Mid-week update

The "warm" temps have stuck around.  We've had highs in the 20s.  I guess that is about to end. Boo and hiss.

This past Monday was a publishing day.  We did awesome!  Paper was done by noon. *happy sigh*  Now my attention is on the next issue which is the first issue of January 2014.  Wow!  The year went by quick! 

Nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday.  I spent most of the evening working on my latest knitting project, "Tri-Light", designed by Vicki Howell over on the Bernat website. 

I was cranking along on this until Tuesday and I think I lost my steam.  Rows seemed to take forever. I'm done with the main portion and have started working on the edging.  Row 3 confused me. Mostly because of the placement of the stitch markers that is done on Row 1. Do X pattern for so long, then knit to marked stitch. Well ... Stitch markers moved because of YO's and I have a feeling that I did some interpreting, rather than actually following the pattern.  Hope to have this done this weekend. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday I took my son to religious ed.  Turns out it was the Christmas program.  Nothing quite like being caught off guard.  My son was not happy.  He told me that what he was wearing was not appropraiate for a Christmas program, i.e. Orange shirt and jeans with holes in the knees.  I'm proud of him.  He went up there and sang.  He did get the deer in the headlight look that he is famous for.

There was one part that was a bit funny.  There was a "special guest" and everyone had to sing "We wish you a merry Christmas" and the special guest was to enter the hall and walk down the main aisle.  The special guest missed his cue.  The song was sung a second time, a bit louder and the special guest still didn't appear.  The MC went "ONE MORE TIME!" and the song was sung even louder and the special guest finally appeared.  You guessed it -- Santa!  Santa handed out treats to all the kids and the program was over.

On the way home my son told me that he's "over his stage fright" but if he's "not wearing 'proper' stage clothes" he will get his stage fright.

My boy cracks me up!

Tomorrow is his holiday program at school.  His new school really puts on a good show.  I was very impressed last year.  This year I think the theme is "Feliz Navidad." I must remember to bring the iPad so his dad can see the program too.

Cold, cold and more cold

The last couple weeks my area has had artic cold temps.  No fooling. I can't remember the last time we've had temps this cold this early in the season.  Last winter season the cold snap didn't happen until January, I think. 

Check this out.  It's from Dec. 11, 2013

This was posted Dec. 11, 2013 after the 6 p.m. news.  We were one of the coldest places on earth. Brrrrr. 

We had perhaps two days where the temps were above 0 degrees. Friday the temps hit 14 degrees.  Heat wave!

This a.m. I woke up at the temps were back to -9 degrees with a -29 degree real feel. I don't want to leave the house.

The sun is out but it's such a liar. 

There has been more snow the last few days.  Inches at a time.  Out in the county it hasn't been too bad, thankfully.

 Check out the snow blanket on the chicken coop.  The girls and the roo are nice and cozy in there.  Perhaps bored, but warm and safe. My guy and I have been giving them a few extra treats and I bought them a shallow tote and filled with with some sand so they could give themselves "dust" baths.  The girls didn't know what to make out of it at first.  They did enjoy getting themselves some "grit." Thursday when I checked for eggs I noticed that the chickens had been using their sandbox for more than a litter pan. I do need to figure out something for them so they can trim their claws. 

The snow is at least a foot deep in the back yard.  I haven't done any scientific measuring.  The snow goes up past my snow boots, in some areas of the yard.  With all the wind we've had I'm really surprised that some leaves have stayed on the trees. 

It's hard to take good pics when you refuse to leave the warmth of your house. 

Front yard. It's so pretty with that fresh two inches of snow. 

Christmas is in 10 more days. We are ready!  I'm bummed the Christmas lights didn't show up in this picture. 

Work has been kind of crazy the last couple weeks. Our redesigned website when live on Friday.  The office has also been working on the Christmas issue.  There was a few things that popped up unexpectedly. I think everything is good to go though.  My fingers are crossed that we will have a fairly smooth publishing day. I hope.

