I'm still here!!!

It's been a very long time since I updated this page.  We gave up on the livestock when we had only one duck left.  It was very lonely and I didn't see what good having one duck would do.  Also, the owner of the dog was taken to court and finally tied the dog up.  Hopefully, next year we will have better luck.

There was a lot of snow earlier in the year and we went out to take photos of Pathfinder Dam going over the spillway, as it did last year.

The pelicans were all over this year.  We saw huge groups every time we went out there.  They have little fear of people.

We had a bull snake that developed a taste for baby birds.  I had seen bull snakes on nature shows raid nests, but this is the first time I ever saw it in the real world!  This was the snake cleaning out a Loggerhead Shrike's nest.  The adult birds were VERY angry and squaked the whole time.  The snake ignored them most of the time.

The bull snake later found an easier target--a bird house with sparrows.  I don't know if the babies had hatched yet and I suspect the snake ate both the female sparrow and the eggs/hatchlings.  The snake was not at all bothered by our watching this.  It was really interesting, unless you were sparrows.  I would note the sparrows did not put a fight and flew off when I started taking photos.  Hubby was home to see this nest clearing--he was at work when the first one happened.

I painted the garage this year.  I made it stand out so our house would be easy to find.  Or that's the excuse I used!




We did well in hunting season.  The three deer living in our yard are no longer living there!  It won't take long for others to take their place, I'm sure!  We opted not to hunt antelope at the ranch, since we had meat left from last year and really didn't need any more.  We have to take the truck to the ranch to hunt and with gas over $3 a gallon, it did not seem worth it.

The Hut at the ranch is now insulated.  That should give us a longer period where we can go down and stay overnight.  Without insulation, the temperature could down to 40 degrees or less at night.  Even with a propane heater, it still was quite cold.  The walls are now pegboard on top and painted waverboard on the lower wall.  Plus, we also added another window for better ventilation.

There have been some awesome rainbows this year!  It was wetter and warmer this year and we have had almost no snow.  The wind has been very strong this year, starting the first of November.  It even blew over the "Golden Arches" sign at one of our McDonald's!!

Death to livestock in this county

Well, one dead, one missing and one left.  Middle of the day, knocked down a 2 foot fence and a 4 foot fence wire and got into the pen.  The surveillance camera was off--I was letting them run.  Any idiot who would assume there was a "dog-at-large" ordinance that was enforced is foolish, naive, etc.    I have over 15 pictures of dogs running at large and destroying my property.  So, $200 and 7 weeks work are annihilated by the moron who breaks the law with impunity. 

Springtime, I think

The weather has been wet and cool.  I have not needed an air conditioner to date.  This is the first week I felt confident leaving my plants outside due to freezing nighttime temps.

My ducks are growing rapidly.  I had to build a new enclosure with a child's wading pool.  This is all a learning curve.  If this works out, I probably will use ducks for bug control in the future.  Last year the three I had ate pounds of grasshoppers.  Unfortunately, I did not research duck breeds before buying (got into this too late--bought adults).  This year I bought Roene ducks, which are supposed to be meat ducks.  I just want the ducks during the summer months so raising edible bug eaters seemed logical.  Predictions are this will be another banner year for grasshoppers.

We will be going out to Pathfinder this weekend to see the water going over the spillway.  Maybe later on we will make it to the ranch--although it's still very muddy down there. 

I'm putting in a couple of duck pictures and calling it good for now.  (For those of you who read my previous posts, the neighbor dogs have been been confined so my ducks may survive the summer.)

