Thursday, February 27
Last night I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to sleep at 8:30. I had finished one of the library books that needed to be returned today and rather than mustering up the motivation to start in on something else I decided to just go on to bed. CountryBoy and LizzieBelle had no problem with an earlier bedtime. I warned them both that by me going to bed so early would mean that I would be up early. Sure enough. 5:30 rolls around and I’m ready to get up. They both got up as well although CountryBoy actually thought it was 6:30 otherwise I don’t think he would’ve gotten up.
As the night turned into day we could see a light dusting of snow on the ground and a few flakes floating around here and there.
The birds were swarming the feeders – anxious to break their fast. Cardinals, chickadees, tufted titmouse, woodpeckers and more. As I was getting ready for work I looked out again and saw quite a few red winged blackbirds at the feeders. So cool! By this evening the feeders needed to be filled again. Hungry birds!
I had to make myself get out of my chair in front of the fireplace and get ready for work. Some days are easier than others. I took my time driving in to work because there had been reports of black ice on the roads. It was a decent, fairly steady day. After work I went to the library and returned the book I had just finished and I renewed the other two for another two weeks. Honestly I should really only ever check out one book at a time because that seems to be how many I can read in a two week’s time period. Although this time I am also halfway through the second book. The third one? I haven’t even opened it.
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I started the fourth row on the hexagon afghan this morning before work. I just finished it…
I struggled getting my act together to start this row and all of a sudden it all came together. My goal is to attach it to the other three rows over the course of the weekend. Little by little it’s coming together. Literally!
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Farm news: 27 eggs
I believe the days of 3 to 4 eggs a day are gone!
Friday, February 28
Since I didn’t have to be at work until later this morning I was able to watch the snow fall while having coffee. It was a light snow shower that lasted a couple of hours. It was so beautiful to watch!
I only worked two hours. My work partner and I knocked the end of the month billing out in less than an hour and the other hour I spent catching up on emails and creating & scheduling the ads that came in. After that I stopped at Save-a-Lot to pick up some fresh bananas to take up to the cabin for the guests checking in that evening.
I arrived home to find our neighbor’s Mom wanting to buy some eggs. She had also been wanting to see the cabin so we took her & her daughter and grand-daughter up in the truck. Bad idea. The ground is so saturated. When we got ready to leave we started sliding sideways. Four wheel drive did nothing as we continued to slide towards a group of small trees. Inches from the tree we decided to leave the truck there and hoof it down. Unfortunately, when we all exited the vehicle the truck slid on into the tree. The driver’s side door by the side mirror now has a nasty dent making it difficult to open and close the door. CountryBoy was able to work a bit of the dent out making access to the truck easier but it’s still a nasty dent. That’s the third one from driving the truck up to the cabin. Needless to say, that truck is not going up there again no matter the circumstance! Well, at least until we can get the road and driveway finished with rocks.
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Our neighbor (whose Mom, sister and daughter was in the truck with us when it happened) came by with his tractor to help out but CountryBoy was already heading straight down the hill. Another neighbor came by in a side-by-side and he took him back up the hill to get our side-by-side. Good people. The tractor neighbor invited us to come by his barn later to hang out. Since the guests were checking in late we went down there and ended up staying for a delicious supper of scallops, bacon wrapped shrimp, potatoes, steak, steamed shrimp in butter and garlic, frog legs and boudin all cooked on the grill. Good eats with good neighbors!
We hurried home at 9:00 and CountryBoy headed up to the cabin to take the banana bread up there, start the fire and light an oil lamp. Another hour later they arrived bringing some snow showers with them. Shortly after that – we were in bed.
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Farm news: 25 eggs
Thankfully we sold four dozen.
Saturday, February 29
Leap day! We woke up to a nice layer of snow on the ground. It’s supposed to be cold but clear and sunny. These clear days have been a blessing to the soul during these winter months.
There is much to do on my one day off plus a trip to Rural King is a must. Since it’s an hour away Rural King is also a monthly trip to stock up on all the feed we need for the month. Chicken feed, pig feed, cracked corn, whole corn, cat food, and bird food. The only feed or food we do not get there is LizzieBelle’s. She is on a grain-free diet and she can not eat anything with chicken by-products – which, if you read the label, is in most dog foods and treats even if it says beef. So, we get her food at Walmart. But, back to the feed… that’s eight 50 lb. bags, two 30 lb. bags and two 20 lb. bags handled three different times in one day – once onto the shopping cart, another into the back of the truck and lastly into the feed storage in the barn. CountryBoy gets in a good upper body workout on Rural King days!
Afterwards we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant and then we walked our lunch off meandering around the Peddler’s Mall. I found a mirror for the cabin outhouse and the steal of the day was a candy dish for $1.69…
I’m going to use it as a terrarium although I discovered I was out of potting soil.
I spent the rest of the day doing a bit of cleaning, soaking in the bathtub for an hour!, four loads of laundry and I attached the fourth row of hexagons to the other three. I still need to weave in the ends.
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Farm news: 27 eggs
Sunday, March 1
March has arrived! Spring is around the corner which means my thoughts are turning to flowers, vegetables and dirt. In fact, I bought some Wisteria yesterday at Rural King. I walked by a display of pollinator plants and my mind went to whirring. These stores know what they’re doing when it comes to people like me who love their flowers and veggies. And let me tell ya – after a long winter all it takes is to dangle a plant or a packet of seeds in front of me and I’m all over it. Gotta have it! But anyway, I’ve always wanted Wisteria draping over an arbor and if all goes well I may finally have it.
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Our guests checked out early this morning so we were able to go to church. I spent the hours prior to trying to figure out why I can not access our Airbnb account on either the laptop or our iPads. It’s very frustrating. I know enough about computers to get by but I’m no computer whiz so when things like this happen I’m at a loss. I’ve deleted all my cookies on both devices and still nothing. I know we need to get to the bottom of it because we need to be able to check the calendar and check our listing to make sure all is good. It seems it’s always something ya’ know?!
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After church I flew to work. I washed, dried and ironed every dirty sheet that was in the laundry basket. About an hour before I was finished I suddenly lost steam. I kept plugging away though and finally got it all done.
It warmed up nicely today so CountryBoy was sitting on the front porch when I got home. I joined him for a few minutes while waiting for the leftover Baked Ziti to heat up in the oven. It was time for the birds to get their last minute snack in before they tucked in for the night so there were birds everywhere. I really enjoy watching them. While he locked the chickens up for the night I got the Ziti out and put some bread in to warm up for a few minutes. I’m full and ready for bed!
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Farm news: 26 eggs
Here are two days worth of eggs washed and ready to be put in cartons…
We’re finally getting some blue eggs! I love the variety of colors we now have 🙂
Dream Valley Farmstead 