February Round-Up

 

February 1-4

This big snow of winter is here, the following pictures were taken after the first round of the two week snow storm.  You can see how high the snow is and the trail made for Tutu to run to the only place on the property where she will poop, come Hell or high snow. 

Below are some mouse tracks made overnight. spanning 100 feet or more as traffic passed from pine tree to pine tree.

All I could think of was, what could possibly motivate a mouse to trek across the snow in freezing temperatures in the middle of the night?

I found this trail interesting because something made it stop and do a short double back...or maybe it just fell through the crisp surface of the snow?

There was a morning where all the trees were coated in a beautiful snow/frost and the drive into Columbus was gorgeous. Trees in some yards look like they had been dipped in sugar. This picture does not do the morning justice. The sun was shining and the sky was a clear blue, and it was a beauty that can only be found in February I think. Little did I know the novelty of this winter wonderland was going to wear off. I thought to myself, "well, here is out big snow of the winter." HA! Little did I know.

February 5-7

Meyer Lemon's were in season and for some reason, I could not find any of the meyer lemon recipes I seem to run across all year, now that I had a bag of them. I tried this upside down cake recipe from a book just called "Baking" and it comes in 4 volumes. I do not regret forgetting to take a picture of the cover because the cake did not turn out.

I will not go into the details of the epic fail of this cake, the least of which were the sweet mild lemons tasted completely sour by the end of it. 

The only redeeming thing about the night was this lovely romance, the first in a series with the third one coming out this October and it was a lovely audiobook. 

I suspect there may be 4 in the series total, and I love these series where each character gets their own book. 

This was another audiobook I enjoyed in February. Read by Juliet Stevenson (who played a fantastic Mrs. Elton in the 1996 version of Emma with Jeremy Northam and Allen Cumming.)  It was very good overall but the last third of the book was heart aching and sparkling. The fictional speculation based on what we know of Jane and Cassandra Austen's life is very plausible and the ending was beautiful and there is more than a little humor. Also, my favorite quote of Jane Austen's was worked through in the end. 

And of course, another John McCormack book is really something to look forward to for nightstand reading on these cold nights and short but still feelingly long days.

Speaking of country vets, have you been watching the new PBS James Herriot series?  It is fantastic and it is nice that they are only an hour since they have been airing on Sunday nights.  I've never read the James Herriot books which seems ridiculous now.

I've been enjoying making some more simply gemstone jewelry, usually I can make one necklace or two bracelets during an episode.  Stringing beads together on elastic is a real no-brainer craft. I generally stick with one stone at a time. It's kind of plain, but I'm not a pattern and print wearing person anyway and tend to go for "solids" so this style of jewelry seems to mirror that preference. 

Green Aventurine:

Green Agate

Cultured green potato pearls. 

Amazonite

And Azurite

I just select some from my stash just as the show is starting. Clearly all this green is an inspiration from the green landscape of Herriot's world and pinning for the days when I can see grass, even winter grass again.

 

Tutu keeps me company as we watch the Jame Herriot episode "Tricky-Woo is Missing!" Which side is her best side do you think? This one or...

This one?

February 16-20th

Well, as you can imagine the snow isn't funny anymore. Look to the left of Andrew's car in the driveway...there is an herb garden there somewhere beneath all the snow. 

Taking Tutu out is a real expedition, especially since she insists on only pooping at the willow tree (middle, below.)  There is a lot of wildlife traffic down there, and she has important messages to leave. Andrew had to re-shovel the path, and I followed along behind removing loose snow. 

I am so grateful that Dad has the skid loader to coat a road to the chicken pen. 

The pen itself is its own adventure. The snow is so high, that my head brushes against the beams. 

Collecting the eggs is even more important in this cold weather, many of them were frozen even during daylight hours, it was cold enough to freeze them in the matter of hours. 

The hens themselves have very limited space to roam in. Their coop is stacked full of grass hay and chicken poop, almost right under their perches. I imagine if all the snow can melt by this weekend, I will have a big job ahead of me removing it all and replacing the hay. Once it gets warmer, the poop will thaw and can cause poor air quality. 

Since most of their pen is under 8 to 10 inches of snow, they spend there time in this are of the pen (think of it like a Florida room, or the pop out on an RV) Covered on all sides but the one facing the pen, it is free of snow. I filled it with this compressed straw that I didn't like in its other uses, but was perfect to make their space warm, cozy, and interesting. Also, the shorter cuts of straw makes is nearly impossible for them to trample down, maintaining it's "fluffiness" for days on end. 

