Wild times weather-wise

Monday was warm and windy, reaching the 80s with 40+mph winds. It's night now and the temp has dropped over 50 degrees!

It's too soon to plant out but I did pot up some seedlings so they can continue to grow.

More soon.

Beating the Brrrrrr

We've had a mild winter up til now. There's snow on the ground but not deep and the temps haven't spent much time in the single digits. That changed this week as a cold system moved in and settled to stay. Actual temps have been well below zero and wind chills much worse. 

Normally, I'd wear these to do chores. Insulated and comfortable, I could do whatever was needed.

Then came this week and my fingers started hurting before I had even finished feeding the chickens. Time to pull out the big guns. A bit awkward to work in, I have to take them off to pick up an egg, but I don't feel the cold at all! I ordered them years ago from a Minnesota company which I just googled to see if they are still in business. So, here's a shout-out to Century Leather Products for a great mitten.

Nit-picking

Warning: I have a sinus headache so this post may be a bit grumpy.

Today I find it annoying to read comments with excessive exclamation points. As in:

"blah! blah blah!! blah blah blah blah! blah!!! blah blah!!"

It's like a toddler jumping and demanding 'look at me!' I may look, but I'm not impressed. In fact, I lose a little respect for the writer with each point.

On a more positive side note, I found a tip for keeping effect/affect straight in my head. Remember that 'a'ffect equals 'a'ction. This should save me a lot of stopping in the middle of a sentence and looking it up. :)

Laughing at myself

I watched some of The Great British Bake-off for the first time today. Anyone who knows me well already knows I'm not a fan of cooking so watching these incredibly complicated concoctions is funny. Tonight, I paused the show and went searching for something for supper... stick a potato in the microwave and eat it with butter, salt and pepper. 

Lol

Salads in the winter?

I generally have a hard time motivating myself to eat salads when it's cold out. Hot, savory foods just sound better when the snow is blowing. I may have stumbled onto a solution though. My sister recommended a salad kit that she liked and, while that one didn't appeal to me, I tried a couple others. The key is variety; instead of keeping two types of dressing on hand, I now have five and I've been enjoying daily salads.

I have to admit that I am very concerned about the covid variants. If it follows the first wave, South Dakota will get spread later than higher population states, but when it hits it will be dreadful. Expected deliveries of vaccines have been delayed or drastically reduced globally. Each new positive case is a potential for new mutations which could lead to a new variant. This disease is truly insidious.

Funny, just when I could use a friendly cuddle, my cat is in deep-sleep mode on the bed. 

Overdue Update

 

The video and pictures are all from before my world turned white. 

I find I've gotten out of the habit of talking here; my mind has gone blank.

Okay then. After sitting at the keyboard for a few more minutes with nothing forthcoming, I'll leave the pictures as my post for tonight. 

Stay safe and warm.

Tuesday

Hyacinth dismounted from her tree on the other side of the fence which put her in an empty pasture. Sadly I couldn't help her as I have no access to it. Instead, she spent the day pacing the fence-line, wanting back in but unable to figure out the logistics. One scary moment was when a dog-owner let his loose and it raced for the fence, but my neighbor's dog wasn't having any of that and chased it out of her territory.

Pet peeve for people who own hunting dogs and keep them penned up all the time without proper exercise and socializing.

Anyway, Hyacinth was back on her roosting branch tonight, so hopefully she lands correctly in the morning. In other flock news, I hoped the culling of the roosters would encourage more egg laying but it's dropped right down to zero eggs. I hauled out the extension cord and hung a light in the coop. It was almost comical how many burnt out bulbs I found before getting one that works.