Ducks at about 3 days old

Ducks at about 2 1/2 weeks old

Readying for ducklings

I sent an email to Natrona County Metro Animal control letting them know I am getting ducks and that there is a high probability, based on the complete lack of response to complaints about dogs running loose, that I will be installing video and posting it on the internet when the dogs shred my ducks.  I really have no options here.  The dogs were a mile from their house chasing wildlife a week or so ago.  It's really sad that dogs rule this county and humans have to spend money on cameras, lawyers, etc after the dogs kill their pets and their livestock.  Metro was built with one cent optional sales tax and people called it a doggy condo.  Had they only been able to see 20 years into the future, I suspect the tax would not have been passed.  Millions so dogs and cats can damage property and run wild.  I think there probably was a better use to be had--I'm sure of it.  So stay tuned and see how long the ducklings last.  The dogs are German Shepard sized dogs so keeping them out of the duck pen will not be easy.  Plus, I have yet to figure out how to let the ducks roam around and eat grasshoppers if the God dogs are allowed to breach my yard at will.  It's looking like a long, expensive summer at the hands of lawbreakers who just don't care and they don't have to, it seems.

Springtime in Wyoming

Today has alternated between snow and sunshine.  It's snowing right now:

 Earlier, it was bright and sunny, then snow for about half an hour, then sunny and now snow again.  This is very interesting weather!

The picture to the right shows what the wind did to the shed roof last week.  A corner of the roof edging came loose, got pulled free and the rolled roofing returned to its rolled state!  (It was snowing that day, too.)  Last weekend, we flattened out the roofing that was rolled up and then covered it with new rolled roofing.  There are about three layers now--keeps the shed from leaking if it loses some of its roofing.  However, we have to repair the rip so the wind doesn't take the whole roof off.  Wind is entertaining!

These were birds earlier this month eating the seeds out of our yard.  I refilled the bird feeders since the snow keeps on coming.

Dogs and other things



April 3



4/2/2011



Spoke too soon on the dog problem.  Both dogs were clear up to my house this week.  Looks like it's time for a letter to Metro and fortifying the duck enclosure.  Maybe an electric fence and a game camera for documenting intruders.



April 3, 2011





 

Today we have 28 degrees and snow.  Yesterday, it was 75 degrees!  Gotta love springtime in Wyoming.




April 1--birds eating seeds

 

3/30/2011
Looks like the dog problem has subsided, mostly because the dogs destroyed everything that was interesting and there's nothing to come back to. The problem is actually quite widespread. A letter to the editor last month said a pack of dogs was threatening school children and the sheriff's deputy was feeding the dogs his lunch in order for the kids to get to school safely. You cannot shoot dogs, even with a paintball gun (guess that would prove Metro is doing nothing about this). So the dogs threaten the kids with impunity. Guess that shows that how high dogs rank in Natrona county--the dogs have higher rights than children.

I am getting some ducklings in about 6 weeks. If the dogs come back, it seems likely I will be posting pictures of dead ducklings or the feathers that are left. It's really impossible to keep a 50 lb dog out of a duck pen. I am considering a surveillance camera (game camera) because if I can prove the dogs killed the ducks, Metro will destroy the dogs. The only way that can be avoided is with a very sturdy pen, with a top, and the dogs don't get another chance. Someone passed a law on "vicious dogs" which contained the rule that dogs killing anything outside their yard makes them vicious. It was supposed to stop pit bulls and rottweillers (Metro afraid of these dogs) but it actually does far more. I don't think people would have approved if they had known what was going on. Even Game and Fish is complaining about dogs killing wildlife. The dogs can be shot for this, but since dogs are gods here, it's an iffy thing to do.

Otherwise, things are normal for spring here. It's supposed to get to 65 on Saturday, then a high of 33 on Sunday. Love that springtime weather. Here's a picture of the dusting of snow we had on the 21st:

 

 

Destroying property at will

Today we revisit the rights of your neighbors to utterly and completely destroy your property using a dog or a cat. You know those "dog at large" laws. Complete joke. It's not like that million dollar money suck called Metro is actually going to do anything about a dog ripping and shredding things on your property. I have no idea why they get paid in the first place. Giant doggy condo for destructive creatures that people use to commit vandelism. So, move to Wyoming and watch your neighbor's large dogs destroy your property with the blessing of your government and waste your tax money at the same time.