Winter in January

This winter has been brutal to say the least. This morning it was 1 degree. Yesterday morning it was 2 below. Everything is frozen except for us and the animals. The skidloader took all day yesterday to warm up enough to start. The hydrants were froze and the water line in the basement was froze. Did I mention the hose was froze too? Even though it was in the basement where it usually stays thawed out. We took it out to do chores but didn't put it on the hydrant soon enough and it froze again. Back to the basement. Dad put the kerosene heater down there and thawed things out. Yay! But at 8:00 last night when we went out to try the hose once more, somewhere near the end it was still frozen. The cows were VERY thirsty so my sister and I bucketed around 30 pails of water to them under a very cold, starry sky. At least we don't have anymore cows than we do! So yeah, farming in the winter can be a nightmare. We're surviving but LONGING for warm, summer days!

 

Here are a few pictures of our usable-but-not-finished barn

 

 

Right now everything is frozen solid and covered in snow. This pic. is from when it thawed up a bit.

The cows on the farm where Dad works

He is the feeder and feeds around 1,400 cows every day so that they make milk, so you can run to the store and buy a jug of it. Don't underestimate what farmers go through to feed 7 billion mouths all over the world. Its a ton of work, esp. in the winter.

 

An icy sunset. Almost looks like mountains back there. :)

Amy's oatmeal bread rising.

More of Amy's handiwork. (Thanks Em!!)

 

Love this picture of the cows huddled around their bale.

My cow. :)

 

Lula helping Amy making meatloaf

and Laurel with her tea

So cute

 

 

"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:10-11

Of Friends, Sewing and Pirates

A Sunday afternoon with friends from church

 

Mihali on Treasure 

Oreste

Nathan and Dimitri rode and rode and rode

Us girls went for a walk even though it really was too cold for a walk, so it didn't last long.

We went inside and played a VERY juvenile game of jumping frogs.

It's kind of addicting :/

 

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Nathan and Razz. We reluctantly let our favorite cat in the house when we had blizzard warnings and it was below 0. We felt sorry for him.

 

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Sewing pillowcases for an orphanage in Honduras

We tried to be somewhat creative and they turned out cute

 

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So we were having cabin fever. I think that's why we did this.

 

It was fun. And we were very nice pirates.

 

Christmas

With 7 family members missing, it didn't quite feel like Christmas, but we had a wonderful day regardless. We had a yummy breakfast, and Dad was able to be home most of the day which was awesome. We chilled, opened presents, ate chocolate, played blokus like crazy and read our eyes out. That night we watched a very interesting non-Christmas movie and ate white trash and Christmas cookies. It was great.

 

A very small pile of gifts compared to what it usually is!

 

Plenty of laughter and smiles

 Especially when Miss Santa Claus showed up with her sack box of presents for everyone.

For weeks Jo had been hording away presents and chasing everybody out of her workshop (our bedroom!) after pasting a sign on the door that read "Santa's Jo's Workshop. Do not Disturb." So we teased her unmercifully about being Santa Jo. And like the Grinch, she hacked out a robe for herself and collected a beard, a belt and a pillow, (Grinch likeness stops there) showed up Christmas morning and literally threw presents at us. It was hilarious!

*Her beard was having trouble staying on

So that was our Christmas. Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed day, also!

Our Winter

Mom's early Christmas present--a butter churn!!

She's been wanting one for ever so we finally got her one! Cheers!

 

Thanksgiving Day we had the S. family over. Since they've been in New Zealand for 4+ years it was a treat to have them here.

Carving the best smoked turkey in the world. (And probably the worst for you too, but we try not to think about those facts during the holidays.)

Delicious rolls made by our guests

The best part of the meal is definitely sweet potato casserole!

Mashed 'taters drowning in browned butter. Can't get any better!

 

Lil David

And Linda

Back to the grub

Green bean casserole

(he was pointing at the cow)

Stuffing....mmmm!

Gravy

And if you can't tell we love food...well....

 

A yummy plateful of food! We are SOOO blessed!

Emmaline made us delicious eggnog.

The guys playing checkers

 

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Nathan loves to be out in the woods, chopping logs, building forts, hunting birds....whatever!

He's an outdoors boy!

The trail back through our woods.

Us girls practicing. We get on a roll and consistently practice for awhile, then we get lazy and quit. And as you can see, we aren't very organized. When we get done with a song we just toss the music on the floor and clean up later. *guilty grin*

I was going to write "delicious soap" but since we don't eat soap, that wouldn't be very appropriate. This is cinnamon swirl, I believe, and Amy's handiwork.

This a wonderful sight when the snow starts coming down! We believe in ALL things warm!

Some of our Amish friends came and helped finish up our barn. We're so thankful for that!

They got a lot done and it's lookin' good!

Christmas baking in the form of gingerbread men.

The view from our dining room. We still have quite a bit of work left to do back here.

This summer we decided to repaint Mom's poor chicken coop. It was really suffering and in need of a facelift. Now it matches our new barn. (And those are some of our bred heifers out there.) I love living on a farm!

Making 'white trash'

It's one of our Christmas favorites that we make every year.

Can't resist the urge to nibble! (never mind whose hand that is!)

Cozy winter days gathering books from the library to read.

 

Nathan reading about a boy named Slow. 

Ok-- Quiz: Who knows who Slow was??

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I hope all of you are having a wonderful winter and are staying warm! (That is, if you live in the artic like us. *grin*)