Wednesday

Overnight low of 26

Should be windy later.

I heard it is going to warm up in a day or two although it will still be freezing overnight.

No burning today but I can go out and do some yard trimming so that I can get ahead of the curve a little.

Gophers

I decided to water today since the weather had stayed above freezing overnight.  I started with the fruit tree zone since it was almost guaranteed to be completely thawed out.  I had to check all the lines and the drippers since this zone is pretty temperamental and you have to have no leaks for it to be watering correctly.

I get over towards the street and...to my great horror....giant mounds of dirt...yep, gophers.

Hubby to the rescue.  Since the ground here is pure sand, he digs down to the runways and then sets traps.  He always gets his gopher.  Let's hope he gets this one soon.  Personally, I think it is two gophers but he is sure that it is one gopher patrolling a fairly large area.  The area in question is about 100 feet by 75 feet.  We shall see.

Penny the Pembroke Welsh Corgi helped by digging holes nearby.  She sure is cute snuffling in the dirt.  She listens with her big ears and then starts digging again.  She never gets her rodent but she always looks adorable trying.

Overnight low 39

High 50

A bit windy early in the day but nice towards the late afternoon.

Sunday

For several years I made the effort to go to church on Sundays.  When that church wasn't making sense, I tried several more churches.  In the end, none of them made any more sense than the others.

I could have switched from Christianity to another religion.  There are plenty available but after giving it some thought, I decided to just stay home on Sundays and enjoy my secular life.  I am no less moral but I am a lot happier.

It is snowing just a bit but it isn't sticking.  We are right at freezing but the temp should go up a bit as the day goes on.

I brought a wheel barrow load of wood in early, on my way back in from feeding the goats and the horse.

I haven't felt really well for several days but I can't really say I am sick either.  I think I am fighting off the flu but, who knows?  Maybe it is just the mid winter blahs:)

I have been using the hedge trimmer to cut down spindle bushes [official name Purple Smoke bushes].  They are nothing like Purple Smoke Trees.  These are odd spindly desert plants that have purple blooms on them in the late spring.

I also like to lop of the dead rice grass so that the new growth in the spring can take off.  Grasses appreciate a hair cut and at least with the bunch grasses you can do that once a year during the winter time.  Not like a lawn where you have to get out the mower every week.

Looks like I need to bake bread today.  I'm going to try a little less salt and see if the bread will rise a bit faster.

Rain

Looks like it rained overnight.  Fantastic.  We really need it since we haven't had but one set of snowstorms.

34 degrees overnight so above freezing.  Cloudy.

I'm pretty sure I don't feel top drawer and I am worried I might be fighting off the flu.  Little sore throat, bit of a headache.  Slept late.  Hope i do not get the flu, I do not like being sick.

Still Burning

Overnight low of 24

High today of 45

Warm enough to stand out in the pen with the little horse for a bit and enjoy his company.

I cut some more spindle bushes and grasses and burned one pile.

The pile of brush had a bunch of grapevines that Hubby pruned out yesterday and it would not burn!!!!  Going to have to let that one dry out a bit before I try it again.

Burn Season

It's burn season and thankfully we got a little snow this year.  Last year was so dry I was afraid to burn.

I cut down the grasses and the spindle bushes.  Hubby and I trim the trees and the grape vines and the berry plants.  It's five acres so it takes some effort.

We burned four more small piles of garden duff and brush today.  I got a start on tomorrow by cutting grasses and irises and spindle bushes in the front street side area.  Hopefully, since we didn't have much plant growth last year, we'll be wrapping this up before too long.

12 degrees overnight

Low forties for our high

Bread

I've been baking bread and it has mostly been pretty tastey but it is taking soooo long to rise.  Especially that last proof in the pan.  Two rises and then proofing.  Hubby says the recipe from Betty Crocker has too much salt.  It has 1 Tablespoon in 7 cups of flour.  Guess I'll just keep working at it.

6 degrees last night and it made 46 degrees for our high today.  It certainly didn't seem that warm out.

Yet another burn day...

I called the Burn Line and they said it is a permissible burn day.

6 degrees when I got up today.  I slept late so it was a little after dawn.

We are already up to 24 degrees so maybe we will get above freezing again today.  Although it wasn't much above freezing yesterday at 34 degrees:)

So, I got the last short flower bed on the back berm cleaned out.  And I cleaned out some more of the East End garden.  Lots of dead iris, brown grasses and such.

That is two large burn piles done!!!

I just whack everything down to the ground.  Nothing fancy going on there.

