The Last Day of January...

I, for one, am not sorry to see this month go! January is such a hard month to get through - there is the letdown after the busy holiday season, short days and nasty weather. Oh well, we made it through again and there are better months to look forward to!

Dad was glad that he went to visit his grandfather last night. He was able to get him to communicate and also to get him to drink some ginger ale. He's going to see him again at lunchtime today, in the hopes of getting some food into him.

Last night, after putting the kids to bed, I sat down to watch some tv and do some stitching. I hadn't gotten the tv turned on yet, fortunately, when I heard cars honking down on the road. It was a bright moonlit night, so I was able to run outside and see that my horses were still tucked up in their pastures. I then headed down the hill, praying that Lady was all right. I knew it was her in the road because I could see Red tearing around their pasture and whinnying frantically. I got about halfway down the drive when Lady came galloping at me. I waved my arms and got her to come to me, grabbed her halter and dragged her right back down the hill to her pasture. However, when we got there we couldn't find Red!! Oh no! I left Lady and walked back up the hill to discover that somehow Red had gotten in with our boys. He was happy as a clam and they were very excited to see him! I walked him back down to his pasture where a frantic Lady was waiting for him and gave them some hay in the hopes that they would stay put for the rest of the night. It worked!

This morning Dad went to work late, so we spent the morning puttering around the house. I got some more laundry and dishes washed, ironed bureau scarves and doilies, filled the wild-bird feeders, dusted the furniture, watered the plants and reframed some of our photos. I'm starting to get this place ready for the birthday party on Sunday. Dad worked on the wireless internet, without much success, but he said that he learned ALOT. He also tended the birds and bunny.

The picture at the top of this post is of Lady with our youngest, back when we were still living in Standish. It's one of my all time favorites. The picture below is of Red, this past fall. He's such a cutie!

Tuesday

This morning I had to get ready for the farrier, which meant making a space for him to work - regardless of the fact that the thermometer was hovering around ZERO. Dad had filled all the bays of the garage with hay, so I had to move the atvs to clear some space. Unfortunately, at that temperature batteries don't work. So, I had to use the truck to tow the gator out and then I used my 4-wheeler to haul it off the driveway. The farrier was due around 10 a.m., so I caught all the horses and got them tied up around 9:30. Then I picked the packed ice out of their hooves, as best I could. At around 10:30 he called to say that he wouldn't be making it 'til afternoon. So, I put everyone away and took Sasha for a walk in the woods. She and I both REALLY need to get in shape for spring. Well, that certainly was a workout! There is more than enough snow to make the walking difficult and it's hard to see all the branches and rocks underfoot, which makes it even harder going. I'm afraid to say that I got very winded and I was exhausted by the time we got back!

Daddy just called to say that he won't be home in time for supper. His grandfather has taken a turn for the worse, so he's going to see him in the nursing home.

Monday, Monday....

The first thing we heard this morning was a horse squealing, which meant that our neighbor's horse, Lady, had broken out of her pasture and come to visit our horses....again! Not a big deal, we used to own her, so she has a right to be confused about why she can't be with her friends anymore, and all I have to do is walk up to her and catch her. She's used to me handling her, so she's no trouble. However, this morning she got into the chicken grain!! YIKES! Hopefully she won't get sick. The grain is in the tool shed, which is left open so that the ducks & geese can go in there and eat - they are free range. After the boys got on the bus, I took some scrap boards and put them across the doorway - the birds can go under, but the horses can't go in. It actually was a good project to get done. I hadn't ever thought that the horses might go in there and eat that grain, so now I know that they might and I've dealt with it!

A sleepy Sunday....

After all the cold days recently, today is a beautiful change of pace! The sun is shining and things are starting to thaw out a bit. Dad was able to get the tractor started and gave the horses new round bales of hay. That will hopefully last them until next weekend. The boys are going to make sure that they have their water tubs topped off since it's such a good day for filling them. I last filled them on Friday, during zero degree weather with gale-force winds. I got a wind-burned face for my troubles! OUCH!! There is a leak between 2 of our hoses, which creates a water fountain, which on a day like that, is basically a snow/ice making machine. But, the ducks and geese LOVE it! They were playing in it and having a BLAST! I took some pictures because they were so CRAZY and covered in ice - I was actually a little bit concerned that they were going to kill themselves because the temps kept dropping until it was almost 10 below zero during the night and the wind was still blowing. But, they must have snuggled into their hay because they were fine the next morning. Of course, I figure I'm certifiable for going out there with the camera and bare fingers - within 5 minutes they were aching beyond my endurance and I had to hope that I had gotten some good shots because I was all done....

