Baked

This week on my way to Shipsewana to grocery shop in bulk I stopped by a few Amish garage sales. Everyone of them were held in a heated garage or basement. It is sorta chilly outside so that felt nice on my oldish bones to be warm as I searched for treasures. What I was most excited about was the baked goods I bought. My car just filled up with chocolate chip, sugar, and molasses cookies, a loaf of bread, plus cinnamon rolls. Which I put in lunchboxes the next day. When friends stopped in they enjoyed a treat too. Another goodie I got was 2 butternut squash for a quarter each. My family loves squash. I can't wait when I bake them for the house to be filled with deliciousness aroma of Fall. Well... I had a wonderful time shopping. Oh I asked one lady what time she got up to start baking the cookies as they had just came out of the oven...4am was the answer! I thanked her for making them as would my family.  

Patch

Yesterday I went outside to check on my chickens and ducks. I knew with all the warm weather I would not need to water them. I was right, water puddles were everywhere. We have a low spot in the driveway there was a duck swimming party going on . Wings flapping, bills dipping, tails wiggling , water flying all around. So while the ducks were having a good time the chickens were too. There in the yard was one patch of grass showing green around the white snow. There were the chickens scratching the heck out of that patch. dead grass was flying in the air with bits of dirt. Their feet were using muscles that needed exercising from winter dormancy. What fun they were all having on this warm spring day!

Zero

The book 50 Degrees Below Zero is how it feels outside today. It is so cold out. How do you know? Well when I went out, I first slid and almost fell as the snow was ice. Then my face felt frozen. My skin was tight red, burnt by the wind. My dog ran out of the garage then turned around and came right back in. She was cold, she wanted back in the warmth. Once to the chicken coop I opened the door to see frost crystals on the inside of the walls. It was like a disco ball, glitter frost from the chickens breath was on the board wall, beautiful. I was out only a few minutes, however it felt longer. Like the book Below Zero , I felt frozen stiff and was so happy to be inside my warm house.    

Time

It seems like when you have days off they go by so quickly. They also seem like I never stop working. As soon as I get up I see something that needs done. I cook yummy dishes for my family, You know the things that you never have the time to cook or prepare except on a snow day?  I see the dirt and dust around my house so I clean. I pick up, then put away what I see out of place. If I take a nap it's dark by the time I get up because of the shorter days. Therefore I try hard to just keep moving. So I go gather the eggs and fill the hens feeders. By the time everyone gets home, I feel like I have worked harder than if I was at my job. Time sure went fast on this day, I'm exhausted, ready for bed and thankfully a 2 hour delay  in the morning so i can sleep in!     

White

Today we are getting a snowstorm, everything is white. The ground yesterday was brown/green  with grass for my chickens to peck on. Today all is white, the ground, branches on trees, my house even looks like an igloo. I took a walk out to the barn stopped and smiled. Everything is so white and clean. It looks like a blank canvas, in a few days the snow will melt and colors will again appear, causing the canvas to fill with colors once more. But for now I'm enjoying the white canvas, clean and bright for the eye to behold . Let it snow.

VHS

Today while home I decided to clean out the VHS movie tapes. I had them since the girls were little. They were taking up lots of space. I had seen many of them over and over.( I still kept all the favorites) I remembered the We Sing Along's , Thomasina, Barney and many, many Disney movies. Then there were the sets of Anne Of Green Gables, which we watch every winter to this day. Sound of Music, including Titanic , which was so sad I vowed to only watch it once. I have a pile of nearly forty on the floor waiting for the girls to go through to see if they want any of them first. Then they will go in the garage sale pile. Every thing now is on DVD . In my lifetime I have seen 8tracks, cassettes,VHS and now blue ray DVDs what will be next . I guess that's how they keep us buying things as consumers.

Ducks

It was my turn tonight to go out and do the chores. Feed the dog, feed the chickens and ducks , fill the wood stove for the evening. The past two nights I have been late getting home, so it was my turn. It was dark  with the moonlight illuminating the sky enough so I could see fairly well. I turned the corner and couldn't believe it. There in the back yard snow were hundreds of tracks all over the yard. Upon a closer look I saw it was chicken and duck tracks. Well when there is snow on the ground they always stay near the coop never venturing very far. This is because their feet get really cold. But that's the tracks they were! What had happened while I was at school all day? Did they have races in the snow? Was another animal after them? Did they invite other ducks from the sky to visit and have a duck party in my backyard. I went in the coop to gather the eggs and asked them . But just received a quack and cluck answer. I guess it will remain a mystery. Hum????