Today dawned bright and crystal clear, but bitterly cold. It is stunningly beautiful. This picture (and the one below as well) was taken from the warmth of our office looking to the west over our lower pasture. I love how the snow is still on the trees. We are expecting high winds tomorrow, so I wanted to capture it before it all blows away.
Of course I didn't have my camera ready when the boys went cantering all over the field, first Bailey chasing LB, then Bailey taking the lead. Here they have found something fascinating in the snow that they worked over for about 1/2 an hour. I didn't want to get all bundled up to go check it out. This picture is a little deceiving in that there is a pretty good bank on the other side of the fence (that's not hot right now!) so they are standing lower than the ground on this side of the fence by quite a bit. But regardless, there is a LOT of snow out there!
Too bad this photo is a little shadow-y, because I love their expressions. Frank was coming back through the mini's pen after breaking ice in the trough in the lower field (there is another trough up by the barn) and he stopped to talk to sweet Maddie. She doesn't seem to mind the snow and cold, but she sure loves her stall. This little mare had a terrible health scare this summer (liver values off the chart, vet said he'd never seen a living horse with numbers that high) but she's doing well now. Don't even ASK what we just spent on a ton of special hay just for her. Good thing it'll take almost a year for her to eat it!
Here is one of the troughs that Frank has been tending. Luckily, after tonight it is supposed to start warming up at least a little above freezing during the day, so maybe our days of taking 6" of ice out of there are almost over. Thanks to Frank for all his hard work during this cold snap. Especially for trucking the full wheelbarrows down to the compost pile. It's HARD to wheel a wheelbarrow through over a foot of crunchy snow!
I just thought this was a pretty face. What you can't see is the mugging I was getting from Daisy the donkey from behind...pulling on my hat and my hoodie, snuffling my ear, pushing on the middle of my back. As usual, she makes every job so much harder, but also so much more entertaining.
I just wanted to say I'm so glad I got a red barn. It makes for lovely contrast in all the winter pictures! When I was sitting down with the builders and we got to the part where they asked what color to make our new barn, I just looked at them and said, "It can't be any other color than RED!" We went with a white roof, and I'm glad for that too.
This picture shows how badly the netting on the top of the chicken run has been trashed. We will be totally replacing it as soon as we can. Also notice the depth of the snow on the header of the old swing set, as well as on the roof of our shop. This is just so incredibly unusual for this area, with our usual marine influence and 40 degree winter days. It's been beautiful, but I'm ready to get back to normal.
I realize that I neglected to say how the chickens were doing in the last winter storm posting. Well, they are a tiny bit cranky because they haven't been let out of their coop for a number of days, but they have the heat lamp on in there and I just happened to stop and pick up a case of lettuce trimmings from the grocery store (they throw them away!) on the way home Tuesday before the storm hit, so they've had fresh greens every day and there is enough for tomorrow yet too. And the funny thing is that the girls are also laying up a storm. Got SEVEN eggs yesterday from 13 hens. Now that's amazing for older hens and in the middle of the winter when the days are so short. Good girls!
Well, that's it for now. We were thinking about trying to venture into town for a few groceries, but changed our mind when we saw the road is still just compact snow on top of ice. Our neighbors are buzzing around on their 4-wheelers and the kids are sledding in the neighbor's pasture, but there aren't any cars leaving the neighborhood, just a couple of big 4x4's. Oh well, it's not like we really NEED anything. My well-stocked pantry will keep us going for a long time. Maybe we'll try to venture out tomorrow. More later!
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