Back to winter weather

We've had a very mild winter, so far. Last weekend we had heavy rain & very high winds.  Several building in town lost shingles, and a few trees are down.  We didn't have any damage to our property.  Our neighbor to the south had a tree come down near her cabin & garage.

Large tree

Large tree that missed all buildings.

After the windy weather, Joshua and I got the first layer of rubber applied to the Hobbit House.  It's now a nice green color.

And the, winter made it's continued presence known... It snow on Saturday night 3/11. We got about 3 inches.

Cricket in the snow

Bunny tracks

I took these videos Sunday morning.  The dogs really enjoyed the walk.

We canned some venison yesterday.  I started out by removing all the connective tissue from the meat.  After 2 hours, my hands were exhausted.  Josh took over.  He ground the meat, packed the jars & loaded them into the pressure cooker.  This was his first canning experience.  Now he knows exactly what to do.

I finally finished a sweater I started 2 years ago.  I'm not happy with the collar... I've worked on it quite a while, and I may re-do it yet again.  Or I may just put the buttons on and accept it the way it is. Earlier this year I scored a great find, a collection of buttons, at the local flea market.   I remember moving my stash of pewter buttons while I was sorting all the buttons.  Now I can't find them.  Dang.  Anyway, I've put the sweater aside while I search for buttons.

The back of the Fair Isle sweater for me

The front of the sweater.  No buttons.

 
 My next project is a double knit Fair Isle vest.  A new challenge for me.  The vest will be completely reversible. Here's a link to my Ravelry page for this project.  Camilla, a Fair Isle Vest

Cold weather and crocheting.

It's been very cold here the past few days.  The high on Saturday, January 7, was 23F.  The low was 6F.

My chickens have been weathering the cold fairly well.  Freezing water seemed to be the biggest issue.  Everyone but Ginger has finished molting and gotten all their feathers back.  Ginger's back is still bare.  She seems to receive a lot of grief from the other girls,  I'm thinking about moving Sissy back in the large enclosure and giving Ginger some space of her own.  Poor girl looks sad.

Ginger is the red hen is the back...

We haven't had any more water issues.  Thanks goodness.

I've been working on an afghan for my niece's daughter. My great-niece??  I think that's right.  It seems she never got a baby blanket.  I'm not sure why.  John said I did make & send one.  Not sure what happened to it.  She picked out the pattern she wanted & the colorway.  I think it came out very well.  Now to crochet some slippers that will fit her feet.

Nevaeh's blanket

Closeup of the stitches

The pattern for the slippers Dragon Scale Slippers.  I really like the look of these. I'll be using the same yarn I used in the blanket.

There's really not much else going on here the past week or so.  It's been to cold to go outside, except as absolutely necessary.

Winter is coming!

Ten days until Christmas.  Wow. The past month has really flown by!  It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since I got back from PA.

I've been working on gifts & charity knitting objects.  And baking, of course.I haven't gotten much weaving done.  Oh well, there will be plenty of time during the upcoming winter season.

The weather forecast is looking very odd.  Here's what KAIT 8 has to say...

We have all kinds of weather to talk about over the next few days. Tonight, colder air will continue to push into Region 8 and overnight lows will go into the low and mid 20s. Tomorrow looks very cold, with many areas not warming much above freezing. Warm air surges into Region 8 LATE on Friday, giving way to a few showers and storms. We start our Saturday with temperatures in the 60s, but end the day in the 20s with a chance of light sleet or snow. Any accumulations will be light. VERY cold air for Sunday and Monday. -Ryan

Brrrr.  Sounds like I'll be staying in side this weekend.

I need to get the lamp in the chicken run, my birdies need to stay warm.  I also need to make sure the plants in the greenhouse survive.  Busy, busy.

I'm hoping to get all the packages in the mail today.