Turns out I had to do poop patrol.  I thought I had cleaned up that East End pretty good in the fall but apparently not.  It isn't a glamorous job but somebody had to do it.

Warming Trend

We are on a warming trend.  7 degrees or so last couple of nights and above freezing for the daytime highs.

Today was 43 degrees but the sun is going down soon and the temp is already falling.

It's sunny but it sure isn't warm.

Yesterday, Hubby and I burnt four brush piles.  Today I got out there and with the hedge trimmer and cut down some more of the Saskatoon grass and cleaned out some more of the back flower bed.  I burnt the duff.  So much easier than composting all of it.

Plenty more to do in the flower beds and I want to get them done so I can realize my vision of revision on the East side of the house this spring and finish up the project I started over a year ago out front.

We'll see.

Why I Like Living Here

This afternoon the temp was up to above freezing so I went out to get a few chores taken care of.

I stopped by the little horse pen with my bucket of grooming supplies.  I got the little fella out.  He likes getting out of his pen.  I brushed him and cooed at him and combed his mane and tail.  I cleaned his tiny little hooves.

I gave him his senior food pellets and wheeled the wheel barrow in and started raking up the pen.

So peaceful and quiet and pleasant.  That's why I like living here.  Warm breath and honest work and soft sounds on a cold sunny afternoon.

Once I was done cleaning pens and feeding the horse and the goats, I fired up the hedge trimmer.  Another great reason to like living here.  Loud and obnoxious but making quick work of the grasses and brush in the back garden.  Next, raking it all up and having a burn day:)

  I have high hopes for the spring and summer to come.  The plants will be blooming and veggies will be bursting forth and the trees will all be getting taller.  Oh, how we gardeners love to dream the winter months away.

Cold Again!

8 degrees out at dawn.

28 degrees - yesterday's high.

The little horse seems to be fine even with it so cold out.

Cold weather equals having to haul hot water out to the goat pen and the horse twice a day.  More if the sun doesn't come out.

Minus One Degree

It is -1 degree outside.

That's cold.

Fortunately the sun will be up soon.

We have a couple of more days of very cold weather.

When it is cold out I have to haul buckets of hot water out to the goats and the horse.  When it is this cold out I have to haul buckets of water out two or three times a day.

The horse has been fine so far but this will certainly be his coldest night yet since I got him last April.  I see that it is supposed to be -21 in Elko where he used to live.

Still Cold

7 degrees this morning.  Pogonip for Hubby's drive to work.  It was so thick he missed his turn off and had to turn around at an intersection further south on the highway.

27 degrees for the high this afternoon.

This is Hubby's sixth day in a row so I bet he is more than ready to gt off work and come home to our nice warm house.

I got out the hedge trimmer again to day.  I can only do about 20 minutes at a time.  That thing is hard on my puny little arms and my back.  Trying to get the yard neatened up for spring.

Cleaned the goat pen and the horse pen.  I got behind on the goat pen during the cold weather so I'll have to do three more wheel barrow loads tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having an okay winter.  The cold weather kind of sucks but at least most of that little bit of snow we got is melting away.  How it is doing that with our ridiculous cold, I don't know.

Wiseguy got his feet trimmed Thursday.  He such a good little horse.

Cold Weather

Well, it is 27 degrees outside but it sure feels cold.  There is a bit of a breeze and the humidity is at 90% so that must be why it feels so chilly outside.

Of course, the wood stove is keeping us toasty warm inside the house:)

I am perusing the seed catalogs since it is that time of the year.  The dead of winter but spring will be here before we know it and I want to put that greenhouse we built to good use this year.

Baking Bread and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm baking bread today.  I like the classic Betty Crocker White Bread.  I have two loaves in the loaf pans and they are making their final rise.

I have the house at 80 degrees.  That is a little too hot for my taste but the bread is loving it.

We have a wood stove so I'm not wasting a bunch of money heating the house:)

I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies.  The batter didn't seem quite "thick enough".  I decided I must have forgotten the last 1/2 cup of flour in the recipe when I measured so I added the 1/2 C. flour and forged ahead.

They turned out really flat and greasy.  I must have really screwed up on my flour measurements somehow.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Where Have I Been?

Well, I guess I have been busy and a little lethargic.  Not a great combo.

I am going through the seed catalogs so that I can start ordering for spring planting.  I have a greenhouse and I need to make good use of it!

I have pretty much quit smoking using the e-cigs.  I am still clinging to a couple of smokes a day but yesterday I forgot to smoke any real cigs until late in the day!  I love the e-cig and they are a much safer alternative to smoking.