Hinds Feet on High Places

Morning in the Pennsylvania Northern Tier

   Did I mention it is cold here this morning? The thermometer dipped well below zero during the night and we are experiencing wind chills greater than -25 F. We got through January unscathed, but February is here with a vengeance! This kind of weather calls for thawing frozen pipes every morning. We don't have a lot of snow, but about 3-4 inches are blown and frozen on the ground and over the roads. We live on a high elevation where there are hills, twists, and steep turns on our stretch of road for many miles. The forcast is predicting severely cold temperatures for several more days. My husband got up extra early to tend the fire and get the house warmed up as much as possible, and I baked some banana muffins with chocolate chips for the children to enjoy for breakfast.

Three of the younger boys arrived home early yesterday afternoon, and the peace and quiet officially ended about two minutes later. My oldest three have been stranded at my sister's home in Watertown,N.Y. (hi Becky!  ) because of extreme lake effect snow in the snow belt between their home and ours. I will have to take all of the children along to one of my daughter's dentist appointments this morning because none are old enough to stay home and watch the others. It is so cold to take them all out, but I already rescheduled this appointment once, two months ago. So I think I will drop her off with one of the boys for company and drive up the road and load some hay bales into the back of the van. The hay is nice with mixed grasses and only $1.75 a bale. We picked up as many as we could fit over the weekend to insulate the northwest corner of the house around the basement, and will soon be needing more for our goats. They are very hardy and tolerating the cold quite well. It is amazing how thick their coats are. I am looking forward to getting my oldest dd14 back to help me with the goat chores as it takes me a while to feed, haul hay, milk, water, and make sure they are all well tended to twice a day. Our chickens haven't been doing so well. They are getting old and we have lost about half the flock so far this winter. Our favorite, Ginger, seems to have died as we haven't seen her for several days. She was one of the first four chickens we purchased when we moved here almost 3 years ago, and was a beautiful little hen. We will have to purchase some more layers this spring.

Spring...ahhhh

Untitled Comment

02:28, 2007-Feb-5 .. Posted by mc2rwe

Annette, I am glad that you and yours are staying warm. So sorry to hear about the chickens...that is just so disheartening isn't it? Andrew and I have ordered 25 more hens and they are due to be shipped on Feb. 12. I hope that it warms up before then... Good to see you still alive and kicking...

Blessings,

Kat