January 4, 2017 An Arctic Blast

Our home after a
16" snowfall.

JB & the dogs on the north
ridge on our Tuesday
morning walk.

Looking towards the peak
on the south ridge.

Monday 1/2. It was still snowing this morning, even after dumping 16" in the past 24 hours.  I fed the dogs while JB shoveled a path to the hen house.  After feeding the girls and giving them a new pan of water, I helped JB shovel a few short paths.  I also swept off the porch and shoveled inside the wood-shed fence (so I could open the gate) while he and Dinga trudged up to the panels to clean them off.

Then we all went inside for coffee and breakfast.  As deep as the snow is, it is a light powder and very easy to move.  We still take it slowly with a lot of rests.  But we want to get as much done today as possible as frigid temps are due in tonight and through the rest of the week.

After lunch JB did a little more shoveling.  I cleaned off MAX and Miss Kitty, then gave the girls some more pine shavings in their nesting boxes.  We are still getting at least one egg most days, and often two.

Tuesday 1/3. It was a frigid 4 degrees this morning with clear skies.  Really too cold to be outside unless we really have to.  And any time the outside temperature dips below 15, it is harder to keep the inside temperature at 70.  So I definitely set the alarm at night so one of us is up at four-hour intervals to feed the wood stove.

We did go for both our walks today, despite the cold.  I brought in lots of fire wood.  JB shoveled a path to the battery room, cleaned off my Jeep, and ran it for a while.  I did not get the deck cleaned off either yesterday or today. . .

By early afternoon, the skies were becoming overcast but the sun managed to shine through the broken clouds most of the time.  Our high for the day was 12.  Randy, in northern Idaho, is experiencing even lower temps than we are, as in 5 below, and is having a dickens of a time keeping his house warm.  It is much larger than ours and not as well insulated.  Meanwhile, our son in Alabama was enjoying a day in the mid 70's.

We watched the last four episodes of the third season of Blacklist this evening.  So glad we don't have to wait a week between each episode, especially this season!

Wednesday 1/4. We are in a frigid freezer this morning with clear skies and a temp of 2 degrees and a light breeze.  Brrrrrr!

Thought for the day: Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.  James Thurber