Wicked cold sunny day

What do you do on a wicked cold sunny day but fire up the woodstove and sleep in the sun? We should all be so lucky! I did have to go out and do some chicken and goat chores, and walk my friend's beagle, and pick up the mail at the PO, but otherwise it was a really good day to stay home and work on the computer.

Poor lame hen

I still don't know what's going on with this one young hen. She started limping on January 3 and then went pretty quickly to being totally lame. She seems otherwise healthy, still eating and drinking, but because she uses her wings to move around, she frequently knocks over the water and food in the small crate I have her in. I brought her into the basement because it was getting so cold outside in the coop that she would have frozen to death with her feathers all wet.

Cyrus is still very interested in the noises and smells coming through the cat door (in the basement door). I am pretty sure he would kill her if he had the chance.

Monkey is also very interested in this strange creature. He is not  the murdering type. If she is down there much longer, I think they will become friends.

Super Blood Wolf Moon

How often do you get to use those 4 words together?

I am sure the Super Blood Wolf Moon was spectacular. And I was surprised that the skies cleared enough so that we could actually see it, or could have seen it if we wanted to stay up late and go outside in that frigid air. At about 10 pm the moon was so high over the house that I could barely see it out the window. There was no obvious eclipse starting, so we both just went to bed.

Wicked cold out there today too. 76° in here with the heat and the woodstove on, but I am worried about the chickens in their unheated coop. Even with the door closed it is mighty chilly out there.

One lame chicken in the basement. At least she won't get frostbite, but I am not sure why she went lame. About 2 weeks ago I noticed her limping. Then a few days after that, not walking at all. The vet said they have seen one other case like this, and that vitamins appeared to help, so we are trying the spa treatment in the basement.

Benchmark

I know winter has truly arrived when I start measuring snowfall with my bench. When it is 7° and windy and still snowing, hard to leave the house, and I can take these pics from inside (lazy me!).

The Husband took both dogs out. Cyrus had a party off-leash twice. Woody went straight to the frozen compost heap, poked around a bit, and then back to the front door to come in. He's a southern boy, not a lover of single-digit weather.

Willie was happy to be warm inside trying on his Fire Hose Work Pants.

Weather dogs and holidays

Don's house on the hill on the left, back of the snow-measuring bench, and our living room windows on the right

The 3 hot topics on my blog—weather, dogs, and holidays. Well maybe not the hot topics, more likely the only topics. Best I can do, folks. Barring any bobcat emergencies or goat births, I don't really have that much to talk about.

So here are all 3 topics in one post to start off the new year.

It has been an unusual winter. We get a few inches of snow, then go back to warmer temps and grass, then windy and frigid and more snow. At least the warmer days mixed in make it less painful.

Last weekend I made the trip back to NJ to visit Little Sister and her dog Lucky. We know Lucky's mother was mostly chihuahua, but the rest of her genetics are a mystery other than dad was something larger than chihuahua. The famous Dr. Wolf says husky because of her mask. After realizing she had a spotty chest, I am voting for Australian cattle dog. We will never know for sure unless we get the DNA test, but it is fun arguing with Lester and Sophie's former vet.

Finally, our perfect Christmas tree survived all of the animals in the house, but because I was away on the weekend when I should have taken it down, it was just a bit dry when I finally got around to taking off the lights and ornaments yesterday.

Monkey says it's not his fault, Mom made that mess, not him.

God Bless Us Every One!

It is becoming our Christmas tradition, thanks to the WoodMan who started this, to allow the boys to tear up the wrapping paper as we open our gifts. Better and cheaper than any dog toy... And once I clean up the mess, they calm down pretty quickly.

We wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A long winter's nap

A high of only 21° today—I wish we could all take a nap in OUR bed today...

There was green grass showing yesterday >

And then today frigid temps and more snow...

Then 50° with rain on Friday, 38° with snow on Sunday. I think I see a pattern here.

I think it's a good bet that we will have a white Christmas, with winter green or without.

Snow and fog in Burlington

Fog always makes for pretty pictures, even if they are lacking in color.

I took a ride to Edmeston on Sunday to pick up my Christmas cards from the printer. I drive through the little town of Burlington to get there. Burlington, NY was named by William Cooper, Cooperstown founder, after the city of Burlington, NJ where he lived for before coming up here. Husband and I both grew up in Willingboro, minutes from Burlington, where Mr. Cooper owned land.

It's all connected somehow...

More snow, chickens, and Dr. Woody

All this snow in November makes me wonder what the real winter will bring. We have 3 and a half weeks left of Fall and the snow just keeps on coming. Rain washed some of it away yesterday and the day before, then we got another 3" or so today to replace what washed away.

The chickens are still safe in their shabby little fence. Because of the lousy weather, they mostly stay inside the coop. Yesterday, while it was raining pretty hard, the teenage rooster was standing guard out front while all the rest were all inside. He was completely soaked, but he must have thought it was his duty to protect his chicken compadres.

Lousy weather also means it is tougher for me to convince myself to go outside and walk the dogs. (Like right now while I am delaying by writing this post!) Add to that the return of the evil cough and lack of sleep, and it is even harder to go out on a cold rainy day.

So when I am not feeling well and resting on the sofa, Dr. Woody comes to the rescue with face kisses.

And when I am not feeling well and resting on the sofa, Cyrus curls up next to me on the floor and demands belly rubs.

Both good doctors in their own special way.

Deowongo Island

We live in the village of Schuyler Lake which was the name of this lake many years ago. Today it is Canadarago Lake. I often joke about our lake view from the house. We don't really have one, but if you look out beyond the garage, past Charlie's barn, across the road and past the horses in the field, you can see the lake in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. I am sure it will increase the resale value of our house, but then we aren't planning to sell it...ever...

I stole this photo of a frosty Deowongo Island on Thanksgiving Day from Erin who lives on the lake. I guess this is what happens when the lake is not frozen yet, and the temperatures are in the teens. I still have not figured out whether fog frost is the correct description of this. Fog frost, hoar frost, rime ice—some day I will look into this further—but for now I think there is fog coming off the lake because the lake is warmer than the air. And then that fog freezes on the tree branches making them look like sugary confections.

If you really care, I think this was the best description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rime_ice

So we had a high of 14° on Thursday, 24° yesterday, 38° today—break out the shorts and flip flops!

The other snow devil

The one bad boy has his fun making snow angels/devils in the snow, the other one goes straight to the compost heap.

Both bad boys thought it would be fun to run out the front door when I was taking out the ashes from the woodstove today, so I wasn't able to catch them without making a big mess.

At least the chickens are fenced now, so Cyrus couldn't do any damage, but the last time I let him loose he ran across the creek up to Don's house. He came back pretty quickly after a run through the snow today, but Woody stayed out there for about 15 minutes with the snow swirling around him and had a feast with all the frozen/rotten vegetables he could find in with the coffee grinds and tea bags.

Happy Thanksgiving folks! We are staying home and doing a turkey for 2. Looking forward to it!