Getting ready for winter

While I was visiting family in Pennsylvania, John & Josh worked on the greenhouse.  It's now ready for the plants.  I spent about half an hour yesterday getting them all inside.  I will be doing some more work on the interior... putting some rocks around the perimeter too keep out little rodents, putting in some 5 gallon buckets full of water to help raise the humidity & act as a heat mass, starting any seeds we want to grow over the winter (tomato & bell pepper come to mind).

The greenhouse.  The door is on the left, out of the picture.

The roof is really interesting.  This plastic is very strong.

I also got the chicken enclosure covered in plastic.  It's getting down to around freezing at night now, and the highs will only be in the mid 50's.  I've been covering the chickens for a few winters now, and I haven't had damage on their combs or feet.  This is a great improvement.

What the cages looked like after an ice storm last winter.

Frozen chicken is great in the freezer, not in the chicken house.

We've stayed close to home the past few days.  The stores are always crazy the week of Thanksgiving.  First, all those folks are in the grocery store buying all the items they need for the annual feast.  Then, BLACK FRIDAY...  I've never been shopping on Black Friday.  I don't understand waiting in line, in the cold, pushing & shoving & fighting.  Just plain crazy , in my humble opinion.

I did some baking in the past few days. Two pumpkin pies & a peach "dump cake".  The guys have been eating well!  We had ham & potatoes au gratin for our Thanksgiving meal.  Very tasty.

Property boundaries and more winter weather.

The weather on Saturday, February 1st, was very nice.  Cricket and I went for 2 long walks.  Our first walk took us to the eastern property edge where we've been working on our little spring.

I worked on the last 2 pools for about 2 hours.  I won't know until it rains/thaws if the all the pools are holding water.  But, I've got the little dams all built and have the clay over them.  Now I'll just have to wait and see what's happening with them.

Here's what they're looking like.

Cricket the rock loving dog! 

Some water is holding... now to see how the whole complex holds up.

On our second walk, later in the day, we ventured down into the hollow on the north end of the property.  This area has 4 little springs that turn into one seasonal stream.  It has some really nice features!

Still loving rocks!

The western most spring in the hollow.

Looking down hill.  Not a good place to trip.

Interesting rocks by the 2nd spring in the northern hollow.

The "main" spring, source of the seasonal stream.

When I say, down in the "holler"; I do mean DOWN!  Our house is on the south end of the property, the hollow on the north.  The difference is about 400 feet.  The house is one the highest point on Walker Ridge, every other direction is down.

Sawmill hollow is down hill off the south-eastern boundary of the property (it's owned by River View Farms our hunt club friends), south of us is our friend Jennifer's hunting cabin and her 2 acres (and more River View Farms property), our west boundary is with Mr. Hunter George. Our northern property belongs to Mr. Bill Vance.  The E & L Cypress clock shop is to the east (Cochrane property).  Here's an interesting map I found posted on the wall in the grocery store, next to the freezer section!  Interesting place to find a property map.

Sorry for the poor image quality.

The red line on this map is US 62/63/412. Here's an interactive topographical map of the same area.  Walker Ridge, AR

Our house is located at the small dot near the I in "Ridge".

Our property on Google maps

The 5th spring is on the south side of the property, not far from Jennifer's cabin.  I'm not sure I want to try and enhance this spring much (or at all).  It's down hill from our well and I don't want to effect our water quality.  Our well is over 400 feet deep.  And this little spring and it's associated run off area aren't any where near that level.  So I could probably try to make a few small pools there.  We'll just see how much time and energy I have....

The last spring is on the west side of the property, near some cool large rocks.  There's a deep bowl there already.  I could probably dam it up a bit and have a pool there without any problem.  Some idiot left at 20 gallon propane tank lying right there that I've got to deal with.... Stupid people!

So, after spending so much time out side on Saturday the weather took a turn yesterday.  It was 33F when I got up and it was 24 when I went to bed at 9:30.  We had 5 inches of snow on the ground.  And icecicles on the eves.

Outside the south door.

I see we also had an orb visiting while I was photographing.

The south walkway.