At this point in time the temps are too cold for the electric waterer. The round black rubber tub holds their drinkable water for now, and they certainly know to fill up before it freezes.

I got another John McCormack book through blessed Inter-Library-Loan. 

The chickens aren't the only ones who get cabin fever. Often after spending a couple days at home, This greets me when I get home at night and Andrew has been at the station. Tutu decides to remake the bed in out absence. 

February 20th

I've mentioned before audiobooks are a key part of my reading life and if I can get it in audio I will listen to it, saving reading time for books that, well, actually have to be read.   I have several of David Attenborough's audiobooks at home that I own and this latest I downloaded from the library. It is not as bleak as I thought it would be and makes compelling and inspiring statements on not only what we will have to do to survive, but points out that it can actually be done. 

David Attenborough

When I went down to take care of the chickens on the 20th, I realized I hadn't seen many fox tracks in the yard. I walked to the board fence behind the pen and could see the traffic was all in the open field. 

February 28th

Everything is mud. It took an hour and a half to clean out the chicken coop. 

See you in March. 

Trail Cam Follies: Winter Edition!

There has been a lot of action on the winter trail cams that I just had to share with you. Nothing beats these candid shots of animals of all kinds taking advantage of the human hand-out in these hard, high snow times. I love the details of this Cardinal's feet pressed against her body.

Surely there is room for both the Cardinal and the Jay?

The Jay may not think so. They are so intelligent...and greedy.

If this is not enough Cardinals for you, check out this lovely conference...and how deep the snow is.

 

 

And the Mourning Doves are no slouches either when it comes to aerial acrobatics. 

 

Not to be outdone, here are some lovely shots of a Northern Flicker, also known as a Yellowhammer Woodpecker. There is also an Alabama Yellowhammer, but it is in the bunting family. But thanks for naming too different birds Yellowhammer (sigh.) At least I'm fairly sure it's a Northern Flickr.

Here a hawk and squirrel share some space.

Oh and look, I saved the most amazing picture for almost last.

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January Round Up

Check out the new blog I've launched that is more essay style, more words, less pictures. As with this blog, there is a subscribe option if you want updates later. 

https://parkviewpenciling.blogspot.com

As winter hobbies and reading/writing projects begin to take root after holiday activity, I'm going to try to record this as I go, rather than trying to pull it all together at once. 

So let's start with New Year's Eve, we had steak, bread machine onion rolls and this wonderful from scratch, lactose free real cheese macaroni and cheese. I did the least labor intensive onion rolls, and I'm lucky Andrew will put in the research and time to bring some true dairy favorites back into my life.

This was a ton of mac and cheese, and I'm just finishing up the leftovers a week later. 

I also cleaned the chicken coop on New Year's Eve and boy did it need it. The weather was the best of the week, dry, windless and not terribly cold so I could really just focus on the job at hand at a nice pace and let the ladies out so they wouldn't be underfoot.

It really wasn't that cold despite the last snow on the ground. Much better than the day before when I had planned to clean it and it rained all day. 

You would think I would be tired of posting pictures of chickens in wheelbarrows, rummaging around their own used litter like it's the Target dollar section...

and yet I am not. 

I made a new necklace out of these lovely apatite and farm cultured pearl beads.

And I made some moisturizing salve with some things around the house; coconut oil, some essential oils and a chunk of beeswax. It's not the most chic product, but inexpensive. 

I have a vintage enamel double boiler, which is especially important to use with beeswax rather than a single pot/direct heat. 

The coconut oil melts fairly quickly.

After a few minutes of sporadic stirring though the beeswax begins to melt. 

And once it is mostly melted I add the essential oil and stir but I don't keep it on heat very long after than because I don't want to deteriorate the essential oils. 

It's a nice golden yellow thanks to the beeswax. The first night after it had cooled to room temperature it was very much a salve consistency, but later it firmed up a bit, but still melts very quickly when used as coconut oil usually does. 

I have a chicken update since when I posted the previous pictures, this is a running draft blog during the month of January and as I write on the 9th, I made a sad discovery in the pen  When I went down to collect eggs and care for them I immediately noticed the shape of the flock was wrong I did a quick count, and then a slower one. It was late enough in the day to know the tenth and missing hen probably wasn't laying and I noticed that for the past couple days I wasn't getting quite as many eggs as usual. 