This morning our youngest helped me make his favorite kind of bread - Old English Oatmeal Bread. We made 2 round loaves and 2 sandwich loaves. Then we made Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM!! Right now I am going to go make Daddy's favorite treat - Chocolate Swirl Bread with Chocolate Ganache. It's royal pain in the butt to make, but he REALLY loves it. He generally doesn't like cake, so it's good to find one that he will enjoy for his next birthday. (I'm tired of ice cream cakes!)

Dad and our oldest are headed down to the waterfall. Our youngest decided to stay up here with me 'cause he didn't want me to be lonely. We are going to head out to wander the pastures on our skiis and snowshoes. We can't go far or the cake will burn!!

A Night at the Museum

It was almost 10 below again this morning when we got up. We hung around the house and didn't do anything very exciting. I've been wanting to take the kids to see "Night at the Museum". At 1:30, I checked the listings and saw a 1:55 showing. We rushed out of the house and made it to the theatre at 1:57. Tickets in Oxford are apparently always $4 but they don't take credit cards. Between Mom and I we had $15 cash. The girl was sympathetic and let us go in anyway.

The kids enjoyed the movie although my youngest was quite scared in parts of it. He also managed to lose one of his gloves in the theater. Mom and I thought it was good (certainly better than the 1.5 star review in the paper). We found Night at the Museum to be very entertaining.

After the movie we went to Pizza Hut so the kids could use their Pizza Hut coupons that they earn for reading 10 books a month through the school. The kids were happy and we had a family adventure.

Jump Start

It was 7 below zero this morning when Mom decided to take the kids down to wait for the bus. Yesterday afternoon, she just about froze waiting for a bus that was late (it was 16 degrees minus a wind chill). This morning, she decided to start the truck, let it warm up, then drive down to wait for the bus. To make a long story short, it was so cold the truck battery would not start the truck. So she started the Vue and took that down to the wait for the bus while I got to charge the truck battery. At least the Vue was all warmed up when I finally left for work.

I'm constantly amazed by battery technology (because it doesn't make sense to me). It takes something like 800 cold cranking amps to start your truck in cold weather. Yet, if I put a 6 amp battery charger on the battery for 15 minutes, the truck will start just fine. Why is that? It must only have put in something like 1.5 amp hours into the battery. It just doesn't add up. Add that to my list of "Mysteries of the Universe".

So I got to eat breakfast at home today. I stoked the fire again before I left for work. That brings to mind another mystery.

I know I can't heat the house with just wood because the oil furnace continues to run even when using the woodstove. However, the house does seem warmer and the furnace seems to run less often when the woodstove is burning. How much of a difference does the woodstove make?

With Black Ash (somewhat dry), I get about a 10 hour burn time with a full stove. It really doesn't even make the basement feel warm during this cold weather. Assuming I'm getting an output of 20K btu/hr which is mid-range what my stove is rated. So I get a total of 200K btu out of my load of black ash(19000K btu/cord) over that 10 hours. (effectively 95 stove loads worth per cord) So I probably save a little over 1.5 gal of heating oil (@139K btu per gallon) or $2.75 for my efforts or maybe $6.60 per day ($200/mo) when I burn dry black ash. Assuming my train of thought isn't flawed too badly, it probably really is worth supplementing with wood on these cold winter days not factoring in environmental impact, risk of fire, etc.

Is my thought process flawed? Have I solved at least one of my "Mysteries of the Universe"? Should I seek mental help?

Wintertime in Maine, a time for pondering and reflection.....

Cold Cold Cold

It was 10 below zero this morning when we got up. Good thing Mom watered the horses yesterday. It left a nice ice slick on the driveway. Hopefully we'll be able to get in hydrants or automatic waterers by next year.

When I left, I asked the boys to help Mom roll a round bale out for the mares. The tractor won't start when temperatures drop below 10 degrees. I need to buy a magnetic heater for it.

We had 8 4x5 round bales, and 7 4x4 round bales delivered yesterday. It is the last hay we'll get from last years crop hopefully. That makes our total hay delivery: 126 4x5 round bales (70 that I picked up with the truck and 16' trailer last summer), 7 4x4 round bales, and 250 square bales. That sure seems like a lot of hay.

We used all 70 of the bales I picked up last year and started on new round bales delivered this year. He has delivered on Wednesday mornings every week since Christmas and now the garages are full of hay and there are 15 bales in the driveway. Hopefully there won't be any major snow or rain events for a month or so.

I worked all night on server stuff for work so I'm pretty tired. Fortunately Mom was able to sleep right through it for a change.

It looks like a clear and sunny day. I wish I'd started the fire last night to help the oil furnace along. I don't mind burning the oil with prices down, but why spend the money if I don't have to.