At the farm...with a surprise at the end!

When it is this cold...

 

(Yes.  It really was -24 earlier this week.)

 

 

 

Even your hair gets frosty when you are outside.

 

 

 

I think Daisy might have been saying "I'm done!  Can we please go in now!!"

 

 

 

 

Shelby, on the other hand, doesn't know anything about the cold.  He's got 3 heat lamps to keep him at juuuussst the right temperature.

 

 

 

Kitty, too, says "Cold?  What cold weather?"

 

 

 

The laying hens and the rooster are quite comfortable too with their heat lamp and heated waterer.  You just give them food and fresh water and ta da, you get wonderful brown eggs.

 

 

 

And here are the pigs sleeping like the pork sausages they really are.  But when they see you coming, you have their full attention.  Food, water and a bit of dried corn on the cob will have them running.

 

Let me introduce you...

 

 

 

This is Scarlett.

 

 

 

And this is Charlotte.

 

 

 

And why was I out at the farm doing chores for 3rd DS and DDIL, you might ask?  Well, it's because they were away for a few days adding a human baby to the mix of all the other critters at the farm.

 

 

DH and I are now Granpa and Gramma to a sweet little boy named Collin Jarvis.  He was 6 lb. 8 oz and 20" long when he was born.  He has dark brown hair and very dark blue eyes.  He's adorable I tell you and he has absolutely stolen our hearts!

River valley

I was down in the river valley today.  Someplace I don't go very often.  I get turned around almost every time I go.  It's all curvy roads with wacky angles.  Give me a good straight road with other roads going off at 90 degree angles and I'll be a happy driver!

But 3rd DS farms some land down there and so I have to go once in awhile when I'm needed to help.

It's pretty down there.  Even with everything being brown now.

And the sky today was especially huge looking.

The river winds it's way around generally traveling SE and eventually ends up in the Red River down by West Fargo.  The Red River is one of the few rivers that flow north.  So this water going by today will end up in Canada.

This cow seemed curious about what I was doing.  Her calf was having an afternoon snack.

And once you pop out of the valley you are right back on the flat, flat ND farmland.

With that huge beautiful blue sky.  And the view that goes on forever.

Storm damage

We were shopping in Grand Forks.

 We knew it was going to be stormy weather and were rushing as much as possible to get home before it hit.

 In the end the rushing didn't matter.  The weather was moving faster than we were.

We decided to park close to a brick building to help diminish damage to the pickup and wait out the worst of the storm.

I was on my phone on Facebook asking for suggestions if we should take off or hang in where we were.  2 people said stay put.  And so we did.  Good plan as it turned out.

I kept looking at the radar.  It was serious weather this time, folks.  Rain.  Hail.  Extreme winds.  Tornado warnings. 

There we sat.  In a pickup.  With the tornado sirens going off.  Rain and wind that looked like a snowstorm, visibility-wise.  Rocking in the wind.  Yea.

I'd been texting with 2 of our sons.  And then DH got a phone call from one of the sons in our hometown.  He said, "Do you want the bad news?".  Well, not really but go for it.

4 bins had blown down at our seed plant.

 

Here's number 1.

And a closeup view of some of the damage to it.

And here are bins 2, 3 and 4.

And a couple shots of the worst damage to the one on the right end.

There has been a stream of traffic going by to see them.  The guys that work at the plant said we should charge admission!  Gotta keep your sense of humor.  Especially at a time like this.

I'm dragging today.  I thought I slept but it sure doesn't feel like it. 

So to cheer me and everyone else up here are a couple pics of Teddy. 

Looking like the king of the house that he thinks he is.

Yup. It's nippy.

That's the temperature now.

It was colder this morning.

And so, of course, I decided it was time to shovel the snow from the storm a couple days ago. 

Boots, hat, mittens, warm coat.  Oh yeah, maybe I should grab my cell phone.

Thank goodness I did.  I couldn't get back in the house.  All the doors are locked and the digital one apparently doesn't like the cold either.  It wouldn't unlock.

I was stuck outside.

The closest neighbor had just driven away.  DH and 1st and 3rd DSs were at a meeting in another town 20+ miles away.

So I called 1st DDIL and she came and rescued me.  Thank goodness I brought my phone outside or I would have been walking a few blocks against the wind.

Next time I'll bring my keys out with me and not trust the door with the digital locking system!

Autumn

While reading everyone's posts about fall and leaves changing, I've been thinking about how much I like fall.

The air changes.  It's cooler and fresher.  And some mornings and nights there is a hint of winter in the air.  Crisp.  Like an apple.

The light is different too.  Summer is bright and almost harsh.  But fall is a softer light, more mellow.  And with harvest going on there is dust floating around that gives it a hazy appearance and makes for the most amazing colored harvest moon.

Fall is a time of cleaning out the gardens, canning the extra produce and generally battening down the hatches for the next season that is quickly approaching.

I haven't been in school for decades but I liked getting back to school in the fall.  I was a caboose child and in many ways an only child and starting back to school was a time filled with seeing friends again.  Basically I always enjoyed school...Literature especially but math was fun too until I got to high school.  I'm looking at you, theorems.

And so I like fall.  Or at least early fall.  I like fall until we get to the days like today.  Grey.  Raining.  Cold.  Windy. 

