Good Morning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the day the LORD has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Even on the days when rejoicing is harder.
(Nothing's wrong this morning.  Just a thought.)

Alas

Winter continues here in Idaho.  It's been snowing snowing snowing all day.  Thankfully, we spent a good part of yesterday when it was clear outside.  It *may* have taken as long to get everyone outfitted and ready to go and redressed after and random gloves and stuff put away than the time spent outside.  I packed as many tissues in pockets and tromped out with everyone else. 

It was the first try for the boys snowshoeing.  Sweetheart mentioned the night before going up to the mountains to try it, but I suggested for a first outing, it might be best to stick to our pasture and the neighbors'.  We did and I'm glad.  Pumpkin was hooked in a took off like a duck to water.  Poor Dumpling's boots didn't fit right in the snowshoes.  Sweetheart spent a looong time trying to strap him in while I chased Cupcake all around. 

I made "roads in the snow" as she called them and she mostly stayed in them.  She's so light she doesn't sink much.  Once Sweetheart gave up he grabbed a snow saucer.  We tried to put Cupcake in it, but she was too small to hold on.  Instead, Dumpling hopped in and Sweetheart dragged he up the pasture.  Pumpkin blazed his own trails and Cupcake walked in the path made by the saucer, or was carried.  Walking in snowshoes carrying a two year old is interesting, and short-lived, especially uphill.  ;) 

Once we got going everyone had a delightful time.  We tromped all over and had such fun.  We looked at animal tracks in the snow and studied how the trails they made.  The sky was a bright blue and the temperature warm enough.

I think the boys favorite part may have been coming back inside afterward and warming up by the fire with the donuts I had baked.  Everyone slept really well last night for all the sunshine and exercise.  It was my best night's sleep since getting hit with this cold.  It is slowly improving and I am glad it's not getting worse, but I am still ready for it to be done.
~
On another note, it had been so nice to move things up to the attic.  Having all my craft supplies and shop supplies in one place is so great.  The added bonus is that our bedroom is finally coming together.  It had become a sort of bedroom/office/craft area and I hated it.

Now, it just has the bed, our dressers, two chairs, the pellet stove and my hope chest my Dad and I made when I was in college.  There aren't even any stacks of books left.  If you know us, you know that's a huge thing.  ;)  It's a huge room that has three windows, plus one in the closet, oddly enough.  Now, it feels so light and airy. 

The only problem left really is the colors.  Oh my, the colors!  Ever wondered why there aren't any pictures of that room--or any of the bedrooms--on this blog?  Simply put, they are all ugly. 
In just our room we have Smurf blue walls, ivory baseboards, doors and windows, and a muddy mustard color ceiling with about two inches of white where the mud meets the Smurf. 

Let's add to that the fact that all the colors are peeling off the plaster walls and ceiling.  And shall I mention the holes every six inches in the ceiling? What about the various cracks in the plaster?
 
Yes, I know you were thinking a paragraph back that I should just get painting, weren't you?  It's not that easy.  There has been a two year debate about what to do with the really bad walls.   Drywall? Replaster? Matches? (That one's for you, Dad.)   I think the plan now is to vacuum (!) off as much as possible, patch the cracks and spray drywall mud all over and texture it.  It's what the neighbor who helped Sweetheart with the drywall finishing in the attic thinks would be best. 

It'll get done.  Just not as soon as I'd like.  Well, we're two years behind that schedule already.  ;)  I had no idea...  All the neighbors who saw the condition of everything when we moved in are amazed at all Sweetheart has done.  Not bad for a tech guy from the city!  Really, he is pretty amazing.

Winter Walk

I just walked around the farm and have come back inside to warm my toes. It is a sunny day here in Idaho with the sky almost a Colorado Blue.  The moon hangs low in the sky, just above the mountains behind us, not quite full, but beautiful against the cloudless sky.

As I was walking, I thought back to when I first walked this land a year ago.  I laughed when I saw that the post I was thinking of was exactly one year ago today.  It was quite a different walk this time.  This walk, I know the land and am not exploring it for the very first time.  I know where the wild currants grow, which tree bears plums by the bushel, that all the apple trees are buggy.  I know to avoid the hole out halfway through the pasture that I have tripped upon too many times.  I know now where the roses are.  And that yes, there were rosebushes that I discovered on my walk that day.  Sadly, most of the bushes in question are thornberries, and not very good ones at that.

The other change is that today's walk was a walk, last year's was a hike.  I remember post-holing through thigh high snow and longing for my snowshoes that weren't here yet.  This year, I have the snowshoes, but not enough snow to use them!  Today I walked in just my regular boots with no snow above my ankles and bare ground in spots.  I enjoyed today's walk more for that reason.

As I walked, I left the chickens running around behind me and passed Buttercup lounging around.  I walked around the pond and up the back pasture, eying where I hope to install the wall tent this summer.  I crossed over the irrigation ditch, now empty and dry and glanced through my grove so bare I could see the other side.  So different than the summer hideout it becomes.

As I walked down the south pasture towards the house, I saw the smoke rising from the chimney lazily twisting grey against the blue.  I know I'll need to add a few logs and get it going again.  It has been warm enough today to just use it to take off the chill.  I am grateful for that.

Now I am inside, thinking about dinner knowing I need to get back on track with my meal planning.   The grocery situation around here is so different.  I still don't feel like that is an area that's working for me, but I know I need to figure out a solution.

Sweetheart has been inside working upstairs while I've been walking and the boys are playing together in their room while Cupcake naps, so it is pretty quiet here in my kitchen. Sweetheart just came downstairs to go fill Buttercup's water tank and bring in more firewood. Everyone will be up and running around any minutes I am sure.  I'd best get a move on for dinner.

I am thinking about dinnertime.  I want to declare a Bonus Movie Night and watch an episode of Lark Rise to Candleford.  I am now hooked!  What a delight it is!  So fun.  The boys think it is funny to see people they know from Cranford and North and South in it, though they did express a bit of disappointment that there was no sword fighting in the episode they watched.  They saw Errol Flynn's Robin Hood a few weeks ago and are longing for more "squash-buckling" (Pumpkin's term) adventures.

And, in spite of the total lack of recent pictures of them, they are loving life here.  The light in most of the house is simply too dim for pictures even though I am experimenting with the various settings possible on my camera.  Plus, they are often too busy to what to stop long enough for a picture.  I have taken hundreds of pictures that, alas, are too blurry.  I will keep trying.

Our craft project for this week is making Valentines!  I got out my Valentines supplies yesterday.  It made me sad as most of it was left from a Cupid's Tea I had a few years ago.  It was such a fun time and the ladies there so dear to me.  It makes me homesick to think about it!  (I miss you all!)  We'll just have to make our own fun as a family this time.

Time to go now.  Hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend as well.  Hoping my Denver friends are able to dig out soon!

Linking up to My Simple Country Living:  The Country Homemaker Hop.

More Pictures from My Walk Yesterday

On a Walk Today

I went on a walk today.  It was a rather long walk, mostly uphill and interrupted often with the taking of many pictures.  This barn, the small red speck on the top picture, was my goal.  Click on the picture to see it in full.

  It is apparently a bit of a landmark around here known as George's Barn.  I'm thinking George has been gone awhile.
I just wish he hadn't left his horse.
That was gross.


But the latches on the barn are nice aren't they?
There will be no pictures posted of the horse.
You're welcome.