Well, many things about this spring are very normal. The pollen is very high, along with the wind. Those two aspects are just part of Oklahoma life. What has been different this year is the lack of, not just rain, but severe thunderstorms. Don’t get me wrong, we have gotten some rain, but not the drenching multi-inch rain that we can sometimes get here. The nearby lake is low, especially for this time of the year.
A podcaster that I used to listen to stated that he thought that the dry line was moving east. I considered that statement at the time and generally agreed with him. I have also started paying closer attention to that part of the weather. When I was growing up in Western Oklahoma, we spent considerable time in the community shelter at the school across the street from our house. I understand that weather forecasting was in its infancy when I was young but there were several times when it was a very good thing to be in the storm shelter. Each spring, many of my friends lost the roofs from their houses or experienced damage from a violent tornado.
I’m wondering if that dry line moved eastward while I was away living in other states for about fifteen years. Central Oklahoma is notorious for very severe storms and tornadoes and causes untold amount of death and damage. The past few years, not so much. I’ve been on top of our hill in Eastern Oklahoma for over ten years and have never actually seen a tornado, but, in the dark, saw what could have been one. Now, the trend for tornadic weather seems to be centered in Ohio, or thereabouts. We are also behind in rain for the year so far. Spring and fall are the usual months for us to get the bulk of our rain. We are not in a drought yet, but our area has been listed as abnormally dry by the US Drought Monitor. As usual, we’ll just have to see how it plays out.
My poor birds finally got moved to a new paddock. They have been very happy to have their home on fresh, green grass and not packed dirt or mud.
Crystal, one of my Idaho pasture pigs, had her piglets, just last night. She had eleven live births and one stillbirth. The piglets were wandering all around the pasture and it was a bit of a chore to get them round up while Crystal tried to finish her labor. I don’t have a video for them yet but will have one done and up by the next blog post. I did build another pig hut to accommodation her and the piglets. I had scrap lumber, so the only thing I spent any extra money on was the washers that helped hold on the thin plywood skin. Because I did not measure my scrap carefully before assembly, I had to make some modifications, but it worked out pretty good and is in the pasture now. I was really glad to get it done before she farrowed. A New Paddock and a New Pig Hut can be seen here.
We got an unexpected very high water bill in the mail and I have spent some time in person and on the phone with the water department trying to get the issue straightened out. It appears that our actual meter was working but the radio frequency read hadn’t been working in three years! And I was supposed to know that. The supervisor was very nice and we ended up working out a much better deal, but that was a bit stressful. Apparently, he was fairly new on the job and inherited a significant issue with the old manager and over seventy accounts had not been working properly so I was not the only one bending his ear. Even though I was not responsible for the equipment, I was able to negotiate a $3,000 bill down to $500. Eh, okay.
A strong cold front blew through the other day. Even though it did not get down near freezing, the cold, strong wind was not what I was wanting to feel in the middle of April in Oklahoma. Since I didn’t want to be outside much, I recorded and posted Episode 57: Let’s Talk About the “F” Word on This Grandma’s Life Podcast. It can be seen here.
It had been well over a month since I had my new doe in with Roger, my previous buck and there were no babies forthcoming. This past weekend, I put both of my does in with my new buck in hopes of babies next month.
On Saturday, Tom and I checked out a live animal barn sales place in Collinsville. I am looking for places to sell some of my animals since I am not doing a very good job on line. We met a very nice couple who also have a YouTube channel, Robertson’s Belly Acres. I love the name and I learned a lot from this couple. They informed me that there is going to be a YouTuber’s meetup next Saturday at Lake Tenkiller. I am certainly looking forward to attending that! Meeting new people and handing out cards to my channels will be an excellent opportunity I can’t pass up. I also learned more about rabbits while I was there. It was good to get out and do something different. I was even able to talk Tom into going to an RV place so I could show him some camper vans. It was a good day.