Ice Walking

It has been so cold in the Ozarks for so long that our pond finally froze solid. My husband and Poppy went on the pond ice for a walk. We observed several animal tracks on the ice. Who knew our pond was such a busy place. Poppy enjoyed walking the ice with A.

Snow Cat House

We have a barn cat, Annie, that came with the farm. She lives free outside all the time. She does not like to be held nor caged, but loves to be pet and left wild. We have a pet carrier left outside for her to sleep in as she likes. But then the cold and snow came and we had to rethink her digs. So we insulated her plastic carrier, added several old quilts, wrapped the thing in plastic sheeting. We put in a quilted cat bed with a hot pad. The hot pad is one of those good ones that stays on. We set it to medium heat and placed it under her bed. Then we had to protect the hot pad from the elements. So we wrapped the cord in pipe insulation and put the pad selector in a Ziploc plastic bowl with a lid, worked great. Annie spent the night in her new heated digs then left in the morning. We saw her paw prints in the snow. It might not look pretty but it keeps her warm and dry.

The Coldman cometh

We got an Arctic front hitting us hard for an early winter in the Ozarks. Woke up to 3 inches of powdery snow everywhere. This was not the good kind of snow for making snowmen, but light and fluffy kind that was easy to shovel.

Oh and the shoveling I did this frosty morning. Three inches of snow becomes 18 inches of snow in a shovel very quickly. I had to clear our deck so if it melted ice would not form. Then I trod out to A's car to get it uncovered. It got so cold his logo came off his Subaru. So sad to see the logo just sitting on the snow. Took almost 20 minutes to get all the snow off the car and a path cleared for him to get to his car.

The dogs ran around like kids chasing the "snow-nadoes" created by the wind.

I got half the deck cleared when it was time to make oatmeal. After getting A off to work I finished the deck. Then I found all that deck snow had blown on to the bottom porch, ugh, more shoveling.

At lunch we got a call from a neighbor who had a whole truck bed full of wood for us. He brought his truck to our garage and we got busy unloading all the split wood. We learned a lot about chainsaws and cutting wood from him. Being city folks, we have not bought a chainsaw, yet. We are very happy with Stihl weed eater. Seems to be the one maker everyone uses around here in the Ozarks for logging and firewood.

I found a chipmunk's nest under the older split wood. It had used my broom bristles to make a fine nest. The chipmunk was no longer in residence. I guess he went south for the winter.

Upon coming home, we discovered A's Subaru had a flat tire. Something else that needs fixing. But he filled it with air to get to work. We shall deal with that tonight. Good thing it is not cold or anything.

Just life as normal in the Ozarks, except just colder.

Fire in the sky

This cold Tuesday morning brought a rainbow of colors in the sky. As the sun rose above the frozen clouds, the golds and red shimmered on the purple bed of ice.

Snowy Ozarks

Snow days

We had some snow last Sunday; but today is a dry cold day. Out in the Ozarks NOAA says we are having an Arctic blast for the rest of the week. So we are getting ready for that. Snow starts on Wednesday and single digits until Saturday.

Norrobottenspets

We have a Norrobottenspets we adopted at the SPCA back in Houston, we named him Hickory. We are not sure of his age since he was an adult when we got him. We've had him for about 6 years. He guards our cats and rabbits when they are outside. But that is his only saving grace. He is disloyal, hyper, runs off and barks all the time, not the best farm dog. Turns out his breed is known for this. I have worked hard to train him and get him to be on task. But you just can't fight his genes. So we have a good German Shepherd, Osa, to keep him in line. She balances out the stupidity in Hickory. Osa stays on our property, does not bark and obeys. She makes my life easier on the farm.

Getting to know you...

We have rabbits that we brought with us from Houston, TX. They are indoor pets and they need to get outside run time. We have a small fenced in area down hill from our house where they can be free. We use that as a rabbit play yard. We took the opportunity to let the big bunny, Igor, meet Poppy, our kitten, face to face. A. walked Igor down to the play yard with Osa circling. And later Poppy came to sniff Igor. Igor soon dismissed Poppy for some Christmas tree munching. We keep our dog, Hickory, in the pen with the rabbits. He is a Norrobottenspets and a great watcher for hawks or owls. He leaves the rabbits alone and only watches. That is about all Hickory is good for though.

Snow Dog

It is very cold and snowy here in the Ozarks. I took the time to gather twigs and branches for fire burning. We are expecting very frigid temperatures in MO later this week. Osa kept me company on our twig hunt.