Winter Has Arrived

My neighbor tells me that was 18 degrees at her house this morning and I believe her. At least it is dry and the wind is pretty still. I have already ventured out this morning--- to the garage--- to get firewood. On these kinds of days, I am glad that I still have slaves..... I mean.... sons to go out and start chores.

Our chore load is really not so bad so far. In the mornings, we let the hens out of their house and feed them. I have begun to move their water inside the barn kitchen at night so that it is not frozen in the mornings. The half grown chicks are next. I plan to butcher those roosters in about 10 days or so.... depending on their size, the temperature and my attitude.

The cows have to be let in to the hay lot. We might have to push the horses out of the lot first, depending on how the evening chores went the night before. Sometimes, it is just not in me to push them out if it is cold, dark and windy. I am not being as strict with my hay rationing since we haven't fed as much in these early days as we planned. That gives us a little extra plus my hay guy brought me six more bales. He also told me that since we are some of his best customers, we should not worry about running out of hay---- he will make sure that he has enough in reserve to include us...... isn't it wonderful to have such good friends???!!!

Goats and heifers are on full hay so feeding them is not really an issue. Still have to check them over and make sure they have access to water. Filling up the horse trough is becoming an issue. I just hate handling water hoses during freexing weather. It is such a pain to roll and unroll them and haul them inside. Usually someone gets lazy or forgets and they wind up outside frozen solid. So, we are moving the horses to another small pasture that has a pond...... in fact it is the one in the picture at the top of this page. I'd rather chop ice than lug around water hoses.

Poor Ellie may is still at the house-- alone. We are going to rearrange her quarters today. She will be moving to the garden until she kids sometime in Jan/Feb. We need the panels from her big pen to use to build a hay lot for the horses.

It is deer season and we have been hunting. Not every day but enough. Charlie got a very nice 8 point buck that we will be processing this afternoon. I will be very happy to have him in the freezer instead of hanging in the garage.

Salena and I have sat together hunting and seen some deer and had a good time. She willbe back this weekend and we will try again. Adam and I went out yesterday afternoon. This is his first year hunting. It took us longer to get dressed and walk to the deer stand than he stayed out hunting. It got really cold and patience is not his strong point!

On the first evening of deer season, he and I sat up in a stand out in the pasture. The cows came over to checkout the truck that was parked nearby. Our old friend/enemy, Brindle, discovered us up in that tree. She was very upset that we were so near her calf and walked around the tree pawing the ground and blowing at us...... we ended up having to stay up there until the herd finally wandered off and she gave up trying to get us. Needless to say, we didn't see any deer and we made a mad dash for the truck when we slipped down!
I refuse to be treed by my own cow! As soon as this calf is big enough to be weaned, she has to go! By the way, while we were up in that tree, we discovered that her calf is actually a bull. That was the first time we were close enough to see!! LOL!!



Ok gang--- I am not sure what the deal is but this thing will not let me reply to any comments. I appreciate them but ...... for some reason this site does not recognize me outside of a post!!??