February snow and aerial photos

This morning we woke up to some surprise snow. It wasn’t in the forecast (other than for a much higher elevation), but we got about an inch of snow overnight. Which is melting quickly on a sunny day.

So, of course I felt an urge to fly my drone to capture the winter wonderland in the early morning.

Here are the pond, snowy trees, back lawn, chicken runs, and veggie garden:

Snowy pond, trees, veggie garden

Looking down a bit to see the whole veggie garden:

Snowy pond, trees, veggie garden

From above the veggie garden, looking towards the pond:

Snowy pond, trees, chicken coop

Looking straight down to the chicken runs, veggie garden, and berry cage:

Snowy veggie garden

A bit lower down:

Snowy veggie garden

Snowy covered chicken run:

Snowy chicken run

Above the back lawn, looking back to the grove, and chicken coop:

Snowy grove, chicken coop

Some pics of the pond:

Pond

Part of the field, flowerbeds, back lawn, and pond:

Flowerbeds and pond

Higher up to include veggie garden etc:

Veggie garden, pond, etc

From the opposite direction:

Pond, flowerbeds, etc

Looking up a bit at the trees:

Trees, pond, etc

Lots of snowy trees:

Snowy trees

This one might make a nice background:

Snowy trees

Mount Hood and snowy trees:

Mount Hood and snowy trees

Mount Hood, snowy trees, etc

Lower down, with the fountain garden in the foreground:

Snowy trees, fountain garden

Back on the ground (via my iPhone), the path to the chicken coop:

Path to chicken coop

Inside the chicken run; the new(ish) roof netting is holding up well:

Chicken run roof netting

The back lawn:

Back lawn

The pond and ducks:

Pond

Pond island and ducks:

Pond island and ducks

Sunrise through the grove, with the brown gazebo and the chicken coop:

Sunrise through grove

Finally, the cat house:

Cat house

Flock Friday for February 19

It’s been an interesting week, with an ice storm, snow, and days of power cuts. The ice and snow is all gone now, and we have power again (albeit with an hour outage yesterday evening). But things still feel unstable, and I know other parts of the country aren’t faring so well.

If you missed them, check out the previous two posts on the ice storm, including pictures of the chickens and ducks.

Here’s an aerial drone shot of the pond and snowy environs; you can see the new island in the center, and the ducks nearby:

Aerial pond

Duck prints in the snow:

Duck prints in snow

Despite the days of freezing weather, the pond didn’t fully freeze at all; the closest it came was a slushy crust:

Slushy pond

Ducks in slushy pond

The hummingbirds were very hungry with no other food sources:

Hummingbirds

Ducks on pond bank, with melting snow:

Ducks on pond bank

Ducks on the island:

Ducks on pond island

A cam shot of sleepy ducks on the edge of the pond, and on the island. It’s got a bit of a tilt due to water pooling on it, but the edge is still above the water line, so that’s okay:

Ducks on pond island

Hungry hummingbirds again:

Hummingbirds

Ducks on the lawn:

Ducks on the lawn

Let’s finish with a couple of token chicken pictures:

Chickens

Ice storm: generator, chickens, ducks, bees

Our electricity is still off due to the ice storm a couple of nights ago. Fortunately we have a portable generator, and fortunately I recently got it serviced so it actually works. I had it running most of the day yesterday, and expect to keep it going all day today (I turned it off overnight). It is providing power to our kitchen fridge/freezer, and currently slowly recharging the UPS for our internet router and Wi-Fi, and can be used to recharge other devices as needed:

Generator

Since we’re on a well, when the power is off, we don’t have any water, so we are using water jugs:

Water jug

Though weirdly when we flush a toilet it does refill; I know there’s some water in the pipes and pressure tank, but I would have expected that to be exhausted quickly, but hasn’t been yet. Upstairs, what’s more. Could water be coming up from the well without the pump?! We don’t want to push our luck, but are glad we don’t have to refill the cisterns the hard way yet.

