Sudden Death Syndrome & My Hen, More Rain & Mudslides, Thrifting, Mushrooms?

R.I.P. Little Blackie

Sudden Death Syndrome & My Hen-
Last week Dave found one of our hens dead. What was so strange was that she looked healthy, was eating, and foraging one hour before. She'd also laid an egg that day. Dave checked on the girls, we had dinner, he went back out one hour later and she was gone. I checked her body- no wounds, no blood, nothing I could easily spot. Maybe she ate a nail or something else and she quickly bled out internally? I can't fathom what happened. The other two girls are fine. I always feel so guilty when I lose a hen- like I've been careless, lazy, or stupid. I googled some things and came up with this- while it seems to affect young male birds, it certainly fit the bill:

From Agriculture.gov.sk.ca-
Sudden Death Syndrome (acute death syndrome, flips, flip overs)-
Chickens and turkeys that die of sudden death syndrome are most often found lying on their backs with their legs and necks extended, although, occasionally, they are positioned on their front side. Other than convulsions observed immediately before death, affected birds do not appear to be sick prior to dying.  The affected birds are usually large, and are most often males.

Sudden death syndrome is a cardiovascular disorder caused by a heart arrhythmia, meaning the birds die of a heart attack.  Mortality can occur in birds as early as one week of age, and normally peaks around three weeks of age.  A fast rate of growth is the major causative factor.  The methods described earlier in this section to slow growth rate will help to reduce the number of birds dying from this condition.

While the articles helped I still couldn't find an answer to all the questions. It gave me a bit of relief thinking maybe there was just some kind of genetic or congenital problem? It's too late in the season to buy a couple of chicks, so we'll do that in the spring. She was a great chicken, happy and gentle....

                                                           Photos from Ktvb.com/
More Rain & Mudslides-
Several storms have blown thru the last few days. While we've had nothing like Colorado had, we had some mudslides. Many local areas, including a main highway last night, had sudden mudslides and road washouts. It rained heavily last night north of us, but we just had lots of thunder and lightning. It's supposed to cool down to the 70's this coming week and I'm hoping we're going down into a cooling trend. While I've loved the recent rain, it been in the 80's/90's and it just too humid! I felt like I was in the deep south yesterday working in the garden.

Storm clouds over our house, but no rain

Thrifting-

While I didn't get out as much as usual this summer due to my foot surgery, I'm catching up a bit now! After our third electric tea kettle died in three years we decided to go back to a regular stove top one. While the electric ones are much faster and use less energy, they only last a couple of years. I make iced tea year round and Dave uses a french press for coffee. The night ours died I remembered I have seen a Revere Ware kettle at Goodwill the day before. The next day I went back after work and it was still there! Nice stainless steel and copper bottom. It was $3.00! It's nice and clean and works great! I also found two brand new top and bottoms for work. I also bought some cheap crocus bulbs to plant next month in our backyard for spring. I also got a beautiful aster to fill in where an annual had died-

Mushrooms?
With lots of rain, and heat, we had a batch of mushrooms sprout in our backyard. Any ideas as to what they kind they are???

Rain! Independence Days, The One Important Thing Preppers Seem to Forget, Balloons Over Boise

All green here

Rain!
Sorry, no photos! We had a torrential downpour last week, and it rained so hard we had flooded gutters. I had just gotten home from work and got the chickens in about one minute before the flood gates opened. Lighting was really intense and thunder rattled the windows. We lost power for an hour. We broke a record for rain during this time of year. Dave and I had watched the weather and we decided he'd pick all the nectarines the weekend before the storms hit. We stored them in single layers in the kitchen. The temp dropped 10 degrees overnight and the sky's been so blue since then! No smoke. Still warm here, 87 today, but it feels like we're inching towards Fall. I'm ready! I've been really busy with getting back to work, and moving kids stored furniture out finally. What a relief to have some space back! Now I can set up my sewing machine again...

Independence Days-

1. Plant Something-

All done.

2. Harvest Something-

Eggs, compost, collard greens, all the nectarines, lemon cukes, tomatoes, 4 kinds of peppers, yellow squash, green beans, eggplants, basil, herbs.

 3. Preserve/Store Something-

  Froze some tomatoes. Froze most of the nectarines, canned some. Total: 6 gallons frozen, 3 Qts. canned. Good harvest this year! I also made an "emergency cobbler" in a huge lasagna pan-

Lots and lots of nectarines!

tossing in some fruit fresh to prevent browning before freezing

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

Added some more "gourmet on the cheap" (grocery outlet)  breads to the freezer for the winter. Bought more canned goods for the pantry.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-

Made homemade pizza with tomatoes, fresh mozz and fresh basil, wonderful! I used a local dough I bought on the way home. We ate French-style baked eggs for another dinner. Those are so simple and so good!

 6. Build Community Food Systems-

Got free veggies, including tomatoes, from work and made salsa and froze some. Selling eggs again.

