No chicks!

C. says we shouldn't let the hairdo hen have chicks now, so I take the eggs I left yesterday.

She brings the hoses and other gear up from where I left them on the hill coming up from the pump house, and closes the door down there. Before winter I need to get down there and rip out all the fiberglass insulation on the little room enclosing the pump. I'll put in that rugged, waterproof styrofoam sheet insulation and hang a proper door, and it should be easier to keep it warm in there. And buy a new milk-room heater, too, since the last one was floating in the floodwaters.

We tried to turn the outside water on – I went down into the newer crawlspace and closed the drain on the pipe, and C. went into the old crawlspace and opened up the water line. We were disturbed by the sound of rushing water. And it wasn't rushing out the garden spigots. C. went deeper into the new crawlspace, and found 15 feet of PVC pipe spewing water out its whole length. Must have frozen and cracked lengthwise. Feh. So I went down and took measurements, and will pick up some three-quarter-inch Pex pipe in town tomorrow. It'll be an easy fix, and I'll just reuse the Sharkbite fittings down there. (I love those things.)

My friend Diane and daughter came by to worm the goats, bless their hearts. Diane keeps and knows goats, and thought worming the little guy might help his generally run-down condition. We caught all three sheep and the little goat, and squirted wormer down their throats, but couldn't get the big goat. C. and I will do that tomorrow. We chatted for a bit.

C. took Foghorn, the white hen, back out to the chicken house and put her on a roost. She's been in the bathroom for a week or so, recovering from a limp. Have to remember to check on her tomorrow.

Four eggs today.