Between days of extreme temperatures of 100 degrees with a heat index of 125, we have also had some intense bouts of rain. Welcome to Oklahoma. A few days after my Cornish cross chicks arrived, a huge storm blew through, blowing four inches of rain sideways into the chicken tractor in the early morning hours. When I went to feed these birds at chore time, I found every chick cold, wet and near death. The only bird not struggling was the lone duckling and it was chirping wildly as I scooped up the chicks, leaving it all alone in the pen. I put the chicks back in the brooder, turned on the heat lamp and prayed for the best. Everyone survived and was able to rejoin the lonesome duckling that afternoon.
Three days later, another storm came through in the evening and the blowing sideways rain had us scrambling to bring the chicks back into the barn. Only this time, there was no electricity for a heat lamp. Tom and I dried the chicks off as best we could and left them in the brooder over night, hoping the barn would be warm enough to help them revive. Every chick survived once again. Until I began to count them as I was returning them to the chicken tractor. Seven were missing. The only thing we can determine is that a black snake found a spot where the hardware cloth was pulling away from the frame and found its way in. Between deaths and disappearances, I am down to twenty birds to take to be processed next month.
We have a neighbor that attends the same church that we go to. He does a huge garden every year, each row 100 feet long. After he harvested his corn, he gave us his husks, some oversized cucumbers and the corn stalks for our pigs. They have been very happy with this change in their diet and I was grateful for the chance to cut back on feed for a couple of days.
As stated earlier, if it is not raining hard, dropping several inches at a time, it has been hot; very hot. I have made sure all my animals have shade and plenty of water and I have been pulling twelve inch square ceramic tiles out of the freezer to put in the rabbit cages up to twice a day during the worst of the heat. One after noon, I pulled the partition away from the rabbit cage that served as an extra shade, opened the cage and put the tile in with my buck. I was extremely surprised to see a copperhead in the grass about three inches from my foot! I really do not know why that snake didn’t bite me but I am certainly very grateful. I went inside to tell my granddaughter the event. I also told her that I had read that the Native Americans, when bitten by a rattle snake or other venomous snake, they would lie down and be very still for a few hours to slow the spread of venom in their body, admitting that I’m not sure that I had the capacity to remain calm enough to do that after being bitten. Kinzie’s reply, “Well, you can lie down in the back seat of my car and be calm as I’m driving you to the hospital!” I laughed, continued to work to lower my heart rate and got back to work.
That evening, at chore time, I approached the rabbit cages carefully and was surprised to find the snake still there. It had moved very little, if at all. I went to Tom to tell him that I thought the snake was dead and he assured me that it was not. It was hot and waiting for the cool of the day. We got the snake wrangler and a shovel. Sure enough, as I caught the snake in my wrangler, he suddenly was very alive… for a couple of minutes, when Tom took his wrath out on it.
Some of you may balk at the thought of killing snakes. Sorry, snakes are not allowed around my animals and family. Yes, I know that the black snake kills rodents and is supposed to be beneficial. They also eat chicken eggs, lots of them. And I have caught them eating my chicks, not including the ones that disappeared the other day. Here is an old video of a black snake in my brooder. This is back in the days of when the channel was still called Ellis Family Farms.
I also posted the video, The Heat is On. It can be seen here.
The tomatoes are coming on nicely. We’ve already put up thirteen pints of diced tomatoes and I juiced a mess of them to cook down to make tomato sauce. That ended up making just over three quarts. I think Tom is finally understanding why I wanted more tomato plants now. I also dehydrated all of last years’ jalapenos that that had been in the freezer. I don’t know how they’ll turn out but it’s better than getting rid of them.
I started another batch of layer chicks in the incubator, hoping to have a better hatch rate than the others. We’ll see.
My kitchen is dark with very inadequate lighting. I may have adjusted to this for most projects I’m doing in the kitchen but I often find myself taking something in my hand and turning around to get better light on the subject. Then I started videoing in the kitchen and the darkness was just too much. I ordered two shorter Berina LED light bars for over the stove and countertop and already had a longer one I could put over the bar/sink area. Kinzie was a sweetheart and installed them for me. What a difference! It’s crazy how much better I can see…and the videos are coming out so much better. Thank you, Kinzie! Here is my latest Cooking from the Pantry Video. Maybe you can see the difference.
I am embarrassed to admit this but I’ve discovered that I have mixed up two of my pigs’ names. Even in my farm book, I have been putting the mother of the eleven piglets as Crystal. Her name is Goldie Hawn. I don’t know how I managed to do that. The color of their hair is different enough that it facilitated the names in the first place. So…I will tell you that Goldie has been struggling with feeding eleven piglets in this heat. I have had to be really diligent in keeping an eye on her and care for her needs to the best of my ability. I thought I was going to lose her in the last heat wave, but she’s rallying pretty good now. I’m grateful.
On the evening of the fourth, I got the evening chores done before Tom got home from work and we drove to my friend Amy’s house with deviled eggs to go with the other sides brought and their variety of smoked meat. The food was wonderful and even Tom had a good time visiting with people he didn’t even know. I’m glad for that. Their adult children wowed us with their fireworks, between rain showers. It was a wonderful evening.
The next night was the annual family cookout and firework show with Tom’s family. These guys really do it up. Keith has a huge smoker and had filled it entirely full of all the meats. Of course, everyone else brought sides. The teens in the family always do an excellent job of lighting the fireworks, giving us a show. (There is always one incident each year of a firework going astray, but so far, no need for medical attention. This year was not different.) The fireworks show this year was absolutely spectacular. It was loud and proud and was finale-grade from the very beginning. Children run everywhere, playing in small swimming pools, running through the feet of young volleyball players. Lots of weapons were shot with careful watch of wandering children that might get in the way. Even Tannerite was exploded with deafening results. All us older people sat and talked and watched the activities. It was another wonderful night.
Tom’s birthday was coming up on Monday but we decided to meet at the local Rib Crib restaurant for a small family dinner. Tom, Kinzie, my son Tony, his wife Kayla and their toddler, Ivy attended. We had a wonderful time. Ivy is just about as sweet as they come. I know, I’m a grandma, but I will attest that this child has not shown a smidgen of any “terrible twos” and I’m glad. She talks enough that we can communicate with her and I am always grateful for that age to come. I’m a terrible guesser and have difficulty knowing what someone needs who can’t quite communicate yet.
After three nights of partying, and smoked meat, I was exhausted and very glad that Tom’s dinner was earlier in the evening and I could get home at a decent hour.
On Sunday, I recorded Episode 60 of This Grandma’s Life Podcast. I hope that by revamping my schedule, I can get more of these podcasts done in a timely manner. That’s the plan, anyway. It can be seen here.
If watching me talk is not your cup of tea, these podcasts can be found on most all the pod catchers. I’m sure one of them will be a good choice for you. I pray that your Independence holiday was as wonderful as ours was. And safe. God bless. I’ll see you next time!