More winter weather...

today in our area.  Early this morning we began getting freezing precipitation, making the roads very slick.  I fed the cats before this happened so I didn't have to be out in it.  I made blueberry-banana bread since the last two slices of fruit cake were eaten at lunch.

This afternoon I'm doing redwork embroidery as part of my 2014 project; there'll be more about that in a day or so.  I could start another puzzle, one I got for Christmas, that I'm certain will take me days to finish!  Haven't you heard to keep your mind busy as you age?  Maybe that's a goal I work for in these puzzles.  A friend tried to get me to solve some Sudoku number puzzles; have you ever worked these?  It just didn't sink into my brain, this filling in squares just so-so.  I'm thinking, instead of keeping my brain active and alert, these puzzles might drive me cuckoo!

Last week I took these pictures as a swarm of birds visited for only a few minutes.  I've seen these all my life but don't know what they're called.

As the little song from Charlotte's Web says, "Chin up, chin up..."  Spring will be here someday!

Charlotte

Ice and Snow Storm?? with Update

Thursday night:

We've had rain off and on all day but so far no problems with ice or snow.  However, that may change as the temperatures are just below 32* right now at 9:30 p.m.  We have a generator for the chicken houses so they'll have heat and exhaust fans should the power go off.  The farmer could quickly get it tied into the dwelling house if needed.  We have a wood burning furnace, but it requires electricity to run the fan, and a small gas heater in one room so we can stay fairly warm. 

Today I made vegetable/beef soup, always good eating on a cold day.  Also I finished two embroidery projects that have been around for ages, and read a few chapters in my daughter's newly released book, His Promise True, which, by the way, can be found on Amazon.

So for those of you who have wondered about us, everything is good so far; if ice covers everything, in the morning I'll have to watch my steps carefully when I go to the chicken houses; at least it's good and warm in there. 

Charlotte

Friday morning:
We got up this morning with everything covered in sleet and ice; around 7:30 it began to snow.  No power outage yet.  After the chicken work, the cattle had to be fed.  The farmer had set out bales yesterday.  He's feeding silage bales because the plastic comes off easier than the frozen net.

Every chain and latch on the gates were frozen.

I think untouched snow is beautiful, but it makes for so much more work, cold work.  The farmer kept telling me to "be careful" so I reminded him, "you're older than me".   It seems awfully early in the season for this type of weather in our area.  Hope it doesn't mean all of winter will be this way!

A Winter Day -- 1942

A re post:

It would have been a day like today, raw and cold, and the wind driving the cold straight to the bones. All but the necessary outside work, milking the cow, feeding and watering the chickens, was laid aside and we gathered close to the heating stove. The closed door shut out the unheated air from the north room and soon the little front room began to warm despite the wind squeezing in around the window, giving movement to the curtain.

Uncle Dewey, Aunt Leola, and Baby Dane came for dinner and then stayed to visit in the afternoon. Mama sent Daddy to the smoke house for a chunk of meat, cut off of the sugar cured ham hanging from the rafters, and then he went down into the cellar for potatoes. She also cooked dried peas, buttermilk biscuits and red eye gravy, and finished off the meal with more biscuits spread with sweet butter and blackberry jelly. While the women cleaned the kitchen, Daddy put more coal into the heating stove, and then he and Uncle Dewey took out their tobacco pouches and cigarette papers, rolled cigarettes and sat around the radio, listening for any news about the war that was raging across the ocean, a world away from this rural home.

Baby Dane, two months old, and Charlotte, twenty months old, were asleep now, so the adults pulled up their chairs around the little table and poured out pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. They could have played dominoes, checkers, or Chinese checkers. They talked and laughed with one another as they put the pieces into place; the picture grew, and the warmth of their friendship pushed the cold away, and before long the sun slid lower in the west, the shadows grew long and Wanda came home from school.

Now Daddy went to the barn to do the evening chores and carried a fresh bucket of water up from the well. Wanda gathered the eggs, Mama put Charlotte in the swing hanging from the door frame while she warmed up the leftovers, and then the family settled in for another cold night.