Since the cold hit my knitting mojo came back.  I was cranking out dishcloths for a week.  Last week I found the Tri-light pattern over on Bernat.com. I picked out some Caron simply soft yarn and this morning I cast on.  I think it's gonna be a quick knit.

The yarn is not black, it's plum perfect.  I don't understand why it showed up so dark.

When I was looking through the photos on my camera card I saw some photos of the chickens that my son took before the snow.

Tailed Red and No-Tailed Red checking out the food dish while I was cleaning out the coop.

My Wynadotte, Grandma P and White Cheeks looking for bugs. 

My sweet little baby roo. I have a feeling he was getting ready to his dance of desire to impress the ladies. 

Earlier this week DH was in the coop checking on them and he said that Grandma P was up on the nesting boxes, trying to get down.  She isn't so graceful getting down from higher places.  (On account of her not having a rudder, according to my MIL. I.e. no tail feathers). Well, according to DH she looked and paced, before finally taking the plunge and jumped off the nesting boxes.  Grandma P landed on the roos back and piled-drived him into the wall.  Oh my poor little guy!  Actually, I can't help laughing at the the thought of him minding his own business and suddenly being landed on and pushed around. I tell ya, he gets no respect. I see him frequently trying to impress the ladies and they run from him. 

I'm also pleased to report that the babies have started laying eggs.  They are so little and perfect. I don't have any good photos to share. We've been getting 5-6 eggs a day, consistently, even with the temps dropping.  They have a light on 12-14 hours and the coop is warm enough that it's not freezing in there. The girls are earning their "scratch" money.

Snow day!

We had our first snow day of the year yesterday. The snow came in waves starting Monday night.  The snow, freezing temps and darkness made for an interesting drive home. Tuesday I went into work late and left early. So glad I left early because the snow really started coming down.

On Wednesday the school districts closed down for the day. Thank goodness. After nearly white knuckling it home Tuesday I don't know if I'd attempt the roads yesterday.  The snow was coming down at least an inch per hour.  For a few hours I'd say it was coming down 1.5 inches an hour. It was very wet snow. We would be outside for a few minutes and come in and our hair would be as wet as if we had just stepped out of the shower.

I did my part to keep the deck cleared of snow.  After a while the snow was covering the deck as quick as I could clear it off.   I gave up after a while. Though I do need to take care of it today.  The snow is all done -- for now.

Front yard.  Branches so full of snow they are touching the ground.

Branch on the ground, branch on the ground, looking like a fool with your branch on the ground ... 

This was yesterday morning just a few minutes after DH did the first snow plowing.  

There was time for fun yesterday, in between cleaning up the snow.

 

My son had a blast getting pulled around. 

Last night just after 8 p.m.  The snow had finally started to slow down.  The winch on the ATV failed and my guy couldn't use the blade on the ATV anymore :-(. Such sadness.  First major storm and we couldn't run the snow plow through it's paces.  We figure the winch failed from being over used for a project we did during Thanksgiving week. (subject for a later blog entry).

The snow blanket on our roof this a.m.  After settling all night the snow is 17 inches deep.

There is an artic front coming through now.  Cold temps and stronger winds.  What snow that is on the pine trees is getting knocked off.  It's interesting to be looking out the window and see a sudden dump of snow from the branches.  The pines can hold a lot of snow.

Trust me, this lump of snow is HUGE!

Today the schools were closed again.  It gives the road crews lots of time to make the roads drive worthy.  I spoke to my coworker this a.m. and she was trying to head to town and she said the snow was drifting over the roads. Yuck!

Just as well.  Look at what my car looks like this a.m.

Poor things never had a chance.

Didn't bother to brush the car and truck off.  Gonna be interesting when I finally do brush them off.  That's a LOT of snow.

When I was looking at the back yard I saw this little one.  Mr BlueJay was gripping that branch and didn't fall off even though the branch was bouncing around in the wind.  This critter brought a smile to my face.

I'm pretty confident there will be school and work tomorrow.  The time off has been enjoyable and I'm grateful for it. I have a feeling that come January we will have at least one more snow day.