Ice on a tree by the chicken runs:

Ice on tree by chicken run

Ice on the chicken run roof netting; it’s survived much better than the old netting I had previously:

Ice on chicken run roof netting

Chicken coop icicles:

Chicken coop icicles

The chickens are quite happy to stay inside, thank you very much:

Chickens

I took a look at the beehives this morning:

Beehives

They each have a sheet of ice on their roof, which could be concerning, as the heat of the hive should have melted it, though the feeders on top of each hive may have insulated the roof from them:

Beehives

Levitating ice:

Beehives

There are a bunch of dead bees on some of the hive entrances, which is actually a good sign — it proves there are some bees active to clean out the dead ones. There are thousands of bees in each hive, so a few dead ones is normal and not concerning. I did see a live one walking around, too, probably on the cleanup crew:

Bees

Ice storm: icy branches, icicles, ducks, hummingbirds

We had an ice storm last night. This morning, everything is covered in a layer of ice, with some powdery snow on top. Only about half an inch of each, but it was enough to knock out our power (and for everyone else in the region).

Some icy branches:

Icy branches

Tree branches weighed down; they’re normally high enough to walk under, not touching the ground:

Tree branches

Icy willow branches:

Icy branches

I lifted up a sample, looking edge on: a layer of ice with a layer of snow on top:

Snow and ice

The pond is starting to freeze. Just slushy at present, with some liquid on the edges:

Slushy pond and ducks

The ramp into the duck house is icy, but they can make it, so still have access to food:

Slushy pond and ducks

Icicles on the duck house:

Icicles

The ducks:

Slushy pond and ducks

Icicles on the bird food box:

Icicles

And the gazebo and deck:

Icicles

The hummingbird feeders were frozen; I brought this one inside to defrost:

Frozen hummingbird feeder

Since we don’t have power now, and thus can’t use the heater, I’m alternating the hummingbird feeders. We can heat water to make the sugar syrup using a kettle on our gas stove. They’re very hungry, unsurprisingly:

Hummingbirds

I’ll go out to the chicken coop every few hours to poke at their water dispensers, to break up the ice.

Our internet is working for now, powered by a UPS, though we’ll probably turn it off soon to preserve the battery. Fun times!

Cat update for week ending February 13

We are currently without power, which isn’t great for us, but also isn’t ideal for the feral cats, as their heated shelters won’t be as toasty.

Though they are quite used to snuggling together for warmth. Here are Spud and Poppy together in the left cabin, and Porcini in the right (back when we had power):

Three cats

Poppy watching me:

Poppy

Three cats again:

Three cats

The twins — Spud and Pommie:

Twins

Three cats at the cat house:

Three cats

Snuggles inside:

Snuggles

Spud in his breezeway cabin:

Spud

Four cats at the cabins (Porcini, Spud, Poppy, Pommie):

Four cats

Some snow yesterday:

Snowy

Me refilling their heated water dish (which also doesn’t work with the power off; it’s now frozen):

Refilling water

Two cats watching me as I walk up the path to the bird food box, while it snows:

Two cats

Four cats again (the same bunch as before, with Spud behind Poppy in the left cabin):

Four cats

This morning, a layer of ice covered by a layer of snow; here’s the frozen small pond by the cat house:

Snow and ice

The cat house:

Cat house

Flock Friday for February 12

It’s currently snowing; some snowy duck and chicken pictures towards the end of this post. Plus some pictures of the ducks using the new island, which makes me happy.

But first, a funny picture of a stretching chicken; such a long neck!

Stretching chicken

The ducks in the pond:

Ducks

On the edge of the pond:

Ducks

To see the new island, I moved the second camera to further back:

Camera

This is just a temporary placement, to check that the location works; at some point I’ll mount it more permanently:

Camera

The view from that camera, showing the first duck to go onto the island:

Ducks on island

Several ducks on the island:

Ducks on island

Chickens in the veggie garden:

Chickens in the veggie garden

Chickens with leafy treats:

Chickens

In a nesting box:

Chicken in nesting box

Coming into the coop to get mealworm treats:

Chickens in coop

Ducks on the lawn:

Ducks

Sleeping ducks:

Sleeping ducks

When approaching the pond, I noticed some ducks on the island; my first non-cam photo of them using it:

Ducks on island

Of course, as I got closer, most left it and swum towards me (swum/swam… grammar is hard):

Duck on island

Just Bert left on the island:

Duck on island

It snowed overnight. Here are some ducks on the island, and the older upturned pot islands, with snowy banks:

Ducks on island

Ducks going after leafy treats while it snows; they don’t care about the snow:

Ducks

Yes, the pond hasn’t frozen yet. It takes a while for it to cool down enough, but considering the high temperature today is about freezing level, I expect it to start to freeze in the next day or two.

