How quickly our lives can change...

Vidvir   How quickly our lives can change...

Got Ticks?

Rose and I were watching the news talking about Ticks in Amherst Mass. being abundant this year already due to the mild winter, both Nymph (Not sure, appears this is a stage rather than a species), Deer and Dog ticks carry Lyme disease.  So yesterday 75 degrees here in Southern NH working in the horse paddocks yesterday, and Rose spotted a Nymph Tick on my shirt, picked it off with my SAK tweezers and burnt it up with a lighter. Later that evening the Rose called out and said she has one on her back,  I did the same with this one, it was just slightly attached.

 

Image source: http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp

They said on the news that if bit to take the offending tick and yourself to the doctors asap if bit.  Is this common?  We normally find 2-6 ticks on our clothing the dogs, and yes sometimes ourselves though we generally take showers right after a workday on the farm and find them before they are through the skin.  Looks like I'll be putting the Ortho Max down early this year.

Going to be a weird year with temps in the 70s most of March.

Feeling like summer

It hit 76 here today, a little to hot if you ask me.  We rebuilt both horse paddocks this weekend, pounded posts in and hung up 3 more birdhouses.  Filled the bird feeders for the last time they're already telling folks to take them down due to the bears.

Put out another deer block today along with some grain that had been hanging around.  Brought  some cob corn down to the pond as we've got mallards there already.  Looking at plans for a mallard house tonight.

Saw a bunch of Turkeys on the way t the DR store in Merrimack, picked up a new string trimmer. We fired up Rose's new DR Weed and Grass trimmer today to.  Seems quite capable, elec start, and self propelled.

We have more trees to clean up tomorrow, several huge piles of limbs, and we'll probably haul the poplar and apple wood out back.

Have to work on my DR too.

It's supposed to be in the 70s all week!

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

Snow finally hits the Northeast in 2012!

Well it finally happened...  The unthinkable...

The flakes started flying Wednesday afternoon and it's just now finishing up on Thursday evening.  The first snow of 2012, about 13 inches of it, not particularly heavy or wet but it was sticky.  A veritable winter freaking wonderland.  I'm so over winter what there was of it, I was sorta hoping for the winter that wasn't.  (almost got my wish too.)  I shoveled the path this morning fed the barn animals and off I went to work, roads were pretty good, even Rt. 93, I made it to work in about an hour and a quarter.  

I thought the commute home would be bad, but it wasn't much worse than normal, a couple of folks that just can't drive figure out how to drive in the snow (you may refer to them by another name...I know I do on occasion.)  Snowblow'd the driveway, barn paths, manure pile, the shed, and the dogs run around the house path along with roof raking the north side while Rosie cleared the cars off.  I'm done for the evening.

Oh yeah, I hear it's supposed to be SIXTY degrees next week... Take that Winter!

Birdhouse pictures I promised...  All from this morning.

Wood colored Birdhouses

The Ol' Apple