Tuesday morning

 This child! We have had Kansas since Sunday. School was out yesterday and again today. And her mom has been sick. And has to work. This child will NOT be quiet! Ever. She is constantly talking or singing or mumbling. Her mouth is always moving. But she's the sweetest child. She loves everyone. And we love her. But man, is this child messy! Seems like everywhere she's been, there is a pile of something.

It was about 4 degrees last night. The thermostat said 66 all night. This morning, the central heater was on. The woos stove can't get the house up to 92 like it did that one time when it's so cold. I will not complain again about that! But it's finally warmed up to 71 now. And the wood stove is FULL of wood and going strong.

This is what we have for breakfast when it's freezing outside. Biscuits, gravy, fried potatoes with onions and eggs. Now that'll fill ya up and get ya going on a morning like this.

Last night, we had gone over to the little house-barn to turn on some heat so the pipes over there won't freeze. This morning it was nice and warn inside the house. But when I went to feed my poor cats, Sybil wouldn't even jump up to her bowl. She's sick. Poor kitty. I had gotten the cay room all nice for all the cats with boxes with blankets and there are 2 kid's chairs with fabric seats they lay in. I thought they's be fine in there. They've always been outside cats. I didn't think a thing about them not being ok. I wish I had put them all over next door for the night. Well, they are all over there now. With food and water and they are all warm. They have hay bales galore to lay on. That's where they will all stay for a few days, till it warms back up. And it's supposed to get to around 50 or so after tomorrow. Nearly 60 for Saturday. I sure am looking forward to that.

I have been filling up water buckets for days now. As soon as I put water in the buckets, it starts getting ice in them. So I am constantly putting more water in them all day. I am even putting warm water and sunflower seeds out for the birds. Apparently, birds around here don't care for sunflower seeds too much. Or maybe they're just afraid of all the cats? They sure are twittering out there today.

How about y'all. What is your favorite things to eat when it's so cold? How do you stay warm when you're outside doing chores? My mom gave me a really warm hat and I am usually sweating by the time I'm done out there. It's really warm.

The Frozen Tundra

Do you think Zeeboo might be a bit pregnant? Geeze. I put John Henry in with the girls Oct. 28th. He must have got her right away. She's huge already, at only a little over 2 months. I wonder if she'll have triplets? I am SO glad I didn't breed for Feb. or March kids. I did take John Henry up to my friend's does back in Sept. And they are both really wide. I got Zeeboo last year the end of Dec. and she never did get pregnant. I hope she has some cute little kids.

So, we are a big ole frozen mess here in N. Ga. right now. Last night it was windy like crazy. Lights flickered a few times. Some people lost power for awhile. It did start raining. Then turned to sleet then snow. Got to about 17 degrees. And tonight, 4 degrees people!  4 degrees.

This is what we woke up too. So pretty. But OH SO COLD!!

See that silly rooster on the fence to the left? I have no idea how long he'd been out there. Must have gotten out earlier this morning, because they were all in last night.

Isn't he a handsome roo? I have 2 more of these guys. And they have to go. I'll keep the biggest one, Black Bart. That's all I want. They just started crowing a few weeks ago. And now they've all realized they are GUYS and are all over the hens. Like ALL the time. They really are nice looking birds. But I don't need 3 for just 30 hens. They don't stand a chance with 3 roosters.

I let the chickens out this morning. And they did not want to go outside at all. They did finally go out, but went right into the 2 stalls to the left. Stayed there all day, scratching in the hay from the sheep. This is where the sheep stay at night now.

                                      More coldness. Icicles hanging from the garage. So pretty.

                      And a pretty little snow filled heart leaf on the ground at our daughter's. So pretty.

