Winter Challenges

We’ve experienced about a month of snowstorm after snowstorm and bitterly cold temperatures. I’ve worn paths in the snow where I walk to/from the coop and the various bird feeders but if I step off a path, I plunge into over knee deep snow. I’ve carved steps into the snow so I don’t have to bend down to reach the door knob of the garage or coop.

The temperatures have often been below 0 (F) degrees. I think the coldest temperature was -10. We are still heating our house with our portable propane heaters. We have two so that if one runs out we can quickly switch to the other. We contacted the furnace repair company in mid-December and they are supposed to replace the igniter, but communication and progress is slow.

A couple days ago the weather turned unseasonably warm, with blindingly sunny skies and temperatures climbing well into the 30s or 40s. EJ said that it is really feeling like Spring, but I reminded him that it’s only FEBRUARY and too soon to believe that Spring has arrived. Our weather is cruelly fickle and even in May it dangles warm days in front of us and then yanks them away as soon as we start planting our garden. I am right to be suspicious: The National Weather Service has issued another Winter Weather Advisory beginning tonight with about an inch of snow, up to a quarter inch of ice, and wind gusts up to 35 mph expected. The worst of the three will be the ice.

The chickens hate winter weather so I didn’t bother letting them out of the coop until the temperatures rose. They enjoy the warmer temperatures but they’ve kept to my well-trodden paths. This means that they fill my path and I have to wade through them to make it to the coop. I’ve made additional paths for them but they’ve ignored them.

I’ve made much progress befriending Harvey, the feral cat we adopted in mid-November. The people who gave him to us released him into our garage, as we asked. It took about two months before we saw more than a couple brief glimpses of him. Gradually Harvey moved closer, peeking around EJ’s work bench when I went out to feed him and Theo in the mornings. Now he greets me at the door each morning and he lets him pet him as he purrs–although I don’t see him other than at feeding times. We figured out that he’s made his home in the folded up ice fishing chanting that EJ has stored in the rafters. We are now working on EJ befriending the cat. Last weekend he came out with me during feeding times so Harvey can get used to him. The cat really is unsure of him and watches carefully with big eyes as he stays just out of reach.

I’ve kept Theo shut in the garage with Harvey. First it was because it was too cold outside for man and beasts. Then the snow was so deep that I didn’t want him to get stuck in the snow. I let him out this morning, but he lurked under the bird feeders. With the snow piled so high, he can easily reach the feeders and I don’t want him to slaughter the wild birds. So I picked him up and put him back in the garage.

We had a real scare over the last week when Hannah Joy (our beloved dog) became very sick. She was so sick that we weren’t sure she was going to pull through. We are certain it was something she ate although we aren’t sure what it was. We have to be very vigilant with Hannah because she eats EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Despite our care, she still occasionally manages to find something to eat. I swear she’s part goat. We are still monitoring her carefully; she’s improving but not quite back to normal now. She’s even back to trying to eat stuff she shouldn’t. I say to her, “Seriously? Do you have any idea how anguished we were? Don’t do this to us! Have you learned NOTHING, Hannah?”