What A Difference 40 Degrees Makes!

What A Difference 40 Degrees Makes!
Monday the low was 4 degrees, right now it's 44, a tropical heat wave!!! The rain started last night, and it was pretty heavy. This morning it's all melting, and there's actually green grass still. The snow came down hard and fast on top of the grass, so it never went dormant. Looks pretty weird with a lot of leaves still on the trees. The snow came so early in the year they never really fell. Well, they're falling now! A big wet mess. Hopefully when it dried up this next week we can get everything raked. I let the girls out earlier and the attacked the green grass! I always give them fresh greens when it's really cold- spinach mostly, which they love! I just gave them some grains and put them into the coop to dry out. Poor girls had very muddy feel. They seem to not mind the cold mud as much as my earlier chickens. They LOATHED wet feet. These 3, not so much. I'm leaving them in a bit to warm up a bit and dry out.

Muddy girls!

Lots of leaves to rake :)

A HUGE yellow jacket nest the snow and rain blew down. About 12" across!!!

Last week- 8" of snow

And Now For Something British... Record Cold

And Now For Something British...-
I looked all over Boise (sort of) to find a new tea pot. We drink a lot of iced tea year round. With the holidays coming too, I needed a bigger one. After getting very frustrated I found one online! It's BIG, 75 ounces/9 cups and I found it here-  Englishteastore.com  It arrived today, perfect, well packed, along with a few other goodies- 2 big mugs, with the corporate logo ($2.00 each), some Scottish breakfast tea, and a pack of English cookies. I really like different black teas, so this is a new one. I LOVE the tea pot!!! It's no-drip and has an extra loop (on the left) to carry the heavy pot-

Anya liked Dave's choice of cold beverages :)

Record Cold-
This morning it was 4 degrees, a record low for this date. Thankfully no wind at all. I was dressed in thick socks, a warm sweater and cord slacks at work. Toasty! Other people complained about the cold in very fashionable, thin clothes and warm weather shoes. Really? I guess you can't tell people- dress for the weather. And driving? The road has what I call crap snow- hard packed, icy s**t that's not level, but lumpy bumpy. Lots of fun to drive in to work :) The HIGH today was 14. It's supposed to warm up a bit over the next 3 days, with another 2"- 4" of snow Friday night. Once it hits the upper 30's this will hopefully melt. I'm off on a furlough week all next week, so whatever happens I'm good! Now if I could just scrape the frozen chicken poo off the roosting area. Pretty gross looking, but at least they're laying!!! I have so many fresh eggs, it's great...

Record Breaking Snow Day! The Birds

View from the living room

Record Breaking Snow Day! 

Wow, we had almost 8" inches of snow today, even in the lowest elevations! That was a record for November. We had an inch or so last night as well. I'm so GLAD school was closed. Roads were terrible this afternoon, really icy. I'm getting over an eye infection, right after the bronchitis. I was so spent, energy-wise. I didn't get out of bed until almost 11, just exhausted. I started on some antibiotics, so that should clinch things. It was so pretty today, but I'm glad we did all the winter prep too. It all helps before things get ugly. The low for tomorrow night is supposed to be 2 degrees, so the snow won't be melting anytime soon.... 

Here's some snapshots of the homestead, and check out the chickens pics, of the sun room in action. Perfect example of why we built it. I gave the girls lots of treats today, and they seemed content...

 

Look at the snow on top of the mason jar solar light!

Snow on the sumac stag horns

glad I brought my geraniums in!

I put out some extra bird food today 

sun room in action, the girls enjoyed it!

Girls digging in the sun room, 3" of pine shavings and a roosting perch in there

When will it stop???

My herb pot, nice and tucked in. I had put some leaves on top...

Solar light, reminds me of a gnome :)

The Birds-

The oddest thing happened Wednesday night- I got home and there were 100's of crows at the very top of the tree across the street. It was cold and the sun was hitting just the very top of the tree. Within a couple of minutes, and camera still out, they all flew off. I wonder if they sensed the polar plunge coming and took off to places unknown??? Very odd...