Yea.  Fall just lost it's appeal.

It may be dry...

but we have frogs!

I've been watering trees and flowers and that's where the froggies are hanging out.  I think it's a smart plan.  It's about dry as a desert everywhere else.

This guy froze in place and I was able to get a close up picture.  Wasn't that considerate?

And on another dry(ing) subject....dish drying to be exact.  This is the towel I embroidered for myself.  An cross stitching duckie.  Cute?  Yes?

Sorry about the wrinkles but I've been using it. 

Yup. They said it would happen today.

It's snowing.

 



FOs and randomnesses

Since it's April 22 and we still have substantial snowbanks, I thought I'd photo Henslowe outside. 

The color really isn't correct on any of these pictures but this one is exceptionally dark.

I love everything about this shawl.  Well, excluding the bind off which felt like it took as long to do as the rest of the shawl...

 

 

 

But the bind off is a big part of what makes it so pretty and interesting.

 

 



Also finished is 2nd DGD's Potato Chip Scarf.  It was fun to do because she asked me for it and I was happy to make it.  And she said it is "bootiful"!

On the weather front, this is our backyard.  Yes.  Still with the snow everywhere.  Snow forecast for Wednesday.  But!  Temps in the 50s and 60s by the weekend.  WooHoo!!

We had so much fun at our anniversary party a week ago.  I'll post about that when it's closer to the real date...

Uff

 

 

Again with the snow!

 

 

Spring?

I thought I'd share what this year's spring looks like in our part of North Dakota.

Mother Nature and Mr. Wind have created some interesting snow banks.

The patio furniture is shivering in the snow and cold.  And probably will be for awhile.

The post in the middle of this picture is for holding the rain gauge.  And the dead plants sticking up are in my flower bed.

Yes, I'm whining. 

I know we live here and should expect this kind of weather. 

I know it's not unusual. 

I know it can snow a lot more yet this winter spring. 

But they said on the news last night that our normal temperatures for this time of year is in the 40s and our high for today is 19 and the low for tonight is -8.

I am so over winter.

Another cold one

It's just one of those winters...

It's been cold...alot...

 

But it's pretty in it's own way too...

It's a little nippy out there.

 

Brrr.

Winter on the Prairie

I've shown you views of the country in the summer.

 

 

But...



                                                                  

I thought maybe you'd like to see the same field in the winter.

Winter Wonderland

Look what we woke up to this morning!

 

 

And for good measure the power was off for awhile during the night.

 

 

Let the fun begin!

It's gonna be a sauna out there!

It is about 8:30 a.m. and it is already 80 degrees.
For us, that is hot all by itself.

But if you look off into the distance you'll see the haze caused by unusually excessive humidity. When I stepped outside to take these pictures I was instantly damp. Yup. It's gonna be a sauna out there today.

On the other hand...if we get the thunderstorms that are in the forecast it wouldn't be a totally bad thing. The grass is brown and the crops are really hurting for moisture.

But please, we don't want hail or tornadoes!

And now for my public service announcement.

I received an email from ebay over the weekend that looked like the real thing. They even had my shopper ID correct. (I changed my password.) But after checking things out, I could tell it wasn't from them at all. I didn't click any links and I forwarded it to ebay but please, everyone, be very careful and thoroughly look over any emails before you open anything in them.

Decisions. Decisions.

There have been a few decisions made and quite a few more yet to be done.

This is Moldova Burgundy from Peace Fleece. I love Peace Fleece yarn for cardigans and that is just what this is going to be. I decided at the end of the winter that I needed another cardigan and got this ordered. Now to decide what pattern!

The yarn is firm and has good shape and body when knit and the touch of mohair gives it a little fuzzy halo when washed. It does itch just a bit though so a turtleneck is in order for me.

These adorable little balls are also from Peace Fleece and if I can bear to use them and not just keep them to look at, some might be used as a bit of decoration on the cardigan.

This will be the most fun decision of all! I won this yarn from our sweetheart, Karen. I was the 2,500th comment on her blog. Karen....that is a lot of comments! And Karen, you must know me pretty well because you got the colors exactly right. I will so enjoy deciding what to knit with this yarn. And yes, I think it did spark my mojo! :D

I really really want to design a lace shawl and so when I found out about this book I just had to have it. It has good basics and combined with other things I've found online I just might be able to do a design for myself. Only time will tell.

And so when I decided to buy the book above there was yarn for sale on the same website! How convenient is that? ;) I found this pretty plum laceweight and decided to order it also. It is one honking big ball....1500 yds worth!

This is Wollmeise yarn. I'm a fan of The Loopy Ewe online yarn shop. On occasion there is a bit of this yarn for sale. But only if you are aware of when it is available and then you have to be as quick as a bunny to get any of it. It sells like hotcakes. And so when I saw on Facebook that there was some for sale I decided then and there that I "needed" to see what all the fuss was about!

Since there are days and days of rain in the forecast...(Trust me it's a good thing! We need rain like crazy. The soybeans don't want to pop through because there is a crust on top of the soil from the last rain and it needs to get softened up asap!)...I decided to snap a few pictures of the peonies.

There's lots of buds...

on both bushes. But they'll be flat on the ground and turning brown if it rains as much as forecast so I'll have them in picture if not in real life!

Can you almost smell them?