This and that....

  Cow trails in the snow

The cows have quite a walk every day from their feed grounds to their water tank.  They make interesting trails in the snow. 

Up at the lambing shed there are icicles hanging from the roof.  Can you guess which way the wind happened  to be blowing?  (Hint:  We are facing north in this picture)

I loved looking at them. Isn't it just something how the wind can bend the dripping water and then freeze it into crooked icicles?

We've been busy with the sheep these days.  The super-cold weather broke and for the last couple of days we've been in the low 30's for temps.  What a relief to have a little warm sunshine.  

There have been all twins and three sets of triplets born thus far at the lambing shed.  No singles. However, tonight we checked the sheep and put a ewe and a large single lamb in the pen.  It looks like it may be a single, but who knows?  We may go up and check later on and find a second lamb in the pen.  That's the ways it's been.  No complaining here, but we're sure hoping that the ewes that have triplets will be able to raise them.  

  

This lil guy is our bum lamb.  He was one of a set of twins born to the ewe (from my earlier post)  that didn't have any milk.  Her brother died and we took this one from her mother and are bottle feeding it 4-5 times a day.  Every time we walk through the barn door she bleats for us.  It's her signal that someone is coming with a fresh bottle of warm milk.  We've become her mothers.  If we can, we will graft her on a new mother who has just a single lamb, but we shall see how it all plays out.

In between times, I've been working on my bathroom cabinets.  I have two oak cabinets and one oak closet  that I have all torn down, and I am taking them from a honey oak finish to a red oak finish.  Why oh why did I decide to do this project now?  I don't know, but I've already taken the plunge and I'm working hard to complete it.  There is still painting to do and light fixtures to put up, but I need to finish the cabinets first.  I thought I was going to have to sand the cabinets down to the bare wood which would have been a huge task, but I found another process that spared me all that stripping and sanding. You restain over the existing finish.  It's a miracle!  If you're interested, click here.  I have found that the best results are made on the smaller drawers and doors and that the larger panels of the doors are much more difficult.  I am also restaining the trim around the door and the baseboards to match.  It's going to have a totally different look and I'm excited about it.  I have decided not to work on the cabinets of the downstairs bathroom right away.  They will have to wait until spring or summer after lambing and calving season.

On a children's book note....
I have begun reading The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.  It is on the night stand beside my bed, and every night before I lie down to sleep, I read a little bit from this dear retelling of the Bible.  The pictures are done by Jago and I find the art simple and appealing.  This is another new-to-me children's storybook that I intend to share with the Littles in my life.  Thank you, friend Joyce from Plain Ol' Vanilla, for telling me about it.

Tomorrow is Granny Day and I'm looking forward to having our lil Hazel Peach come stay all day.  Her mommy and daddy will have a date night and go to the Valentine Dinner at our church.  That means more play time for Grandpa and me!