Windy day at the farm

Very windy. The chickens are having trouble walking into the wind. Our little beagle looks rather funny as her ears are flying all about.

Orginally I had planned to set some quickcrete today into some holes we had dug for our weather station. But, as windy as it is I think it would all blow out of the bag before it hit the ground. I may try it though if the winds slows down for awhile. I only need about 15 minutes. We are setting our weather station a "homeschool project" in the front of the house. Ideally it is to be 20 foot from a structure or tree and be in full sun. It will have a windsock, hail pad, snow and rain guages, therometer, and other instruments will be added as we go along. Last spring the girls and I took a NOAA class, and I am now an official storm spotter and weather reporter. Notice I said storm spotter, not storm chaser. There is a difference. A storm spotter spots from a safe location, while a chaser chases the storm. Last semester I taught a weather class each Friday to kids. I had around 60. They really enjoyed the class, especially the boys.

I also need to set a light in the poultry house today. Yesterday we only collected one egg. Since the time change they are only getting 11 hours of daylight and that isn't enough to support egg laying. Ideally they need 12-14, so we will add our light. It will probably take a few days for the egg production to pick back up, but I have several dozen eggs in the frig so we will be ok egg-wise. When I was a kid we had chickens. My grandma used to visit from Nothern Indiana in the summer and sometimes at Christmas when it was cold, and often the chickens would not be laying during her visit. Grandma used to threaten to "squeeze the eggs out" of the chickens. I told the girls that and Rebecca was all ready to try it. I had to call her off!