Drifts...

The round "wheels" have fence posts underneath 

and then you see the wires in between all wrapped in snow.

 Jackrabbits galore

 

 Sharp-tailed grouse on the snow

 Christmas Day Windows

Christmas Day Stump de Noel Cake

Christmas Day we got a Big Snow.  It came in with wild winds and white-out conditions.  The two youngest sons ate with gusto and were out the door and on the road for home before the heaviest stuff dumped on us and there was no way out.  It was slow traveling with blowing snow, but they got back to their home safely.  PTL!  The rest of us just stayed inside and watched the blizzard happen while feasting and celebrating.  

After Christmas Day, we all went out to see what we could see.  Drifts everywhere.  On the high ridges and flats, it was somewhat bare, but wherever there was something to catch snow -- whether it be a fence, some trees, a little clump of grass or a barn -- there was a drift.  A big drift!  Some 10 foot drifts!!  The local weather station said we picked up 12+ inches of snow that day and since it blew up to 50 mph for about 24 hours, I really didn't see how anyone could measure such snow.  I enjoyed exploring around the tree patches near the homestead on the hard drifts, walking up high in the tree tops and over fences.  

Since then I've been out daily, discovering and trekking around on my snowshoes.  It's so interesting to see how the snow sifted and drifted like sand and made beautiful patterns and snow creations everywhere.  Yesterday I went out in a pasture where the sheep are and walked the deep, snowy draws and then climbed up to the hilltops.  My trusty Sue came with me.  Despite her old age, she stayed with me and never lagged behind like she is sometimes apt to do.  She enjoyed herself with the spirit of a pup.

With all the drifted snow, the men have been busy digging everything out.  The corrals and the barn was buried and many stockades and water tanks and roads.  There are snow piles everywhere and the children who live here are delighted at their new snow hills built by Papa and Daddy for their sledding joy. They even created stair steps for them to walk up the side of the sled-hill.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and are ready to forge ahead into the New Year.  Wishing you all the best.  Keep looking up!

Yesterday, just snow.                    Selfie-- Sue and me

Snowy views from snowshoes...

  

The snow started falling late last night and has continued all morning.  So far we have 7-8 inches of snow on the ground, and it's still falling so we'll see how the totals are.  I decided the chicken coop needed a layer of barley hay on the floor for a little more insulation against the cold.  We're expecting the temps to fall below zero for the next couple nights and I don't want the egg production to start falling off from cold feet.  I'm so proud of my girls as they continue to produce 21-23 eggs every single day despite the cold.  I've been gathering eggs early -- by noon or 1:00 each day so the eggs don't freeze in the nests.  CarpenterSon fixed a loose door, weather stripped, and got the coop a little more snug. I'm sure it does help.  The heat lamp keeps the water bucket from freezing over and adds a wee bit of heat.

I decided that the snow was deep enough, particularly in the trees, to break out the snow shoes this morning.  I had been trying to walk in the tree patches but kept punching through the snow drifts, and that makes for hard walking trudging.  I strapped on my snowshoes and headed back out for a hike.  What fun I had.  Although the temperature was around 5 degrees, I didn't feel cold at all.  I had my wool pants on, wool socks on my feet, a wool buff around my neck, the handmade wool cap on my head from OnlyDaughter, and wool gloves on my hands.  I was just short of being a complete sheep!  With the work of snowshoeing along with being bundled up so well, I kept my body quite warm and toasty.  I really didn't think I'd be able to tolerate being outside so long, but with nearly no wind today, it didn't feel so bad.  I made a few tumbles over snowdrifts that I didn't see very well.  One of my problems is that I like to gawk around while I walk and so when a drift banks off steep, I fall down it.  No injuries, just a lot of snow stuck to my pants and coat.  It was kind of like remembering how to drive in the first snow of the season.

The first picture is one of the tree patches were I walk.  Very Winterwonderland-ish, isn't it?  Next is a picture of a bunny cave in the snow, and after that is a pic of one-of-many jackrabbits that were scampering around the trees.  You can see the tracks everywhere and even wide bunny trails where lots of feet tamp down a rabbit super-highway.  The white tail deer make their homes in the shelter belts too, especially when it gets cold.  Sue, my dog, enjoyed the romp through the snow, but she was eager to get her paws warmed up when we finally went home.  The wood fire was so nice to warm up against.  Are you getting snow and cold?  It sounds like everyone is going to get a little taste of this Arctic blast.

Fresh voices on old carols...

 I'm in love with these fresh, young voices. Enjoy! Blessed Advent to you!

Love Notes...

