The Hunter

This is what Jasmine looks like as she searches for mice.  She listens carefully and then goes in head first.

One Fine Day

Finally!  Sunshine!  And it lasted the whole day to boot.  It was so incredibly beautiful and long awaited. 

 

 

 

 

It is even warm enough to make a puddle.

The River

I wandered down to the river on Saturday and took these pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ice

 

 

 

Okay, so I am complaining about the cold again, but it never warms up long enough to get rid of the ice or snow.  These pictures show all the ice we have chopped out of the watering trough.  The round one came out of the dogs' water bucket.  I just think that occasionally it should warm up enough to melt this off and make room for more.  We have pulled ice out of the trough eight inches thick.  

Freaky Friday

Friday wasn't the 13th, but it might as well have been.  I was up at 5:30 to make my faculty meeting which meant I would be doing the chores in the dark again.  Not a problem, except that I got that creepy, something is watching me, feeling walking back to the house.   I had my handy dandy headlamp on (thanks again for the B-day gift husband), but couldn't see anything.  I didn't worry about it.  I entered the house only to have my husband inform me we had a mouse in the house.  LOVELY!   I guess you have to accept mice when you build a house in the middle of farm land, but we have two cats and a mouse eating dog, not to mention the fox, hawks, and stray cats.   Anyway, he said he would get rid of it before I came home from school and I left.  It was so foggy!   I made my way to the highway only to see flashing lights everywhere.  I could make out a semi in the intersection and the police weren't letting anyone through.  So, I backed up, turned around and headed for the only other way out.   I called home to tell my husband about the accident only to find out he was being entertained by the mouse.  It ran out from the corner, got to the middle of the room and noticed my husband sitting in the chair and ran back for cover.  Soon after, my husband stepped outside and discovered a deer eating a bush just off the corner of the old house.  What is so delicious about that particular bush I don't know, but that must have been what was watching me earlier.  He took the picture above through the fog and in the dark.   Not long after this, he went to feed the cats and heard Spanish music playing loudly coming from the old house.  Now, I didn't hear it when I walked past, he didn't hear it taking pictures of the deer, but now it is blaring loudly.   When he investigated, it was coming from my little TV in the upstairs of the old house.  I haven't had that TV on for weeks and I don't watch the Spanish channel.  What is even eerier is the day before, while he was working in the basement, he heard the upstairs door open and close.  He thought it was me coming home, but I didn't do it.  The next freaky thing would be the fact that these troublesome squirrels DON'T hibernate.  That same day, my husband watched one of them run inside the hood of a tractor.   He tried to get it, including letting the dogs out, but no luck.  While all this was going on, the FedEx truck arrived.  Jasmine, not finding the squirrel, had succeeded in getting a bird which she proudly was carrying around in her mouth.  My husband said she pranced up to the driver, bird in mouth, and greeted him with a friendly wag of her tail.  The pictures below show how much dirt the squirrels are removing from under the foundation of the house and displacing above the cement.  Any day now the whole house is going to collapse on that corner.  B has resorted to placing tin over the crack and put assorted items on top for weight.

I don't know how we are going to solve this problem, but those cute little things are causing a lot of trouble!

Winter Art

Take A Deep Breath

I just read a report about the top of Utah having the worst air in the nation.  Lovely!  Maybe that is why my students glare at me when I suggest they go outside and get some fresh air during recess :)  The photos are not foggy, it is good old smog, gunk, whatever you want to call it. 

At Least Someone Loves the Snow

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

I am tired of complaining about the weather around here, so I thought I would post about some of the livestock.  The goats are great recyclers.  They will eat just about anything, which at this time of year includes discarded Christmas trees.  After they strip them clean, including the bark, they use them as a scratching post.  The goats are nice and fat and probably ready for some fresh, green grass.  Maybe someday...

 

This is Fauna.  My husband refers to her as wide ride.

Wildlife Update:  Husband and I went for a walk with the dogs past the pond this evening.  I pointed out a deer on the hillside staring straight at us.  The conversation went something like this...

Me: Honey, look at the deer!

Husband:  What deer? I don't see anything.

Me:  Up there, on the hill.

Husband:  That isn't a deer.  All I see is Tamarax.

We continue walking and pick up the conversation again.

Me: Oh, look!  There is another deer.

Husband:  I don't see anything.

At which point the deer, which I am guessing were female and wanted to help me prove my point, stood up and proceeded to slowly walk off.   There were eight in all :)

And yes, my husband will be seeing the optometrist.  Friday to be exact.

It's Time

It's time for the fog to leave and the sunshine to return.  Even my farmer husband commented that he is tired of the weather and usually proclaims to love winter because it is his "unemployed" season.  Just to remind myself that the sunshine will return, I am posting a few photos from last summer.

The Beginning, the Middle and the End

Here is a photo of what my world looked like at the beginning of the day.

The middle of my day was spent trying to wake up and then shut up a room full of twelve year olds.   I am guessing they slept in every day of vacation because they weren't coherent until around 11:30.  Of course, at that point, all they wanted to do was share all the details of Christmas vacation.

My day ended as beautifully as it began.  It is these moments that remind me why I love living on this farm.