Here are some ducks sleeping on the ledge at the edge, and some on the island:

Ducks

Ducks are very cold-hardy, but it’s probably warmer in the water than on land right now.

The chickens aren’t such fans of the snow. They came out to get their treats this morning:

Chickens in the snow

Then headed inside:

Chickens

Cat update for week ending January 30

The last Caturday for January… or is it March 335, 2020? What is time?

We start as we often do, with cute Porcini and Poppy snuggles in their cat house:

Snuggles

Poppy and Porcini on their deck:

Poppy and Porcini

Spud, Poppy, and Pommie at the cabins:

Spud, Poppy, Pommie

Poppy has been spending a lot of time in the cabins; here she’s in the left one, with Spud behind her, and Porcini in the right one:

Poppy (Spud behind), Porcini

Poppy returning to the cabins, with Spud and Porcini still there:

Poppy, Spud, Porcini

Spud sleeping on top of the ever-patient Poppy, and Porcini still in the other cabin:

Spud, Poppy, Porcini

Pepper watching me in the shop, while I was working on the duck island project:

Pepper in the shop

Cat

It snowed a bit on Sunday night; here’s Porcini with a bit of snow on the cat house awning (the ground in front is fairly sheltered by trees):

Snow and Porcini

Porcini, Poppy, and Pommie at the cabins again:

Porcini, Poppy, Pommie

Spud arrived too:

Spud, Poppy, Porcini, Pommie

A glimpse of Poppy and Porcini in the cabins while I walk up the path to the bird box (visible on the left). This picture is useful for context, too — our main deck and gazebo is above the cat cabins, with the bird feeders off to the right:

Poppy and Porcini

Porcini leaving:

Porcini leaving

Poppy thought about leaving as I got closer:

Poppy

But returned to the cabin and watched me cautiously while I refilled the bird feeders:

Poppy

As a feral cat, she’s cautious of all humans, but I think she recognizes me as not a threat.

Another busy day at the cabins, with Spud & Poppy in the left one, Pommie between them, and Porcini in the right one:

Four cats

That evening, a little more snow, and two cats:

Snow and cats

Pansy trying out a different chair in the back of the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Spud starting to throw up:

Spud yawp

A possum was happy to clean up the mess (time-lapse GIF), supervised by Pommie:

Possum and cat GIF

Spud was fine, he just ate a mouse or something that didn’t sit well. Here he is in the breezeway this morning:

Spud in the breezeway

Flock Friday for January 29

It’s Friday again. Today, a bunch of pictures of hummingbirds, chickens, and ducks. I know, very surprising for a Flock Friday post.

As mentioned on my personal blog, the hummingbird feeder was starting to freeze overnight, so I added my hacky heater. The heater comes on when the temperature gets down to 35° F, and goes off when above 45° F, via a thermostatically controlled outlet:

Thermostatic controller

The heating pad gets quite hot, enough to melt the ice, but too hot for the plastic base of the feeder, so it hangs a bit below via some paperclips:

Hummingbird feeder heater

Here’s a closer view of the feeder and heating pad:

Hummingbird feeder heater

The first customer approaches:

Hummingbird

A couple of hummingbirds:

Hummingbirds

A cam shot of the ducks on a snowy morning:

Ducks

Did you see the snowy aerial photos? Here’s one picture of the pond and ducks that I didn’t include there; check out that post for more:

Aerial ducks

Snowy ducks:

Ducks

A couple more pictures of hummingbirds, with at least 15 visible on the two closest feeders:

Hummingbirds

A closer look at the hummingbirds on the house feeder:

Hummingbirds

A bunch of pictures of the chickens, with new pumpkin and apple treats (and the older pumpkin shells slowly dissolving):

Chickens

The ducks on the back lawn:

Ducks

Snowing:

Ducks

A GIF of ducks going after mealworm treats while it’s snowing:

Ducks

A couple more pictures of ducks:

Ducks

Duck

We still haven’t decided on a name for that Silver Swedish male duck formerly known as Sassa; options include Stefan, Silvan, Sigfrid, Sigge, and Silvester; what do you think? I rather like Stefan, though am tempted by Sigfrid in honor of Siegfried from the All Creatures Great and Small TV series we’re enjoying at present.

