Yesterday was a little warmer than today.

I milked but Willow was very antsy because we had left the two calves with her for a couple of days....she didn't like us removing them, so I just milked half and let her calf nurse.

That means I will have to milk more often if I can't break her of this.

The rest of the day was just my routine.

I did make an apple cobbler for dinner. It is so easy with the fruit and crust frozen and waiting. I hope I don't run out of apples, but know I will.

Today is running just below freezing; the birdbath had completely thawed yesterday but is solid again today.

DH filled my tree feeder for me so I haven't gone outside except to help him unload wood onto the back porch.

Speaking of wood, I love wood heat. There is just nothing to compare.

The house came with an old Ashley wood circulator. This was before the invention of catalytic converters and I am glad! It isn't a pretty thing, but it works beautifully well. It will hold a fire all night with just 2 or 3 sticks. It is lined with firebricks and that holds heat extremely well. We just shut it down at night by turning the damper off and the next morning the living room is toasty warm and we just open the damper and add wood.
We haven't been burning wood much for several years, probably since 2004 when some remodeling interrupted the air flow and the kitchen gets too cold without the furnace.
I am wracking my brain about how we can burn wood full time with the furnace just for backup I do have a wood flue in the kitchen but don't think I can squeeze one in....I am thinking a wall mounted very small gas heater.

The stove has some stain down the front that I could never get off but I have now discovered a spray-on heat proof paint that I used on the frame of the wall heater in the bathroom and I believe I could use it here.

From wood stove

The people we bought the farm from were very familiar with wood heat and when they added on the living room,they allowed for that....the back door is very near the stove and he laid marble down from the door to just past the stove. The brick wall is made from slave bricks from his FIL's house just down the road. Remember Missouri was a slave state before the Civil War and a few folks had some. I believe the story is the clay is from somewhere on the farm too. The wall is about 18 inches thick and there is a clean out door outside at the base of the chimney.

I wish he had made the door and the porch wider but he didn't.

DH rigged a carryall on the front end of the tractor to move the wood from the wood shed across the drive to the back porch...quite a distance for a wheel barrow.
He can back right up to the porch and hand me the first level and he finishes up. That faces north and it was very windy and cold back there.



I put on a pot of brown beans this morning and finished them off on top of the wood stove. I could have cooked them there, but just wasn't thinking. I made egg noodles, wilted lettuce and cornbread. He got the last of the apple cobbler.

Random Bird Picture

Tame ones this time; they are enjoying their warm mash.