The Aftermath

It snowed again Saturday and some on Sunday. Difficult to tell how many inches we received, as with the wind blowing it tends not to accumulate, unless in the tall grasses. For the night temps, they are predicting for tonight and tomorrow night -12. Takes me back to my days of living near Fargo ND and growing up. BUT, at least here in Colorado, it will get up in the 40's by the end of the week. This morning it is -3 and should get up to 13-16 degrees, the sun is out however, and appears to be no wind. The snow is crackling under my feet, an indication that it is COLD.
Here is a picture of me after milking, on Sunday looking toward the south. Coco is still in the milk stand.
Speaking of milking, I see at least 3 mice run back and forth under the hay bales as I milk, have for some time now. Mouse droppings can cause disease with humans and livestock. The last time we were in town, we bought one of those repeater traps, put a teaspoon of peanut butter in it(who can resist peanut butter) by the next morning there were 10 little furry friends in that trap.
It does not kill them, just traps them and they can be humanely relocated. I remember my grandfather used to use those traps and would put them on the combine after harvesting. They are metal and are really made well to stand up over time.

The chickens, turkeys and guineas keeping warm in the chicken coop.
I am down to 10 guineas, 3 turkeys and 7 chickens at this time. I had to sell off 1/2 of my hen chickens as we were getting too many eggs.

A picture of me coming back from feeding the chickens
and in the back of the barn


Allie and Oop checking me out with the camera.
Note the feeder that we made for the sheep, really saves on them wasting, and keeps the hay nice and dry. There is a hinged top to fill the hay. We made one of these feeders for the male goats. I see a few more of these in my future.

I have them tamed down nicely, that they will eat out of my hand, and Allie especially will let me pet her. We trimmed sheep hooves on Saturday, so that set us back some, but they are better today. With trimming hooves on sheep, you pick the sheep up and set them on their butts, and they dummy up so to speak. Easier to trim than goats, but still hard in the back as you need to kneel down as they are smaller animals. Wish I had taken a picture, but will get one next time.

Guess what Dennis and I received for Christmas???
No, not little Lily silly, but Snuggies. They have been wonderful and really keep us warm on these cold winter days, along with the fireplace. Lily sure enjoyed her first Christmas.


Remember a while ago I posted about the seismographic study for locating oil, natural gas in Weld county. Well they have come and gone. The only thing left is the huge tire tracks that they left all over the prairie, it must be quite a sight from satelite up above, the prairie all criss-crossed and scarred for years to come. Hopefully they won't come knocking on our door saying we are situated atop the "mother load". We don't own mineral rights, as very few people in Colorado do.


I start all my quilt classes again the middle of January. Will be good to be back creating and seeing old friends. I took my Saturday Sampler quilt in to be professionally quilted, it is the first time I have ever done this. The quilt measures 92X92 and would have been so hard on my shoulders to get it through my machine, I would have been aching for days. What a treat! I will post a picture of it when the gal is finished. Dennis says that it is his favorite quilt, as the colors remind him of Arizona.

Sunday I was riveted to the TV all day as the horror of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson was on. Say a prayer for all the folks that were shot, killed and injured. It is a sad day for America, and the human race.

More later..........................................................