Eight Inches and Counting………

 

That big winter storm hit Central and Eastern New Mexico late last night and it’s expected to hang around dumping more snow, wind and blizzard-like conditions on our area until Friday morning. Already we’ve got 8” of snow now, but the weather reports say we could get up to a foot of snow by tomorrow.

It’s funny. When I was a kid growing up in Maryland and California, when it snowed I couldn’t wait to get outside and play in it. I still can’t. I do love snow.

(And yes, quite often I wear my jammies to go outside. The animals don’t care and neither do my neighbors. My family and I live in our comfie jammies while we’re at home. Don’t you?)

But after the 4th or 5th snow, my kids seem rather unimpressed with snow and it’s all I can do to push them outside to play in all it’s fluffy whiteness. My twinling sons, especially, just stand inside at the windows and doors and wave at me.

Jenna still likes to play in the snow, but she finds the whole ordeal of getting bundled up in warm winter clothes unbearable and can’t wait to tear all those cumbersome thick layers off the second she steps inside.

Me, on the other hand, I like to dress in layers. The more the better, so I can stay outside as long as possible, and if I get too warm I can peel off layers  until I’m comfortable.

Another aspect I like of being outside in the cold, is that going back inside is made all the more sweeter. I love to come back inside the warm house and make a cup of hot tea or cocoa, pull on my flannel jammies and sit in front of the fireplace or crawl into bed and get all comfie.

How about you? Do you enjoy the snow? Do you like to be play in the white stuff or just be outside taking a walk in a winter wonderland?

(The little grove of trees behind our house)

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Working Man?

Did anyone notice the fun song on my playlist “Hey Ho Away We Go”?

This section relates to those lyrics: Some of y’all have asked if Ranchman John has found a new job yet. Well…………Yes and No. He’s been on several interviews, taken a few Entry Tests, and all results have been positive. Everyone wants to hire him, but they don’t have anything ‘right now’. sigh.

( Project 365 )

He’s been unemployed for 3 weeks now and it can get very discouraging. We’re hanging in there, though. We’re living off some of our savings and through my blog I’ve made a little money, too. I’ve sold some of my photos and I’ve received payments from a few companies that advertise on my blog. So, it’s pretty awesome that my blog has become more than just a place to journal my thoughts and adventures and to share photos of our ranch. But it would be really great if Ranchman John could get hired soon. Positive thoughts and prayers are always welcome.

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A couple blogger friends brought it to my attention that I’ve not posted about my chickens for a while. And I realized that was true. I’ve not felt much like posting about them because not long after I posted about Annie, the Ameracauna hen, being sick and weak from a late molting, she finally succumbed and took her last breath. She will be missed.

( Project 365 )

And with all the snow we’ve been getting, the chickens don’t want to come outside and play. The other day I tried to take photos of them while they were outside, but our snow was starting to melt and their coop was a big, mucky, sloshy, muddy mess. I kept slipping around and was afraid I might fall so I gave up on the photo session.

But today I did manage to take some photos, albeit inside the chicken house. I tried shoveling the snow away several times to clear an area for them to come outside. I even spread some chicken scratch on the ground, but within 15-20 minutes the snow was falling so heavy that the area was completely covered again. And the chickens were too smart to fall for the chicken scratch bribery and refused to step foot outside.

They insisted on being fed inside.

I did manage to take some photos of Sid Vicious for all you adoring Sid fans.

 

He doesn’t take after his moniker at all. When it snows or is windy or cold outside that handsome fella stays inside. He’s kind of a wimp actually. When his ladies go outside into the bad weather, he just stands at the door and peeks out every so often to check on them.

I also took some photos of Sid’s kids.

They are 18 weeks old now, and it’s obvious now that we have two roosters and one hen. The roosters have such handsome feathering and take after their Dad.

The hen is a beautiful ebony color with blue/green iridescent feathering and a few gold accents.

She will be staying here on Laughing Orca Ranch, but at least one of the roosters will have to go to a new coop. Anyone want a handsome Polish/Ameracauna roo to add some flash to your flock?

Oh. And Mrs. Cotton has gone broody yet again.

I swear, that’s all that little hen ever thinks about is hatching out babies.

It’s too cold for me to let her have any eggs to hatch out right now. Plus I’m only getting about 4-6 eggs a day and we are using them all. She’ll have to wait until Spring. Poor thing.

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Dobbie is enjoying the snow very much, even though it must be quite a struggle having to leap out of it’s depths.

She can only exert herself for short amounts of time and be out in the cold, before she is asking to go back inside again.

But it’s fun to see her run and play in the snow, when I’m pretty sure that for the first two years of her life in a Puppy Mill she had never even seen snow at all.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Anyone want to take a gander at how many inches of snow we’ll wake up to here tomorrow morning?

This is a great time of year to get cozy with a good book, so I’ll pick a winner, on Saturday, from the correct answers and send you this funny book, “Shoveling Smoke”.