Friday, February 14, 2014

Snow Days

Snow Days on Concord Road
Two days of snow in Meadows of Dan resulted in 22 inches in our sheltered nook on Concord road. The wind blew during the storm and there are some drifts that are much deeper. As anyone knows that lives a country life, that much snow makes doing chores and tending animals much more difficult. Since the chickens are a mile away up on Squirrel Spur, it was a real challenge to make sure they were cared for yesterday. Fortunately one of the members of the chicken coop co-op enjoys cross country skiing. He has taken over morning duties and with the warmer temperatures that came along with the snow twice a day visits seem to be keeping the chickens comfortable.

I shoveled a path to the wood pile yesterday but the continuing snow filled it up again almost immediately. The path I made last night is mostly uncovered still, though. Yesterday afternoon I loaded a backpack with water for the chickens and broke through the drifts in the driveway to head over and tend the chickens for the evening. Fortunately a snow plow had gone down the road once on Wednesday so the snow on the road was only about 8 inches deep. Otherwise I would never have made it to the farm. The drifts were deep across the fields and it was something of a chore to make it to the coop and then to the house to take the eggs in, but I managed just fine, feeding the farm cat along the way. The skiing friend came along while I was discovering, to my dismay, that the freezer at the house is no longer working. More food for the chickens, unfortunately!

Snow Knightley
The dogs love the snow and play so hard that they are exhausted and quiet when they finally come inside. Which is nice for me and Linda, my new roommate. Knightley is doing very well with his hearing dog training. We've just started teaching him to alert me when someone says my name and he has caught on very quickly.

What I'm spinning: Hand dyed Jacob wool
What I'm knitting: A couple of projects started but little time to work on them.
What I'm crocheting: All hibernating
What I'm reading: Some mysteries, a history of King Henry VIII
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: Inspector Morse mystery series.
How the diet is going: Behaving fairly well.

4 comments:

Connie said...

Norm wants to know how you are teaching Knightly to alert you when someone speaks your name. He is such an awesome boy.

Dianne said...

I always love your posts! Please be very careful in your animal tending..I am always very concerned for you in bad weather. I know the challenge of the pups finding their 'spot' in this..
Knightley is really doing well..what a good fella and I know Ms. Emma is keeping him in his place:)
Stay safe my friend..spring is surely too arrive in not too many weeks..and this will all be a blur. I will be wishing for snow again and making people angry:)

Leslie Shelor said...

Because of my hearing loss, I frequently don't know it when people are talking to me out in public, so I'm hoping that if Knightley cues me, I'll be better able to pay attention.

cyndy said...

This snow makes the daily chores all that more challenging! Please take care, and pray for a slow melt!