January snow and aerial photos

Last night it snowed a little for the first time this season. Less than an inch; just enough to give a winter wonderland feeling around the homestead.

So this morning I flew my drone to capture the snowy landscape from the sky, plus some ground-level pictures on my morning rounds.

Here’s my DJI Mavic Mini drone hovering in front of me on our deck:

Drone

An overview of much of the snowy homestead:

Snowy homestead

Angling up a bit to capture the lightly dusted trees and mist:

Trees

Closer to the trees:

Trees

Our pond from above the back lawn:

Pond

Another angle of the pond, and a better look at the ducks:

Pond and ducks

Looking straight down:

Pond and ducks

From further back, you can see the pond, back lawn, and flowerbeds:

Pond, back lawn, flowerbeds

Back a bit more, adding the shop, hoop house, veggie garden, and chicken runs:

Pond, back lawn, etc

Looking down on the white gazebo and dormant flowerbeds; the cat house is also visible in the top-left corner:

Flowerbeds

The back lawn, brown gazebo, grove, and veggie garden:

Back lawn, grove, veggie garden

Down on the ground, here’s the greenhouse, with a sheet of snow sliding off the roof:

Greenhouse

Our beehives; they’re all huddled inside, keeping themselves warm. We’ll see in a few months whether or not they all survive the winter:

Beehives

By the pond:

By the pond

The duck house and pond — the water maintains its temperature well; it needs to be cold much longer to freeze:

Duck house and pond

The white gazebo and flowerbeds, with a glimpse of ducks on the back lawn in the background:

Flowerbeds

Finally, looking across the fountain garden towards the cat house:

Cat house and fountain garden

Flock Friday for January 1

Happy New Year! 🍾🥳🎊🎉

Today, a surprise revelation about the ducks… but first, some chicken pictures:

Chickens

The ducks in the back corner of the pond:

Ducks

Our pond partially froze for the first time this season on Tuesday. Here’s a time-lapse GIF of about an hour of the ducks swimming around in the non-frozen portion:

Ducks

A still shot:

Ducks

Another time-lapse GIF:

Ducks

When I went out there on my morning rounds, the ice had already somewhat melted, but there was some left:

Ducks

So what’s the surprise? Well, we noticed that we had misgendered one of our new ducks. In the second batch of ducklings in 2020, we expected to have all females, including a Khaki Campbell, who we named Clara. When ducklings are young, it can be hard to tell their sex, and apparently the hatchery made a mistake. Ducklings initially develop feathers like females when young, but as they get older, males start to show distinctive plumage. So apparently Clara is actually male; we now have two male Khaki Campbells, and one female. So Clara’s true name is now Cam.

Looking back at my photo archive, I can now see the first signs of a change as far back as October, but I didn’t notice until Jenn pointed out the change on one of the rare times she accompanied me on my evening rounds. I’m so observant!

Here are the ducks on the back lawn. The front rightmost two are the two Khaki Campbell males, Clyde and Cam:

Ducks

In the pond, from the pond deck:

Ducks

Collision while going after mealworms:

Ducks

A closer view; Clyde and Cam, the two Khaki Campbell males, are the lighter ones with dark heads on the left; Cora, the female, is in the center, with a Rouen behind her:

Ducks

Peeking through the duck house:

Duck

The bank by the duck house:

Ducks

Another couple of pics from the pond deck:

Ducks

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Yellow Cottage Homestead

Chickens, bees, feral cats, lavender, and more.

Snow & Ice

February snow and aerial photos

Flock Friday for February 19

Ice storm: generator, chickens, ducks, bees

Ice storm: icy branches, icicles, ducks, hummingbirds

Cat update for week ending February 13

Flock Friday for February 12

Cat update for week ending January 30

Flock Friday for January 29

January snow and aerial photos

Flock Friday for January 1