I have to tell a little story about my husband.  I am still laughing. We have a big hole, about 8 feet long and maybe 3 feet wide, where we are always having to dig up the water pipes between our 2 houses. So we finally just left the hole open. Well, right now, it's a big frozen pond. So this evening, Tiny wanted to put some old hay on the frozen hole. Don't ask me why. He just did. So we scatter hay on top. I said it would be pretty funny if the sheep got over there and ran to eat that hay and fell through the ice into the "pond". About that time, Tiny got a little too close to the edge and started falling. Like slow motion. I am laughing again right now. Is that wrong? I can't help it. He kind of fell to his left and oh my gosh, I can't stop laughing. Anyway, there's this metal tub I use to put the chicken feathers in when I butcher meat birds. It was right there. He could have been killed, probably. If he'd hit his head or something. But he didn't. He went to his left and just rolled over. Stop laughing already. Ok, he was even laughing by then. I was laughing so darn hard I almost had an accident myself. I am just that way though. When someone gets hurt, I laugh. I can't help it. We got him up and laughed all the way back to the house. I am thankful the man could walk, really.  But when he went to the bathroom, he saw blood. His left forearm was scratched a little. And his left knee. I am also thankful he hasn't bled to death, being on Coumadin. But it's all good. And it's still funny.

A typical morning? We'll see about that.

This morning started out pretty good for me. It was freezing outside. Everything frozen solid. About 20 degrees. I got my Carhart jacket, leather gloves, boots and the hat my mom got me for Christmas. Makes my head sweat, it's so warm. Got the dogs and cats all fed. Went to the milk-feed room to get all the other critter's feed ready. Go out to get the sheep back next door to their feed bowls.

Here they are, at the starting gate. 1,2,3 GO!

And they're off! Tails flying, leaping in the air in excitement. Who will get there first?

I give all the animals bread that I get free from a bread store in Chattanooga. They love it. So the sheep get their feed and bread and hay in the mornings.

Then I go feed the chickens and let them out for the day. Sometimes they get impatient waiting on me and lay eggs in the coop. They'd all rather lay in the other nest boxes next door though. Got 10 eggs today! They are picking back up again. I had to go get them all fresh warm water too. I heard that a friend up the road had a frozen hen this morning. That's sad.

The dogs are full and happy. Ready to play. They love each other. Stella always wins. I think Bubba lets her.

I go to feed the goats and left the bucket in this little holding area. The sheep managed to get it there and one of them, I think it was Bridgette, wanted to see if there was anything left in the bucket. And ended up with it stuck on her head! I laughed so hard I could hardly see! And the other sheep couldn't figure out what this strange thing was and all started running from her. She of course ran too and hit the fence. Twice! It finally fell off and all was well again in the sheep kingdom. No one was hurt. Just embarrassed.

 Sandy and Penelope wouldn't come out to eat this morning. It was TOO cold for them. I wish you could see how fluffy they get when it's cold like this. They are almost doubled in size.  And they are getting bigger every day. I couldn't get the gate open to go inside the goat yard this morning. It was frozen.

Then I go feed the alpaca boys. Misha will eat out of the bucket. He lets me pet him now. He's a sweetie.

Then, I saw this happening. Leelah was the only one at the fence. The others were all eating hay like good sheep are supposed to, under the shed on the other side of the yard.  But not Leelah. She leapt right over the fence, just so pretty like. Out into the wide pretty green yard. Off she went, happy as a, well, loose sheep.

So I ran as fast as I could on frozen solid ice to get to the gate across the yard before the others realized that they could do this too. Nipped that in the bud right quick!

Finally got Leelah back to where she was supposed to be, after much running and cursing. I just never know what's going to happen around here from one minute to the next. One minute I'm laughing at the darn sheep, the next I want to kill them.

So this is what I got to walk on today. See my nice dry boots? Isn't that cool? I would so much rather walk on this solidly frozen poopy mud than wet poopy mud any day. But it sure is cold out there y'all.

I hope everyone is staying nice and warm out there. It's going to stay like this for awhile. But ya know what? It's winter. And it's supposed to be cold. Right?

Oh, forgot to say that this is just the morning routine. I have to do it all again in the evening, except backwards. And haul lots of water during the day too. Frozen hoses and all.