Peaceful Friday, thankfully!

Here on the farm its pretty peaceful today as you can see through my photos. A nice blanket of snow, chilly air, very little breeze. Everything is either snuggled down, or out taking a stroll through the winter wonderful land. We are so blessed.


Want some food for thought . . . check out Mary's post today. I know it made me survey my world out the window a little differently this morning.

Not much new around here

Snow, snow, and more snow. And this is nothing compared to what they have up by Lake Michigan or over on the East coast. This is a measly 6 inches. Its just been a while since we've seen it like this. On the farm everybody is pretty well adjusted. Extra straw, check. Extra feed, check. Snow boots and wool socks, check. Snow shovel, check. We're good to go.

Snow Day

So for once the winter weather advisory was warranted. I would say all in all we ended up with about 5 inches. We took this photo about 5:30 PM last night. It was still snowing and blowing then:

The sun peeped out for a little while during chore time this morning. After eating breakfast, Hamburger and T-Bone took off on an adventure around the pasture . . . they don't seem to mind the snow near as much as they did the first couple of times:

My favorite snow experience this morning . . . Sally the cat. Since she is just a few months old, this is definitely her first winter. And she seems to think playing in the snow is the best thing since sliced bread. You can see her in the far right center of the picture above. Here's a close up:

Not sure what is so exciting about the snow on the side of the tent, but I bet she played in that area for about 5 minutes before her paws got cold. And then  she took to running and pouncing in the snow as if there were some imaginary animal just below the surface. I really wish I could have video taped it.


One more photo for the morning . . . sun  across the garden. Catching and glinting on the fine snow crystals, lacking a better cliche, like diamonds.

Winter Weather Advisory

So I think that a winter weather advisory is a little bit overboard for a few inches of snow. I remember when I was a kid we used to get excited when there was a little line of text on the corner of the tv screen . . . it meant there really was a big storm coming. Now I have to talk myself down when they put those up, because I don't want to get myself excited for nothing. I'm one of those wierd people that likes to get snowed in. So instead of thinking about how much snow we might be getting, I just took my camera out with me when I went to dump the compost bowl, and explored the winter wonderland a little bit.

From the far east corner of the property:

From the east looking out over the pasture:

From the chicken house steps:

The cows standing out in the snow for a lot longer than it takes to get a drink. Their fur is evidentally thick enough that they don't notice.

Monday Count

Number of eggs to put away this morning (had to take a photo before their trip to the fridge): 3

Which is very exciting considering the lack of eggs over the last several weeks. The last couple of days we have been getting 2 or 3 eggs a day. So I think the hens are coming back into lay. Which is good for baked goods and egg customers all around!

Other counts . . . number of birds outside 5 minutes after removing the door to their outside ramp (it was too cold for them to be outside yesterday): 9!

Number of mice caught by Checkers and Kiddo this weekend = 0.

Number of hours said dog and cat spent hunting mice this weekend = too many to count

Number of mouse traps set in stove bottom drawer = 1

Number of mice caught in stove bottom drawer = 1

Minutes it took Henry the outdoor cat to eat caught mouse = less than 3

Time to go reset the mouse trap, and tuck Checkers into her bed. She is exhausted from her weekend mouse chasing.

Where did they go?

I know all you can see is the black back of Hamburger sticking out from behind the chicken house in this photo. The real story is that he is sticking his head up the ramp to the chicken house, as if to ask "Where did they go?" I think that he and T-Bone see the birds as part of their "herd" and if they could, they would trot up the ramp and roost with them at night. Mostly they just spend a lot of time around the ramp trying to find their "herd".

Return of the snow

I knew we wouldn't go too long without some white on the ground. It has been a light flurry on and off this morning. No deterrent to the critters though who are still enjoying their barnyard freedom this morning.

The chickens will be sad though. They are about to lose the freedom of slipping under the gate to explore the yard. I didn't mind them doing it until I found all 5 hens scratching in the straw coveirng my strawberry bed yesterday. The strawberries had a tough enough time with a dry fall without having chickens dig them up during the winter. Though if there gets to be more snow on the ground I won't have to worry about their wanderings anyways. They won't come out of the building if we get the ground covered.