips off the roof or slide off. 

See that lower roof level in the above picture...that all had to be shoveled off before the upper roof was shoveled onto it. Then it all had to be shoveled off again.

The picture above shows our old deck that was 14X28. 

What you see is the snow from only 1/4 of the roof
that had been shoved off onto the deck. Before we could do that

the deck itself had to be shoveled off to make sure there

wasn't too much weight on it. 

THEN all the snow you see there had to be hand shoveled off

and paths had to be shoveled to the garage and wood shed.

We had a 10hp snow blower for the driveway and sidewalks.

The picture above was taken in 1975.

That shed looks short but it's not and 

the door handle is at regular door handle height. 

Yes that's me pulling my oldest son...wow 

I was skinny...probably from all that shoveling ;)

This picture above is my two youngest

taken years ago sitting on the snow bank

at their grandparents in MARCH!

This was another bad winter with lots of snow.

Last but not least is an old picture of my oldest 

daughter standing on the deck showing how much

snow we had gotten over the weekend. 

The snow had already packed down by this time!

It was truly a WINTER WONDERLAND until the middle

of February...by then 'cabin fever' was beginning to 

set in and we were all ready for the snow to quit.

Something that is pretty amazing is that school was 

seldom closed because of snow.

Even after 11 years of living here in Kansas it still

makes me laugh when I hear the schools are closed

because of a few inches of snow. 

I guess it's all in what you get used to.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Maura :)

Random Reds

Taken just after last springs mild ice storm

I'm joining Sue over at 

It's A Very Cherry World's

Rednesday

I hope you'll pop on over and say hello and check

out all the other fellow bloggers taking part :)

These are just a few random photo's taken around

the farm since we moved here.

My favorite Buff Orpington Henrietta with a few of her 'sisters'

 

Shep at approx 3 months old

The chicken coop/garden shed

This time last year

One of our Buff Orpington chicks from last March

The Garden Shed

Reds in the pasture

From the garden

Red wheel gate

I hope you've enjoyed a little trip back in time 

with me. It's been a wonderful year and a half

living here in the country.

Wish we'd done it sooner.

Enjoy your day!

Maura :)