This Afternoon

Surprisingly, we have kept our electricity all day. The sleet has turned to light snow. In the pictures, most of the accumulation is sleet.

Sleet built up on the awning above our back door. The wind would then blow it, and it would fall down between the awning and the house. When it was time to go feed, we had to go out the front door and dig out to be able to open the back door.

We just got word that school is cancelled again tomorrow.

This Morning

These pictures were taken this morning when Robby and I went out to feed. It was a little before nine and a fairly thick coating of ice covered everything. It has been sleeting ever since. The sleet is supposed to change over to snow any time. I'm hoping for sooner rather than later.

Ice makes for lots of interesting photographs. I'm just not much for taking pictures when sleet is stinging my cheeks. Hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures after we feed this afternoon. (That will mean we still have electricity.)

I'm off to get the kids started on a puzzle.

Picture of the Day

This is what happens when you leave clothes on the line overnight in January.

Our Day

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. Ice crystals coated trees, fences, wires, etc. I took these pictures from our front porch.

Ready or not, it's winter!

Well, we've survived a VERY cold week. I'm not sure how many days we were below freezing or right above. I'm hoping this week wasn't a taste of what the rest of the winter will be like. It's funny how fast you can block out the memory of making sure all of the animals have unfrozen water. I'm hoping for a warm up next week.

More Snow Pictures

We had a little more snow overnight. By noon, there were already bare spots and now all that is left are the drifts. We had some really cool drifts in our pens and in the corner of our fence line. The kids had fun in the snow. You can see more pictures of them here. You can also click on these images to make them larger.

It is kind of strange to think we were experiencing a blizzard yesterday and the temps are in the high 40s today. The wind is still blowing, so I am sure there is a wind chill. We learned we are going to have to do some upgrading to the chicken house so we'll be ready if we ever have a "real" winter.

I'm sure this may be overkill on the pictures, but I really thought the drifts and their shapes were cool. I also liked Robby and T.S.'s shadows. Poor T.S. had serious mitten problems this morning.

Facts you should know if you are ever on Jeopardy!: Farm Edition

One of our Rhode Island Red pullets laid her first egg today. (It is the one on the right. The white one on the left is from one of our old Leghorn hens that Sadie has had since first grade.) That is very exciting around here. So how do I know it was a Red and not a Leghorn? I'm happy you asked. Rhode Island Reds lay brown eggs, Leghorns lay white. Also, the Leghorns are not known to lay this early. The pullets are only 6 months old. (Go here to see pictures of them as babies.)

Interesting facts about Rhode Island Reds:

• known for their hardiness
• can produce 200-300 eggs per bird in a 12-month laying period (If you live in our area, we'll be happy to be your egg supplier in a few months.)
• Originally developed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the 1880s and 1890s

I've also heard that you can tell what color eggs a chicken will lay if you look at the area on their head where ears would be. (I'm sure that place has an official name or something.) Notice in the pictures that the Reds have a brown or tan area. If I'd posted a picture of the Leghorns, you could see that it is white. I think the egg color will darken as the pullets mature.

Picture(s) of the Day

For some more great pictures, check out the ones Sadie took today. She posted them on our family blog.
Our gate--Robby had to chip ice off of the handle to open it this morning.

I finally bit the bullet and went out to water the chickens and cats. Here are some pictures I took while outside. I'm experiencing camera-envy right now. I've seen some great photos on other blogs. If I had a camera with an interchangeable lens I could have gotten some neat close-ups of ice and ice crystals and some pictures of the seven (Yes, seven!) coyotes I saw running through the pasture. I tried to take some pictures of them, but my zoom is just not that powerful. I thought about coming in and getting the gun but wasn't sure which gun to use and figured I'd probably hit a cow or something instead of a coyote. I am keeping an eye on them to be sure they don't mess with the cows and calves in the pasture across the road.

The chicken pen--I thought the ice on the chicken wire was cool. The chickens really gave me a talking to this morning.

Cold

I took these pictures from our front (South) and side (East) door. I'm hoping to venture out and get better pictures of the trees with ice/snow on them, but it is 11 degrees. I'll have to water all of the critters at some point, so maybe I'll be brave then.

What do your counter tops say about you??

We are recovering from stock shows, company and sick kids. My house looks like it could be declared a disaster area at any moment. We've got old coats, good coats, good shoes, chore boots and other clothing strewn from the back door through the kitchen and into the dining room. Our dining room table has once again disappeared as I attempt to make more necklaces (a post and pictures soon, I hope). As I attempted to clean the kitchen counters off enough to make supper I surveyed what was piled on top and wondered what an archaeologist might think if he discovered our ruins.