 

Since it's Advent, I've been trying to slow down and see things from a different perspective than my own.  I want to see things through God's eyes.  I find that when I have "eyes to see" that there are Love Notes everywhere that He is trying to send my way.  And I know He's sending them to you too!  One Love Note was included in this Jade plant.  It was growing outdoors this summer and I brought it in for the winter months to enjoy.  It lives in the laundry room along with a few other plants.  It's not a showy place to live, but it's sunny and I'm in there regularly so I see and appreciate my green things growing.  If you look closely at this Jade, you can see little, pink rootlets hanging down from the branches.  They are just beautiful (to me) and what I see is a Reaching Down from above.  Little rootlets are wanting to reach down to some fertile soil and grow and grow and spread.  The Love Note came:  God is reaching down to me, and He wants to put roots down in the soil of my life and bring new life, and grow in me and spread His love.  I also think about the verse:  "I am the Vine and you are the branches..." and I think to myself, if I am one of these Jade branches, I need to reach out too and share the life that is in me and spread the Good News.  The life is Jesus. 

Another Love Note came while I was grandmothering.  While two little ones napped, I got the two older grandkids started on the old potholder looms.  Remember these?  I taught my own kids how to weave with them.  It was a trying experience reaching through and across and over.  It's not easy weaving with inexperienced hands.  The Love Note came:  You are like a woven potholder.  The potholder might look wonky in some places and lumpy.  It might be uneven,  the colors might not coordinate, and some of the loops might be missed in the weaving or loose.  It is imperfect, but it's a beautiful imperfection.  When a child gives a homemade potholder to his mother, it is a cherished gift that is loved and used as intended, and she thinks about those wee hands that made it.  There is love in the gift.  We are beautiful, imperfect gifts  to one another and beautiful, imperfect potholders that God loves unconditionally.

Thank you, God for these Love Notes.
Thank you for the Greatest Gift--
The Greatest Love Note ever written,
A baby named Jesus, from the Root of Jesse,
Sent
To live and grow
Among us and to us and in us and through us.
The Perfect Gift of Love
Sent
To redeem a perfectly imperfect potholder like me.

Ravished with wonder...

I mentioned to you that I am reading The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp for my Advent meditations and so far, it's been a very good thing for me.  One phrase that has captured my attention comes from a quote from John Calvin.  

Every human being is "formed to be a spectator of the created world and given eyes that he might be led to its author...first to cast our eyes upon the very beautiful fabric of the world in which God wishes to be seen by us...As soon as we acknowledge God to be the supreme architect, who has erected the beauteous fabric of the universe, our minds must necessarily be ravished with wonder at His infinite goodness, wisdom and power.

The phrase "ravished with wonder" has captivated me.  I think about it now in lots of little things I see and feel and hear and smell.  Since I am a lover of nature, I am ravished with wonder at the chickadees, nuthatches, starlings and grouse that overwinter with us.  It's cold here.  Just 10* tonight and promises of colder days yet to come.  And they are here, happily visiting our feeders and living in the tree patches and hay stacks.

 Red-breasted Nuthatch from WikiCommons

Since the cold has returned, we've been building fires in our wood burning stove and I am ravished with wonder to watch the beautiful tongues of fire and to feel it's warmth as I stand with my cold backside to it.  In winter there is no better way of warming-up that is better than the warmth of a wood fire.

 

Walking in the biting wind with snow pelting my face as I close a gate in the pasture, I am ravished with wonder at the power and strength of the wind and the cold temperatures combined, and I am amazed at how quickly I get chilled, bundled up as I am, but our thick-hided Hereford cows and woolly sheep can tolerate this weather seemingly without a care.

 

Do you love the smells and tastes of Christmas as I do?  Are you ravished with wonder at the aromas of fresh-baked bread,  juniper branches, or the spices of star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger?  I love those warm, earthy smells and flavors.  I like to put them in my pot of water on the wood stove and let their spicey goodness permeate the air, and I like to taste them in my hot lemonade and in cookies and cakes.  The pomegranates are in the grocery store now.  They are so delicious!  I am always taken by the beautiful red jewels that grow inside -- the sweet, juicy seeds that we love to eat this time of year.

I am ravished with wonder at the sounds of our youngest grandchildren learning to talk, saying the names of their siblings or saying, "Bye bye" and "Yeah" and "No!" and "Air compressor" and "Water tank" and "Bye Gammy!"  And I am blessed to hear the older grandchildren learning to read and love books.  It is a fine thing to have little people climb up into my lap with their favorite books who seem to be ravished with wonder as I read the same stories to them over and over again.  It's a joy, and an honor, and a blessing to me.

So I challenge you to be ravished with wonder this Advent season.  Go to the window, to your back door, go for a walk, look up at the stars, listen to a child and listen closely.  Breathe in the spices of the season, taste it, feel the cold of a snowy day or the warmth of a mug of hot tea.  Love is there.  It's a gift, just for you, from the God of Love.  He is the author of it.  Come, let us adore Him!

A little break in the weather, a little cheer...

 We went from Blizzzzzz....

...to sunshine and melting in a few days. The poor chickens were literally cooped up while the wind blew and the snow sifted into the cracks of the hen house and the barns.  Today the snow melted off, mostly, and the girls got to go out and scratch in the sunshine.  Do you see the kittens amongst them?  George and Elaine.

