The blizzard!

We had a blizzard last week, it was bad enough to cancel schools, postpone activities around the area, law enforcement was telling people to stay off the roads and not a snow flake fell from the sky. It was all caused by the 6 inches we had previously with winds whipped up to 60 MPH. 

It was nasty, at times we could hardly see the corn crib.

I knew I would be drafted into service to clean snow so Bruce had our trusty Mustang running by the time I got to the farm in the morning.

It was COLD!

"Get a picture of my breath!"

The calves didn't think that was very special.

"See our breath, we can do it out of each nostril."

I mounted the Mustang and began cleaning the bunk, it was level full.

I dumped it on the floor and Bruce pushed it out into the cattle yard....

....uh, see who has the cab with the heater???"

Down at the cow pen, the bulls, Louie and 9100, square off while waiting for their feed.

This is what Bruce does every morning, rain, shine, sleet, snow or blizzard.....

.....he feeds his hungry stock.

And this is what I do every morning, build a fire and have coffee in my pj's, while reading a book on my tablet....

....it's a dirty job but someone has to do it.

It looks like I need to clean my kitchen.

(I'm going to have to hide my camera where Bruce can't find it.)

Keeping the home fires burning.

We love this in the winter.

But it takes a lot of this.......

....and a lot of this.

Bruce gets to do the big chunks that are too heavy for me to lift.

Some are really big......

.....and even give him a hard time.

While the dogs play.

Wouldn't you love to have a dog's life?

Bruce perseveres with the big guy. I learn a lesson about picking up wood off the ground while he is splitting, "THWACK!" a piece popped off and smacked me up along side the head!

OWWWWWW!!!

Then we get this.....

....that buries the wood pile and splitter.

The temperature drops...

.....so we are really happy to have this to tide us over....

....until we have this again. Sigh.....

But on the upside, we are celebrating Murphy's 1st birthday today, January 7th!

This was baby Murphy at 3 weeks old.

This is our wild child today, she loves the snow and cold!

If Mollie knew then what she knows now......

....I don't think she would have been quite so welcoming!

Happy Birthday, Murphy!

Birds of a feather, flock together.

Bruce and I finally got our Christmas dinner, New Years's Day when we traveled to my old stomping grounds, Whiting. Our friends, Sam and Larry Waugh invited us down but when we arrived, we found out we were going just a mile away to their daughter, Heather's and her new husband, Aaron's house on another farm they own.

I had not been in that house for years, it was nice but Heather has really put her stamp on it with a new coat of paint in every room, ripped up carpets and refinished wood floors, they have made it into a beautiful home.

Heather has a couple of cockatiels, Hershel and Gus, while on a tour of the house, we saw their own room, a big closet off Heather's office, complete with toys, perches, newspaper carpet, lights, heater and a  mesh screen door....

.....which Gus clings to in an attempt to convince Heather to bring him out. In the spring, when they start replacing windows in the house, Aaron is going to put a window in their room so they can watch what goes on outside.

After a yummy dinner of prime rib, twice baked potatoes, salad, fresh rolls with homemade strawberry jam and an ice cream and hot fudge dessert, Heather brought Gus downstairs to join us.

Gus is quite the character and definitely a one woman bird, he would leave her to walk around on the couch but didn't stay away long.

Gus is very photogenic and his top feathers very expressive, if he was on alert, they stand straight up. Hershel was Heather's first cockatiel, she was distraught when he flew out the door one day when she let the dog out and was gone for several months over the winter. Heather figured he was gone forever when she got a call from a friend who was at the humane society and said they had a cockatiel that whistled the 'Andy Griffith' song Heather had taught him. He was in deplorable shape, had plucked a lot of his feathers out, something they do when stressed. She brought him back home but he has remained a nervous bird and not very sociable.

If Heather has something to drink, Gus joins her.

Bruce thought he would get acquainted with Gus....

"Polly want a cracker?"

"Touch Polly and you will draw back a bloody stub!"

Gus treated us to a concert, Heather tried to get him to do Andy Griffith also but he was into his own thing.

Since both Sam and Heather also have chickens, I made some Knock Off Flock Blocks to take for treats. I found the recipe on Pinterest, what else?? The ingredients are chicken crumbles, cracked corn, oatmeal, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, eggs, shells and all, fruit, molasses, and water. Mix it all together and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours, warning, the house will smell heavenly!

I tried it out on my chickens first and they gobbled two small blocks in one day. 

It's a wonder I wasn't down there with them.

Before we left I wanted to see Heather's chickens, I forgot to take their flock block over so they didn't get a taste test. She has a possum who spends the night in one of the nest boxes, YISH!

Back at Sam and Larry's, we took her hens a treat........

.....and the jury is still out.

"HMMMMMM....."

After a great day of good food, good company and great memories, we hit the road for home. The next day I needed to run to Cherokee for groceries  and on the way home I saw two bald eagles in a field. I still had my camera in the car and fired off a few shots as they flew away.

I was just sorry I didn't have my new big, honking lens but I have a lot to learn first and the weather is not conducive to sitting outside and taking pictures.

Doesn't it just make you want to burst out into The Star Spangled Banner?

In the privacy of your own home, that is.

Go ahead, no one will know.

How to trap a cat.

I've learned how to catch a cat, put out a container, they are drawn to it like catnip. Smitty is modeling the latest in tufa trough planters.

Tiger Woods is trying to figure out how to put a motor on his wheeled bed to putt around the farmstead.

Stinky loves his Box-er.

Zoe prefers the beer flat instead of the cushions.

Grey Boy is trying on the plant flat for size, he almost fits.

Spike is doing surveillance from the box, trying to be sneaky but his ears give him away.

Finally his turn in the plant flat.

Bruiser's Mama in the coveted basket....

Simon waiting his turn.

"I just heard the feed sack rattle in the cat house."

"Heh, heh, heh, she falls for that ploy every time!"

Zoe doesn't want to seem too interested.....

"I think I just heard the feed sack rattle in the cat house."

Stinky, taking over the coveted spot in the basket.

"It's mine, ALL MINE!!"

Until Bruiser's Mama comes back, then he better scram if he knows what is good for him, she's one tough cookie.