Items included:

• a bag of mini-marshmallows
• an empty bag of chips
• two lamb drenchers (I ask Robby why we needed two. He says it depends on what we are giving the lamb as to what size we need.)
• supplement for the lamb
• 3 breathing treatment masks and a bag of inhalers and medicine for T.S.
• an empty bowl that's supposed to be taken out to use to water the cats
• half-eaten pan of brownies
• cell phone charger cords
• numerous pictures that were painted this morning and needed a place to dry

Please don't call CPS or the health department on me. We really do attempt to clean up after ourselves. I probably didn't mention everything I found, but you get the general idea. So what does this say about me? Probably that I'm not the best house keeper, but that I do care for the well-being of the kids and all of our zoo members. It also says that like the rest of the world we are trying to do too many things at once. The solution? I don't know. Everything but the empty bag of chips seems to be essential right now. I'm sure an enlarged mud room/laundry room would take care of everything.

A girl can dream, can't she?

A Snapshot of our Day

You know it's windy when shirts blow off of the line and over the fence into the yard.

Snowman Ornaments

These are the snowman ornaments. We tore up Styrofoam and put it in a clear glass ball. Then we painted on the face with dimensional paint (we used fabric paint). Finally, we hot-glued the pipe cleaner and pom poms on to make ear muffs. Sadie and I enjoyed doing it. These made great gifts for our Sunday school teachers. The kids will each take one to the Tirey cousin ornament exchange.

Pioneer Woman

We have water today. Robby and mom spent a good part of yesterday thawing the pipe and then replacing the heat tape and insulation around it. We managed fine without water in the house since we were able to drive out to the pig pens and get water from that faucet. It was inconvenient, but really no big deal.

Yesterday I got to wondering if I could have made it as a pioneer woman. I don't know if I can answer the question based on not having water yesterday because I did have electricity and heat all day.

I can't imagine having to take care of a household without running water or electricity. I guess in pioneer times they didn't think twice about it because they didn't know any differently. I'm thankful there were pioneer women who braved the elements, but I'm equally thankful I have all of the modern amenities I do.

Winter in the Country

It is cold here. I am not exaggerating. Right now it is 13 degrees--the high today is supposed to be in the 20s. We've done all of the precautionary things to keep our water from freezing: heater in the well house and heat tape on the pipe from the well to the pressure tank, and guess what??
No water today--hopefully the heat tape was bad and all we have to do is get the pipe thawed out and new heat tape. (I say all we have to do; mom and Robby will probably be the ones out there in the freezing weather doing it)
So, say a prayer for our water...I'll update later.

2:00 update--water is dripping from my faucet!!! We are having a heat wave, it is up to 19 degrees.

Happy Has a Visitor

Friday afternoon Robby called to tell me that a man who was taking his mule and gypsy wagon across the United States was in town. He went by to visit with him and learned lots of interesting things. You can go to Bernie's website to learn more about his expedition. You can see a few pictures of Happy, Palo Duro Canyon and our friend Kyle. Kyle took Bernie up in his plane Saturday.

When we pulled into church today, we saw Bernie getting his mule Polly ready to go. They had spent a few nights under Happy's water tower. On our way to Tulia, we saw them on the service road and as we were leaving Tulia, we saw them coming into town. Can you imagine only traveling around 15 miles per day?

Also--Happy seems to be the place for adventurers. A man flying his airplane (a fairly small, old one) back to Alaska ran out of gas and landed somewhere around Happy. According to those who witnessed it, he walked up to Jackie's (our local fillin' station) and filled a gas can, refueled his plane and took off.

For those of you not from here, Happy is in the Texas Panhandle about 36 miles south of Amarillo and 90 miles north of Lubbock. Come see us anytime, we're always ready for a good adventure.

Conversations at Wal Mart

I have to share this conversation that I overheard at Wal Mart last night. A young man was telling his son/sibling (not sure which) the following as they walked down the aisle I was on.

"They are supposed to ask you what kind when you order Coke. They ask me what I want to drink and I say 'Coke.' They never ask me what kind so I always end up with Coke instead of Dr. Pepper."

I really, really wanted to say, "No way, I can't imagine why they'd give you a Coke instead of a Dr. Pepper." But, I did not.

• Our checker was a lovely young thing--no smile at all. She literally threw our items into the sacks as she was checking us out. Then she told us the total and crossed her arms until I handed her the check. I guess it is hard to keep the holiday spirit when you are a checker and have been listening to Christmas music and seeing decorations for two months. I won't tell you what I wanted to say to her.
• I know all of you are already planning your Valentine's decorations and are worried if you'll be able to find any. Never fear, JoAnn's already has them out--right next to the Christmas items that are already 60% off.
  I just love having to go to stores this time of year.

Winter Thoughts

While watering the animals on this lovely, cold, windy morning I had some thoughts.

• How did I forget how much I love (please note the sarcasm) being a zookeeper in winter? The chicken waterers are thawing in the bathtub as I write this.
• I never really appreciated that my dad would feed and water our pigs in the mornings in the winter. After hauling water to the pigs I see how fortunate I was.
• My "water proof" gloves are not.
• Hopefully my legs and face will thaw out by lunch.