I've been puttering around about the house and in the Christmas things.  I decided to make a couple of little wreaths with juniper greens that I cut from our trees.  I just wired the greenery on wooden embroidery hoops and added a smart, red ribbon.  Ta da!  I like to put branches of juniper here and there around the house in vases and around candles.  It smells so good.

 

This is my new tinsel tree.  

I've always wanted one, and this year I splurged.

The star on the top changes colors 

which I think goes very well with my retro-vintage tree.

The mantel above our wood stove is decked out with greens and lights and Nativity.  I used to try to put candles in those glass hurricanes, but learned to just put some battery lights in them instead.

.

This is my tiny nativity set which sits on our old trunk so little ones can look closely at the scene.  The Fontanini sets are so nice because they don't break and I don't have to worry about small hands holding the figures.

I've started my own Advent study using this book:

The Greatest Gift:  Unwrapping the Full Love Story Of Christmas

 by Ann Voskamp.

So far, I'm really enjoying it.

The men hung the Star on the Barn 
and set up the cross on the well house
so we are all set for the Christmas Season to begin.

I hope you're enjoying special moments as you unwrap Christmas treasures, hang wreaths, light candles and sing jolly songs.  May you take JOY in every gift of every day.

Day of Preparation...

It's the Day of Preparation at my house. Yours too?
Helpful tip of the day....
Taste your batter, fillings, and everything.  You never know if you missed an ingredient like sugar.  Yes, sugar!  One year I was making pumpkin pies.  I poured the filling into the shells and slid them into the oven.  While cleaning up the bowls and beaters, I tasted the pumpkin pie filling -- ick!  No sugar!  Thankfully I was able to pull the pies out of the oven poured the filling back into the bowl so I could add sugar.  One little lick of the spoon or beaters just might save the day!


Happy Thanksgiving!

Snow day and eyeing sheep...

 

  

The snow blew in this morning around 6:00 and didn't stop all day long.  I suppose we have 3-4" of snow on the level, but since the ground was warm, there was plenty of melting underneath despite the constant snowfall on the topside.  We are so grateful for the moisture it's providing.  It settles the dust and softens the grass to make it more palatable for the livestock.  The sheep love to eat snow just like children like to eat snow!

Hubby and I went out to feed cows and sheep this morning.  They were glad to see us.  It really wasn't that cold -- maybe 25* -- but they always love to hear our horn honk and see the cake feeder driving up to them.

Yesterday our neighbor sheep shearer came over and we eyed the sheep.  That means he sheared the wool off the sheep's faces so they can see in winter conditions.  Some sheep have lots of wool on their faces despite our efforts to select "open faced" ewes when we choose our replacements.  When they have so much wool on their faces, we call them "wool blind" and it can be a bad thing since sheep flock and follow one another.  You know the phrase:  the blind leading the blind?  That's what can happen when the majority of the sheep are wool blind and get a layer of snow and ice caked over their eyes.  They can drift in with the snow and not know where they are or where they're going.  But as you can see, our sheep are not wool blind but have nicely sheared, open faces -- and in just the nick of time!  The snow came the following day!  I'm happy for the sheep being able to see and to lick snow today.

What is your November weather looking like?  We built a fire in the wood-burning stove today.  Nice 'n' cozy!

Moon shine...

When I look at YOUR heavens

The work of YOUR fingers

The Moon and the Stars

Which YOU have made

What is man

that you are mindful of him?

and the son of man

that you care for him?

~Psalm 8:3

 ...............................

Are you looking up?

At the moon? 

Praise!

Fly-Over Country....

Yesterday was Election Day and I was honored to sit on our local election board serving at my first General Election at the Community Hall with the Outdoor Toilets.  This is how we roll in the Sticks.  The first time I voted in Rural America 35 years ago, we all voted at the Little Missouri Lutheran Church which also has outdoor toilets, but that polling place is no more.  Folks come from approximately a 50 mile radius to exercise their right to vote at the Hall.  And boy, do they turn out!  Although we are a small community of souls, our voter turn out was 96% according to my calculations.  How about that?

There are lots of smiles and handshakes and "How ya doing?" at the Hall on Election Day.  Its as much a celebration for us as it is an exercise of our rights as citizens of the USA.  These fine folks are proud to be Americans and they'll gladly let you know it.  We don't get many politicians coming to our state or our communities to glad-hand for our votes.  We live in Fly-Over Country.  It's big, it's vast, it's rural, and our population is small so we tend not to be heard so much, but we take our right to speak through our votes very seriously.

Today, the day after the election, I was appointed to deliver the counted ballots to the county seat, a 72 mile drive, one way, through Fly-Over Country.  I thought it would be fun to take you along so here's a little photo journal of my trip. (And here's a little road trip music for your listening pleasure -- a song I woke up with in my head yesterday!  Peace of Mind by Boston.)