Monday, January 31, 2011

Snow Shoeing Days

January began with very cold and sunny days with lots of fluffy snow. Half way into the month everything changed. There would be wafts of warm air towards evening, a few evenings the temp rose into the 50's! Rain fell instead of snow and the clouds rolled in to stay. Other nights the temp dropped making the morning walk to the barn a slippery adventure. Today on the last day of January, the sun is coming out (Hello Sun - we sure missed you!) and it's cold again (below freezing) Hopefully the snow will start falling again - ironic that the Northeast is getting all the snow that we want!

There isn't a lot to do on the Farm these days, no fields or gardens to maintain. The grounds to hard to build fences. Thank goodness the animals still need a little of our time to keep them happy. So Keith and I have been snowshoeing, quite a lot. We are getting out into the snow more this year because I now have fantastic winter wear (light weight and super warm) and we have poles to go with our snow shoes thanks to our neighbor Dorothy who had some extra ones in her garage. I'm no longer falling down and getting wet when I snow shoe!!!
We snow shoe around Longs Trail(butts up against our property) and ...



the farm.


The Vineyard.

When the weather changed the hens started laying like crazy. Time to put up the sign and time for a new sign.

The plaque with the eggs painted on can be flipped to show the word "empty" when we have no eggs to sell. I left plenty of room on the sign in case we have produce to sell this summer.





We also snowshoed up Potato Creek - a dirt road about 3 miles up river from us.

Evidence of the 1994 Tyee Fire is everywhere, but you also see the new growth of planted trees by the forest service.

Love these trees.




Two weeks later we went up Potato Creek with our friend Anne-Renee. The snow melt was so thorough that we sometimes felt a bit over prepared for the hike.Below are 3 sets of photos from the two hikes taken from the same spots, just for comparison purposes.



Lots of Beaver Dams on Potato Creek.






With the lack of snow the beaver workmanship was seen more readily.

Last weekend Keith & I went up Preston Creek which is about 12 miles up river from us. We figure there would be better snow and there was. But also lots more fog.







"Don't jump Keith"
The hike is all up hill and the views are suppose to be beautiful. We'll go back when it's sunny, because it's a real nice hike. Any one want to join us?

Here are a couple of videos of our goats A-R took. We call it:
"Goats on Parade"

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cold Cold Days

It has been a very cold New Year.
The mornings start with temperature readings below zero, warming up by 3pm to balmy numbers between 8 and 12 degrees. However there has been no wind and lots of sun which equates to Beauty.


The river is beginning to freeze, on top and from the bottom up.
The Entiat River is one of the few rivers in North America (the world?) where ice will form on the bottom of the river bed while the top water rushes over. It's amazing to see....hard to explain and photograph - at least for us, we need some of our great photographer friends - Kiley, Rob, Guy, Kent, Didi - to come over and capture this phenomenon.


This is a fun "sculpture" of snow and ice.


The snow started to slide off the roof of this shed, then it turn cold and ice formed underneath.


We have made snow trails around the farm....

for Fun Farm Snow Walks!

Cinder is so pretty and so cold!

After being out for her chilly walks she loves to snuggle in the blankets.

Cinder, Bandida and Franny were all sleeping together on the Chaise, but as soon as we brought out the camera they started to scram. I don't think they want anyone to know that they can get along.
Reminds me of our House of Representatives....
Besides standing by the fire, and cuddling with the dogs, I''m beginning a new project.
I'm piecing a quilt, using Keith's mom's house dresses, some old shirts of Keith's and my sewing scraps. This is my first patch using fabric from 2 house dresses and one shirt.
It's a 1898 Ladies' Art Company design called "Box Quilt".
I'm making it for our 1958 Shasta Trailer which we purchased back in August.
Only 79 more to go!

Speaking of August here's a little story...
we bought this trailer from our neighbor and wonderful lady, Musie.
Our plan is to get it running so that by October we can hire someone to feed the farm animals, pack up the dogs and head down the road with Shasta being pulled by Big Max(our gray truck) and visit some folks and see other sights.

Our friends Anne-Renee and Julie were with us that weekend when we picked up the trailer.
Typical of us we had chores for them. Julie and I worked in the garden, gathered vegies and cooked while...


A-R was given the task of making a Turkey Ramp.



- and didn't she do a fine job? I bet there is no better Turkey Ramp in the State of Washington!
We manage to get it in place - which was not easy, that thing is heavy!
There was just one problem - the turkeys wouldn't use it!

I had to go up there to coax them down - I got the lone rooster to come down then, well watch the video for the rest of the story...





We celebrated with the perfect wine courtesy of Anne-Renee!
How about one more look at a great summer day, just for old times sake...



Now back to the present.
Brrrrr...Happy New Year Everyone!