Northern State and Hasenpfeffer

Today Tom, Jonathan, Ryeleigh and I headed to Northern State Hospital as Jonathan hadn’t seen it before and had just watched Finding Lillian and was curious.

First I checked to make sure Al’s plaque was ok (no bird poop).

We waked past the dairy barns and went to the cemetery.  I hadn’t been there in probably 10 years.

This was the first grave marker I found in what appears to be a lawn.

There is only one gravestone in the whole cemetery.

I hadn’t realized before, but the back fenceline has a row of grave markers from one to thirty-two.

The rest of the graveyard appears to be random (to me anyway).

We walked toward the horse barn and found this heavily-graffitied building.

I couldn’t figure out what this building was for.  In my attempts I found a UW library archive of old photos of NSH which did not include this building, as well as lots of old maps of the property which also did not include this one.  There was a blueprint of the tunnels which was fascinating.

So please let me know if you have an idea of what this building was for.  We then headed to the main campus and looked at the buildings.

We were all pretty tired at this point (except Ryeleigh) so we headed back.  There were lots of these trees around (American Chestnuts) which were quite pretty.  We did see some cherry and apple trees as well.

I went home and made Hasenpfeffer for dinner.  I got the idea from watching A Taste of History Season 6, Episode 6 which featured it.  I immediately thought of the Bugs Bunny cartoon from my childhood and knew I had to make it.

It took me a while to procure a rabbit, but I did via Osprey Hill Farm.  The recipe I used did take a 2 day marinade so I had to plan ahead.  But today was the day, and here is my dinner.

It was really good although a little salty for me (not for Tom).  We watched the cartoon while we ate it so that was fun too.  Definitely will make this one again.

Aurora Borealis

There was an expected aurora last evening, and per my app it was supposed to peak at 11 PM here.  I was post call and stupidly stayed awake in the afternoon to watch Eurovision replays so I was quite tired.  After dinner I took a quick nap, setting my alarm for 10:30.  We got up, packed up the beagle and cameras, and headed north.  We have hills behind us that block the northern view.  On the drive we already started seeing some amazing views.  These photos we taken while we were driving, out my window. 

And then we arrived at the spot Tom picked on Porter Creek Road.  The skies were amazing.  Sorry, there are a lot of photos.  

 

Here are some videos I took.

It seemed to die down, but then it picked up again.

We decided that it was more or less over.  And it was 12:40 in the morning so we headed back.  

We stopped at a view over the Three Sisters Mountains.  Earlier this spot had been packed, but there were still some people parked on the side of the road taking photos.  I took some more too.

We got back home at 1:30.  I took a final photo from our front yard before heading into bed.  

It was an amazing experience that I have been wishing for for a long time.  And it finally happened and was totally wonderful.  I hope you all were able to appreciate it as well, if it was in your area.  I can check this off of my bucket list, but of course wouldn’t mind seeing the lights again sometime.  

Still Worrying

Last evening when I checked on the barn, the our-hatched chicks had escaped from the teepeed pen.  They clearly had been terrorized by the older chicks.  So I had to catch them all and moved them into the weasel proof pen.  Mr. Pink was in his usual rabbit hutch hiding, but I decided to move him in with Eliz’s birds.  He got along with them before, and he will be safe and happy in there.

Summer was laying down this morning so I worried.  But later she stood up and seemed fine.

Also this morning the turkey poults were hiding under their warmer, and I saw the older chicks reaching under it to peck them.  So they seemed to be terrorized by the older chicks.  So I decided to move them into one of the rabbit hutches with their warmer.  They immediately starting drinking water and seemed relieved.

I even cleaned off the roof of the hutch and the window nearby to give them more light.

Eliz’s birds and Mr. Pink seem to be doing OK again.  I am thinking that when it is time to release them, the other roosters’ attention will be on the younger roosters and not on Mr. Pink.  Hopefully this plan will work.

In the weasel proof pen, the our-hatched chicks and the lighter hatchery chicks are getting along well.

But, for some odd reason, the darker hatchery chicks are hiding in the corner.  It is odd because they came in the same box as the lighter chicks so why are they included and these ones not.  I clearly do not understand chickens.

Anyway I got some extra food for them and when the other chicks moved on they were able to drink.  But this evening they were back hiding in the corner.  Obviously they are being terrorized when I am not watching.  So I moved them back into the rabbit hutch. They immediately started drinking and seemed more relaxed.

Here are the chick counts, for those who are keeping track.  Plus there are 7 turkey poults.  I am hoping I can somehow get them all to adulthood.

In other news, there have been no more coyote sightings or losses.  I moved the security camera farther east on the back pasture fence.  We are thinking this is the path she takes to our pastures.  Hopefully we have improved the fencing enough to discourage her.