Yo-yo weather

It goes up a bit then crashes down; up for a day...down for a couple. Add in the annoyance of menopause and my internal temp is all over the place too - shivering during the day and roasting at night. I am thoroughly sick of winter!

So, I've been making plans for spring. I'm going to fence off part of the chicken pen and let the grass grow (hopefully we get enough rain this year) then when I turn them loose it will be lush and full of bugs...yummy!

Batten down the hatches

I'm glad today was a work at home day because I would have had to stay over if I was in the city. I wish we had gotten loads of snow though, then I'd have an excuse to stay home tomorrow too! So, while it's a blizzard outside, we are snug in our house and I'm going to use wood from the porch tonight instead of venturing back out. Chickens are fine inside the coop also.

A nearby town had a water emergency yesterday. The cover of their water supply collapsed and contaminated it. Residents are requested to avoid using water and boiling any they must use while the well is pumped out and repairs made. Suddenly, my habit of saving shower water in the tub between showers for flushing the toilet doesn't seem so daft.

My sister sent me an artisan bread kit which resulted in this:

My son said it seemed like a lot of work for a funny shaped loaf of bread. Next time I'll try one of the more interesting recipes.

Yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to the county court house. In one trip I paid the property taxes, got the vehicle tags and renewed my CCW permit. While the taxes can be split up through the year, I like knowing it's done and if financial crisis hit, this wouldn't be an issue.

Time to put another log on the fire.

Ding Dong, the witch is dead!

Or perhaps it's a case of the criminal returning to the scene of the crime. When I went out to get the eggs, I found the opossum inside the coop and all the chickens outside. I quick closed it up and called for help. Since my son is at work I started calling around and my retired neighbor agreed to come down with his .22. Within a few minutes he had thrown the body over the fence into his pasture. It was big! I can see how it could easily kill poor Duchess and Princess. So, the chickens are safer and justice is done.

Why didn't I shoot it myself? I've never shot anything alive before and the idea makes me nervous. Someday I may have to, but not today.

Urges

I've got a twitching in my fingers to start seeds for the summer garden. Lol. Jumping the gun by a couple months!

Dropping

Saturday evening and the temp is at 0F (-17C). The wind chill is much colder, but this is the last time we will see 0 until Tuesday. The next two days are going to be brutal with cold and wind. I've hauled in extra wood and kindling so I can make fewer trips outside and hung a second light in the coop. It's not much, but is the only source of heat they have besides each other. If the extended forecast is right, things should be much better by next weekend.

I tromped out to the propane tank today to check the level. Amazing that it's still over half full and this is the second winter using just one tank. I noticed that the delivery man doesn't even check mine anymore when he fills the neighbors. I have used the furnace a lot more this winter because it's much colder.

Yawn! I would love to go to bed now, but there is a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine.

Planning for the morrow

Friday should be a very busy day. I can open up the coop and let them out for the one 'warm' day; not that they are likely to venture out, but the option will be there. Then it's off to the dealership to get the car worked on, hoping that whatever killed the door power won't be horribly expensive. The first day working at the office since before the holidays began, including a Chinese lunch with my favorite coworker. Then, it's off to Costco for a stock up and, finally, a visit with my stylist to get the last haircut tweaked. I just can't get it to work and suspect that she was so distracted talking about her impending divorce that my hair paid the price.

During my time off I made use of Amazon Prime and checked out some of the free shows. Found a quirky/corny movie called Unicorn City that I liked. Watched a little Buffy, Primeval and Being Human. What finally hooked me was Star Trek: TNG. I skipped season 1 because it was dull (and I hated Tasha Yar) and am deep in season 2 now. It's so much fun to be reunited with the characters in episodes that I've completely forgotten over the years. It's been so captivating that I haven't even watched the new Sherlock episode yet!