 7. Recycle/Re-Use-

Compost. We had our two dining chairs recovered. I would have done it myself but I don't do welting. The guy also tightened the straps underneath and stabilized the frame, which was a bit wobbly. I got them used years ago for $40.00 each. Turns out they're worth about $400.00 each new! It's the cut out and framing on the backs. Very detailed. I tried to match the original Ikat fabric but couldn't find it. We went with a French country style fabric. Our kitchen can be a bit dark so it's nice and bright! And it has stain repellent sprayed on!

                                         "Before" shot, with holes, worn and faded

"After" shot! Clean and nice and stable 

8. Skill Up-

Learned some new tech skills at work. My boss is getting me a tablet, oh boy!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

Dining chairs. Trying to decide if we should have our two living room chair re-covered or not. Pretty spendy but cheaper than a new chair. That I might try myself....

The One Important Thing Preppers Seem to Forget-
One word- atmosphere. I keep seeing all these website and lists of things to prep for when the zombies come, or the grid's down. Food, fual, ammo, guns. Nobody's talking about the one thing we must have- an atmosphere to live in!!! If methane (see article below) keeping releasing at the rate it is we'll be in very big trouble. SOON. Methane is percolating from under thawing ice packs, rising up and entering the atmosphere. In the photo above a scientist is alighting methane from under the snow pack. They're called "ice grenades", as they're so explosive. Great way to toast a hot dog, but not our planet. From the article:

If the temperature of the planet continues to rise massive quantities of the gas could be released into the atmosphere with potentially deadly effects from Dailymail.co.uk- Usually I Catch on Fire

Ice grenades rising under the ice, coming soon to an atmosphere near you!  

Balloons Over Boise!
This time of year there's always a hot air balloon festival in Boise. Here's some shots from my cellphone in my car (not while I was driving) around town last week-

Rain's Coming! 490-year-old Spanish Documents The Irish in S. Carolina in 1500's

Take shelter under Mom, from Facebook's Secret Garden

Rain's Coming!

I missed the local news the last day or two. When I opened up the Nation Weather Service a few minutes ago forecast I was shocked to see flash flood warnings all over our area today. Radar.weather.gov  

Starting tomorrow we're heading into a rainy spell. Yeah! It's been in the mid/high 90's and I am just sick of the heat!!! I had already planned to get new wiper blades all around today, since mine were shot. New ones are on and I'm ready to go, happy dance! It's been really smoky here the last 2 days, so hopefully the rain will fix that.

490-year-old Spanish Documents The Irish in S. Carolina in 1500's-
I find this a fascinating article and it ties with with other things I've read over a few decades. 490-year-old Spanish Documents Irish in S. Carolina  

This summer I also watched a few of these episodes from America Unearthed History.com It's also got some really fascinating and some episodes can be watched online fro free. I'm happy they're doing Season 2!

Beginning in 2006 the People of One Fire, a nationwide team of Native American scholars, primarily of Creek Indian heritage, began a comprehensive research program to obtain more accurate and detailed knowledge of North America’s pre-European history. Much of the work involved painstaking, paragraph by paragraph analysis of the archives of the colonial powers, particularly those of Spain. The team attempted to translate every Native American word recorded by the Spanish, while they were in the Southeast. Almost all the words were easily translated by modern Creek, Alabama, Koasati or Choctaw dictionaries. There were no Cherokee words, whatsoever. However, the words associated with the province of Duhare defied translation until this week.

While investigating the similarity of Irish petroglyphs to those in the State of Georgia, A People of One Fire member ran across this ancient Irish lullaby, called “Bainne nam fiadh:” On milk of deer I was reared. On milk of deer I was nurtured. On milk of deer beneath the ridge of storms on crest of hill and mountain.”

A check with Gaelic dictionaries quickly found translations for the Duhare words, recorded by the Spanish. Duhare can either be translated as “place of the Clan Hare” . . . or if the Duhare came from west of the Shannon River, it meant, “du’hEir – place of the Irish.”

Datha was a standard Medieval Irish Gaelic word that means “painted.” Since the Spanish recorded that he covered his skin with pigments or tattoos, as was traditional among the Celts, this name makes perfect sense.

Researchers feel certain that there was a colony of Irish folk living in what is now South Carolina, when Christopher Columbus “thought” he had discovered the New World. When and how the Irish got to the New World is another question. Most likely it was during the Medieval Period. Even if the Irish had originally known how to smelt iron and bronze, the nearest deposits of iron and copper ores were a 280 miles (448 km) away from the coast. There are no tin deposits in the Southeast for making bronze. A couple of generations of NOT making iron tools, and the people would have forgotten the knowledge.

There is a particular irony to this stark change in North America’s official history. During the Irish Potato Famine, all the ports in the United States, except Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA were closed to Irish immigration. Possibly, as many as a quarter million Irish immigrants entered the United States through Charleston and Savannah. Although most dispersed throughout the Southeast to establish farms or work on the railroads, enough stayed in Charleston and Savannah to make them, “very Irish” cities. The Province of Duhare seems to have been located near modern-day Charleston.

From- 490-year-old Spanish Documents Irish in S. Carolina