I opened the coop and looked at the empty nest boxes and then with a a heavy heart looked around the rest of the coop and laying n between the roost and the wall, was a dark lump One of the new Blue Rock hens, just a chick in April had died Her head was tucked against her wing  Maybe an egg broke inside her. None of the other chickens showed anything amiss 

I got a trash bag to collect her. Dead chickens always feel so heavy and I disposed of her far away to not bring the fox's attention closer to the pen. After chicken care I took Tutu for a long walk in the sunshine in her winter coat and it was quite nice. Tomorrow we will go for another walk this weather can't be beat for January, first 20 degree day is more than 10 days a way so they say.

January 10, 2021

Andrew and I went on a nice 90 minute winter hike at Davey Woods state nature preserve.  It was nice enough weather and we were surprised that the small parking lot was full and we had to park along the side of the road. I took my Canon camera with me with the zoom lens attached thinking I might capture blue jays and squirrels but the trail was very quiet and I didn't see hardly any squirrel nests. The most notable feature was the dozens of huge grapevines growing 70, 80 feet and in the strangest shapes. I have my fist pictured for scale. 

The grape vine to the right actually grew out of the ground and back in again just a foot apart making the loop you see above. It was as tall as me. As you can see, I have not escaped the "pandemic 15."

Check out this grapevine growing through the fork of this tree. 

And this curlicue of three distinct loops of grapevine.  

The zoom lens was not the best choice for this walk as there was lots of interesting macro shots of fungi and tree features but most of the pictures didn't turn out. The raccoon tracks along the bank were the only sign of life aside from a deer trail. 

The stream was pretty, with lots of frost and free slowing water around every bend.

Reading books from the private library continues. This was a quick read about a lady in the 60s and 70s who tended wounded birds from her home in Queens. This was largely before wildlife rehabilitation centers and the gentle tone of the book does not dilute the facts about the different bird species or how to treat them including which birds get what kind of food and shelter. 

Also, the illustrations while photographs, are translated into this interesting almost dot matrix/pixelated style. 

January 15th

I took Tutu for a walk in the late afternoon. It wasn't super warm, just at 40 but there was no wind and we did about 30 minutes of walking. It would switch between bright and overcast and then I realized winter really was coming!

By the time I got Tutu in and changed into chicken care gear, in the span of 10 minutes it went from the scene above to completely gray, and soft nickel sized snow flakes were falling and the temperature had dropped considerably, just like that. I got the chickens done and we were in for a while until we took a short, masked visit to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's where the walk clearly tuckered Tutu out, using her stuffed snowman toy as a neck pillow.

January 24

A nice day of staying inside, reading, writing, and cooking. 

Andrew made apple cider pork roast with apple butter and chives from a recent Cooks' Country.

I flipped through some cookies in the Dorie's Cookies book, but they all sounded like too much work so I made Andrew's favorite, the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the butter flavored Crisco sticks. 

These moist and chewy cookies can last for days if packed air tightly. The secret I think is there is only brown sugar...keeping them from getting brittle.

Sunday, January 31st

It sounds like my friends in Columbus have more rain than snow. Here, while we watch 60 minutes we have 6 inches going on 7 with at least one or two more inches to go. We had a mostly cozy day in, although Andrew worked on clearing the driveway and I took care of the chickens. The wet soft snow was easy to hoe rather than shovel. The hens were confined to one dry area of the pen and had cabin fever so I gave them some extra treats. I had to dig my high top Vasque boots for the snow, that reach mid-calf.  I had to carry Tutu to some of her potty zones as the snow is so deep. 

Yesterday Andrew  and I went to Mad River Mountain for our first lesson of the season but second of our lives. I love skiing and am thrilled to learn I can use the student slope to practice whether I am taking a lesson or not. I hope to go again soon, all those years roller skating and roller blading have carried over quite nicely for the skis. 

I have finished my second John McCormack book of collected stories from his first year as a veterinarian in rural Choctaw county Alabama. I adored it as much as the first one, I read, Friend of the Flock.  I was actually getting depressed about getting to the end of this book. The only copy in the Central Library Consortium was this large print copy and I have the other two collections on inter-library loan. 

See you in February.