Late November

KILLING FROST: Stacked the new bales of straw at the back of the coop in the nick of time.  Saturday night (Nov 18) it was 27 degrees when we went to bed at 10pm.  Poor chickens!!  I went out with a flashlight and plugged in the plant mat.  It was 19 degrees when we got up a bit before 6.  

The Mulberry leaves turned a dark sullen avocado shade and started raining down.  (There were huge 'puddles' of them up and down the street where other people's trees had done the same thing.  Always makes me think of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree...  Sunday I made sure to stuff feedsacks full of straw and put them up on top of their roost box to help insulate/ cover up the air holes.  Also put a heavy towel over the inside window in the L.  We bought 2 12' chunks of polycarbon roofing and started putting those up along the north side.  Have gaps that will need plastic, and still need to do the door and the small east side.  But it was definitely better.  >Which was a good thing because Sniglet has huge bald patches, poor baby.  And Monday morning, it was 17 degrees!  Mind you, very disorienting because when I got up this morning (Tuesday), I did a double-take:  46!  I wondered if maybe one of the doves wasn't roosting on it?  That kind of range has to be terribly hard on everything:  plants, trees, grass, bugs, birds, mice....

(Not pictured).  The Cottonwoods have now passed from glorious, blazing yellow to browns, and are starting to fall.  The Elms are shedding everywhere.  There was some wind through the night; they were suddenly threadbare this morning.


   

The arugula seeds from a season or two ago has sprouted up in a low spot--where dogs and people have worn a path... where any extra water drains and settles.  I thought it was charming, in a shaggy, unkempt sort-of way, and thought the chickens would enjoy eating it.  So I have been mindful to carry it a can full of water now and then.  It survived the bitter temperatures over the weekend--I noticed this morning it was still thriving.  *What a hearty plant.  Wish I liked the taste....*

Pissy Lola.  She's starting to look pretty ratty too. ~A couple weeks behind Butterknife/ aka Sniglett.