A whiter shade of pale

I should (but probably won't) stop talking about the weather and just post photos of the Adirondack chairs taken from my spot on the sofa in the living room. This one was from yesterday afternoon as we were considering going out to play some music with friends.

This morning we have bright blue skies, and cats sunning themselves on that very same sofa.

Rest in peace, Gary Brooker.

 

Stream monitoring and 2 more kids

I missed doing my stream monitoring in January because the creek was halfway iced over. I couldn't tell which part was safe to walk on to get to the middle where I am supposed to collect water samples to be tested back in the house. That, and there were below 0° and single-digit temperatures through the weekend.

In early February we had several of those frigid days, and then a warm spell where it made it up to nearly 50° (my last post). This led to lots of snow melting, some flooded roads, and a raging river in my backyard with big floating chunks of ice, just in time for this this month's monitoring. We're taking a pass on the monitoring again this month, sorry Jeff!

As I am writing this post, I think about mentioning the crazy wind the past 3 days, and I look out the window to see the sun has disappeared behind a little snow squall (second photo). All of this is pretty darn normal for winter up here, but I think climate change may be to blame for the repeat occurrences of below 0° with some nice warm days in between.

And, please tell me iPhone weather wizards, how and when was there a 55° high yesterday when all I could see in the 24-hour forecast at 10:43 a.m. was 20° or below. I was waiting for my chance to go out and catch some sun...

Sorta kinda but not really weather related: 

Rain had 2 little white boy kids this morning. Her sister Snow had 2 little black girl kids 2 weeks ago. For a cute kid video if I haven't already sent it to you, check my Facebook page under this post.

Feels like summer

So after a few weeks of too cold weather, summer has arrived! Sorta. It is 46° right now at 3:30 in the afternoon.

And as proof to Little Sister and other disbelievers, I took these photos as the sun was rising this morning.

Sometimes I actually do wake up before noon. Frequently. Always as a matter of fact.
 

Winter toll

There has been a lot of activity here with kids being born. Unfortunately most of the births have been on the coldest days. Sadly we have lost a few of the kids, but we are pleased to have 10 healthy and getting bouncy kids to cheer us up.

It is always interesting to see what color the kids are going to be. We have quite an interesting combination this year, all from the same buck, Walter Becker, a brown and black Alpine.

Rosie is the white Saanen mom in the first pic. Snow is her daughter, the mom in the second pic. Unlike all of the others so far, I love that they both had 2 black kids. I don't know if that goes back to Rosie's mom Lucille, or possibly to previous black and white bucks David Bowie and Johnny Cash. Or maybe color isn't handed down like that...

Snow's sister Rain is still due, and possibly the youngest lady Gracie will bring us one. We are hoping and praying they wait just a bit longer for warmer weather. You know it's a cold winter when temps in the 20°s and 30°s are considered warm.

6 and counting

So far all 6 kids were born while we were out, sometime late in the afternoon. Red Betty gave us 2 on The Husband's birthday (and yes, Brian, one is a boy). But Red Betty decided she only needs to feed 1 of them, so Hub is doing his favorite thing and bottle feeding Red's little lookalike girl. >>>

The other 2 colorful kids came yesterday afternoon from Bella. The one with the brown mask in both pics is a boy (I think) with his multi-colored sister in the top photo.

All 4 of these kids were born on the worst possible days, when even with the sun it was single-digit cold, and at night below-zero colder. All we can do is help mom dry them off and hope for the best. 

We are all thankful for the sunshine!

Yesterday afternoon, while Bella was kidding of course, we were visiting Steve and Deb up on a very frozen Oneida Lake. They built this beautiful Wiehlhouse all by themselves! And Deb made a matching gingerbread house inside. :)

Boys in the back, birthing and a birthday

During kidding season, the boys struggle to stay in the picture(s) literally.

Especially when frigid weather keeps the photographer inside for as long as possible. The setting sun and posing dogs combined forced me to capture them through a dirty window.

So far we still only have these 2 little girls out in the goat barn. The weather has warmed just a little, so we are hoping Molly goes today, on The Husband's birthday.

Go Molly!

Happy Birthday, Husband!

Goats (and cats) in coats

Well at least Susan Sontag didn't wait for the next cold snap tomorrow to give birth to her 2 littles. I think we have 2 girls, but they weren't too happy being zipped into their coats and checked for spare parts underneath. Thus the look from mom. Or maybe she doesn't like plaid.

But it is Molly Malone who looks like she is about to burst with a kid volcano. She can barely stand up, and has been that way for a few weeks. She is probably the one who will bear us gifts on one of the next 2 nights when it is supposed to be -6°. At least that's better than the -10° they originally predicted.

So I came in from the photo session with the goats in coats, and I couldn't help but notice the Willie in a perfectly sized cat coat. He was looking quite handsome himself, and would like to know why everyone is making such a fuss about goats?

Some of us prefer the warmth

On the frigidest of frigid days I can be accused of making it a bit too warm in the house, but there is only one house creature who prefers sunning himself on the porch when it is 10°. Or rolling in the snow perhaps...

More frigid

Not the best photo, but I had to go outside and quickly take this shot because the camera lens was frosting over...and so was I without my coat. 

This is the coldest I have seen here. It is a few degrees colder because this is on the back porch where the "sun don't shine" until much later in the day.

Update: Later in the day, about 10:30 am, the back porch had warmed up to almost -10°. Crazy Cyrus decided that was warm enough to go outside and lay down in the sun. Apparently some dogs do actually like the cold. I had to get The Husband to convince him to come back in.

Frigid

The below freezing temperatures are somewhat easier to handle when the views from inside are still beautiful, and the temperatures inside are hovering around 80°.

They are not easy at all for the outside creatures who do not have the luxury of snuggling on the sofa with me. Both roosters are truly suffering from frostbite on their combs, which somehow doesn't seem to affect the hens.

And we are still praying that no goat kids come until after this mighty cold spell has passed.

Snow shark

This is the same view out the living room window as the icy one from last week—with the addition of some extra snow and a shark swimming in the foreground.

This sleeping Cyrus is pretty much the only house creature who enjoys the cold. Even in single digit temps he will ask to go outside and lay down on the porch.

How could you like that more than "your" spot on the sofa? You must have some husky in you, Cy.

The wood stove is my friend. When it's up and running it is too darned hot in here...but that's okay...