First Snow!

The weathermen got it right  this time.  We ended up with  about 5 inches and it is 17°.

DH has gone out to milk and I will follow shortly to process  it.  Willow does so much better with him than with me.  I wonder how Jewel (the Jersey)  will be when she calves???  Hmm, DH may become the permanent milk person.

I have put on a  pot of pinto beans.....done minimal house keeping (tided the bathroom, made the bed and cleaned up breakfast dishes).  I vacuumed yesterday.  I might squeeze in dusting today.

Gardening

The seeds I planted the l0th are mostly up.  I have a full stand of cauliflower and Premium  Crop broccoli and another variety of broccoli from some older seeds,



I took a few  pictures this morning from the back porch and the kitchen window.

 
 
This is looking out the window over the sink to the east:
 
Male Cardinal  is not so red from the back,

I believe this is a juvenile White Crowned Sparrow,

This is an adult White Crowned Sparrow perched in the nandina bush by the window.  I noticed the red leaves of the bush were as bright as the red of the Cardinals.  You don't notice that so much without the snow cover.

Feeding the Birds Again

It is a dreary drizzly day here, but not very cold.  Looks like the heavy rains may have missed us.

The chickens have begun their off season of laying, the molt.  We are getting 2 or  3 a day now which may keep just the two of us supplied but we may have to supplement from the store.

I hope I have enough for pies for Thanksgiving.

Our granddaughter got in Friday night and will be with us for a week.  They get a full week over Thanksgiving.  She is thrilled because she has very little homework for a change.  We won't see her much I am sure.

The puppies are growing, barking, growling and getting out of the nest.  I am already thinking of doing an impromptu wire pen outside the building so they can get some sunshine but not wander off.


I am trying to handle them each day so they will know what humans are.....

I put out sunflower seeds and the birds are visiting regularly.  I need to buy wild bird seeds for the small birds but so far, they seem to be handling the sunflower seeds.



The birdbath is very close to the feeder hanging outside the window over the sink.

From Birds of 2014

From Birds of 2014

Blogs Are My Medicine

Reading Blogs is a  delight on these cold, dreary days!  Thank you all for helping me.

Another gloomy Sunday with temperatures near freezing but down in the low teens tonight.  I call anything under 20° dog nights.  We bring Sugar on to the back porch when it dips that low.

I milked this morning.  Willow didn't give quite as much as usual but no wonder.  The Jersey now follows her up the ramp eagerly like she is afraid to be left alone.  I check her udder and if it seems empty I just let her eat.  I don't need the milk and I figure her calf does!  We have to let them leave at the same time too or the Jersey gets very nervous!

Our neighbor called early this morning after driving his wife to work to tell us not to get out if we didn't have to.  The roads were covered in black ice and were very treacherous.  I was happy we did our shopping locally yesterday.

The bird feeder is serving double duty these days.  I dump  the leftover seeds after filling the kitchen window feeder.



Gail and Ilene, I have added you to me list so I will get notified when you post.  Gail let me know if you can if the email thing is working for you now.

Lunch today was leftovers but I did make a very simple apple tart with some apples that were getting way past prime.  I layered some apple butter on the crust and then a layer of apple slices tossed with sugar and flour, rolled up the crust edges and baked.  It may not have been prime but we enjoyed it. I do love having the frozen crusts ready to go.  They get soft very quickly laying on my cast aluminum  pan.

Winter Storm Has Arrived

Yesterday was a balmy 40°.  The boys were able to work outside and do lots of chain saw work and general clean-up.  We woke this morning to about 20° and 3  inches of very fine  snow and lots of wind.  Now at 12:06 PM is is 13° and the last time I measured snow at 9 AM, we had 5 inches.  It has snowed non-stop since  and all our tracks are gone.

I milked both cows and we left them  locked in with their babies and shelter.  I don't worry about the beef cows but I do worry about teats freezing  on the dairy cows, especially the Jersey heifer.  DH drove the truck back and forth and cut a nice swath for me from the house to the milk barn.

I am cooking a pot of white beans with a  large ham bone.  I have cornbread in the oven and will be wilting lettuce to go with it.  I have two pie crusts thawing....may do a blackberry cobbler later this afternoon.

We bought DH  a new porch swing for Christmas.  The other one was getting very old and had collapsed  when too many guest sat on it.  I had the boys put it together yesterday before they left.  It is made of cypress.  I will probably stain it rather than letting it age slowly. 

This is before the storm:



and this was taken this morning,



I have feeders up on the porch and the birds are flocking to them this morning, 



General snow pictures,


It was way past my ankles.  My pants were covered with frozen snow so I had to change when  I came in.




Tonight will be our coldest night, -8 with a wind chill of -40.  That will set a record for us!

This morning was a very cold 32°. That is about normal for us; not the warm temperatures we have been having, but the change is drastic!

My plants under the lights have improved since I began watering with a dilute fish emulsion fertilizer that Kris uses.
They have been outside a couple of days and nights but I brought them in last night.

This is Asian Red Lettuce.

The cabbages:

The Golden Agastache is turning color. The other is a lavender agastache.


The bluebirds are back. I finally saw them entering the new bird house I put up last year.




And finally she went in. They were in and out all morning. The hole seems almost too small.


I gave up the struggle to not bake anything! DH has been asking for a cherry pie so this morning I baked one, and yes, I ate some.

I may just cook all day long tomorrow.........................