I guess I should expect crazy weather ups and downs in January. I think it happens every year. We have had temperatures as low as -10F and as high as 60F. I'll take the 60 degree days anytime, thank you. At least our kitchen drain is finally thawed out. We had to use buckets and dump the water out the back door for almost a month. Yesterday it thawed. Cause for celebration!
Our younger son is visiting from California this week. He finds himself unemployed at this time due to the closure of the restaurant where he had been sous chef for the last 18 months or so. He expects to be back at work this coming month. We bought him a ticket to fly home and it has been a nice visit.
We have had snow, then thaw, then snow again. The chickens really hate the snow, but after being literally cooped up for 2 weeks, they ventured out on a warm sunny day. I think they were dismayed at being unable to find anything to eat. A couple of them got "stranded" in a grassy place under a tree when it was time to go in for the night. It was like they were on a grassy island surrounded by snow and they didn't know what to do. I picked them up and carried them to the coop. They are silly and amusing birds.
I also made an icicle sculpture off the back deck by breaking large icicles off the roof and dropping them into a snow pile. That one was a good 5' long.
And then everything thawed (except the water line) and the bees came out. That was good to see. I was wondering if they had survived the sub-zero temps. They still have a couple of months to go before I will be sure they have made it through.
And I got some photos on a couple of hikes to the beaver pond. This first one is of the back side of the pond. The water between Grover and me is covering what used to be our trail. The dam has been expanded a good bit.
On the second hike, with son Sam, we stayed on the road side and I took a photo of some of the work the beavers have done below the road. I have been expecting that large cherry tree to fall for weeks. It just amazes me what these animals are capable of and I love that I can watch what they are doing. I just wish I could see them more than a quick glimpse once a year or so.
Sam likes to have a project to keep him busy in the winter. This year he decided to turn the one huge bathroom at Mom's house/guest house/man cave into 2 bathrooms. We have discussed this in the past and we renovated the bathroom shortly after purchasing the property in 2000 (?). But we were on a budget and we did what needed to be done and just left the rest alone. In the last couple months Sam has put up all new drywall and has split the room into 2 and made a doorway into what was a closet in one bedroom and that bedroom will now have and ensuite bath with shower.
It is small, but functional. The other bathroom will have new ceramic tile flooring and a new vanity which will be a little bigger than the one that was in there, as the smaller vanity is now in the new bathroom. It is also getting a new toilet. This has been kept under wraps until now, but I thought I'd post it since the new bathroom is almost finished. It needs some molding around the ceiling and a toilet seat, shower door and towel rack, etc.
I finished a project of my own this week that has been a while in the making. This sweater is knit from yarn I handspun from the fiber of one of our alpacas that was blended with some Shetland wool I purchased at a festival a couple of years ago. I made Sam a sweater with the same yarn blend last year. So now we have sort of matching sweaters. The yarn for both was spun on the wheel that is behind me in the photo. This sweater came out well. It is supposed to be oversized and comfortable and it is. I think I will get a lot of use out of it.
Saturday morning I take son Sam back to the airport for his return to California. Then the following weekend Grover and I will once again be bar-hopping at our club's agility trial in Zanesville and a couple weeks after that I head to Oregon for a baby shower. And somewhere in there we will be tapping trees and making maple syrup.
It seems the only thing better than laying in the snow is enjoying a frozen pony turd while doing so....
Yes, we continue to experience a very cold January. I know, January is always cold. But we have had numerous mornings this month where we have awakened to sub-zero temperatures. It has been a constant chore to keep pipes from freezing and keep the house warm. We still have our upstairs closed off as well as our big sliding glass door. Our kitchen drain has been frozen for 2 weeks now, which is inconvenient to say the least. We had a thaw a week ago during which we had torrential rains overnight, about 2" and then 2 days later, we were hit with a fairly major snowstorm. Thankfully the power stayed on. We got another 2 or 3 inches of snow this past Tuesday. We are supposed to go above freezing again for the weekend.
The animals are doing okay. The chickens have been shut in for a week again. That coop gets so gross when they are shut in for days at a time. Ick. I was able to scoop it out last week when we had a thaw, but now it needs to be done again.
Unfortunately, we lost our oldest alpaca, Bodhi over the weekend. He would have been 19 in April, so he had a good long life for an alpaca. He had lost so much weight and it was just his time. He arrived here on our farm when he was about a year and half old and he sired lots of crias in his day. He was probably one of the friendlier of the alpacas and I had a soft spot in my heart for him, but it was his time. RIP old friend.
Apples now has a whole barn pen to herself. I could put her in with the remaining 2 female alpacas, but they seem fine the way they are. Peg, the alpaca on the right in this photo is the last of my original alpacas. She will be 19 in June. So far, none of my alpacas have made it to 19. Truffel, the other one, is 13 or 14 I think. She has a rather unpleasant personality and likes to spit. Another reason to let Apples have her own space.
Grover and I attended a 2 day agility trial this past weekend (we got to our hotel the night before and just before the big storm started) near Columbus. We had a great weekend. We were entered in 3 runs per day and we Q'd in all but our very first run! So we earned QQ14 and QQ15 toward our goal of 20. Unfortunately, we have only 476 of the 750 speed points we also need, so once we get all our QQs, we will still need about 150 points, by my calculations. But we'll get there. I am so proud of my little rescue Aussie! Our next agility trial is Feb 10 & 11.
An upcoming event here on the farm is maple syrup season. Last year was very poor because we had a warm winter and it got warm very early and pretty much stayed warm. For good syrup production we need cold nights and days just above freezing. We usually tap trees around Valentine's Day, but if we get a warm snap earlier than that this year, Sam will likely go ahead and tap early. I had no syrup for sale this past year. Syrup season is fun, though by the time it is over I am happy to no longer spend all day feeding the fire under the evaporator.
I also have some travel coming up. There is a baby shower for our expected grandson in February. It is in Portland, Oregon and I have made plans to attend. I have to admit I do want to see my daughter-in-law with her baby on board. It will seem so much more real then and maybe I'll even get to feel the baby kick.
Next Friday our son Zac is arriving from California for a week long visit. I have to admit I bribed him to come by purchasing the airfare and also by getting a pony. It has been a year since we last saw him and I also admit to playing the Rowdy card again as well. We got Rowdy as a puppy the summer before Zac left for college and they do have a bond. Rowdy will be 13 in April and he has health issues, so I know Zac will be happy to spend time with the old dog again.
I have nothing new to post about on the fiber front. I have some secret projects working and the sweater I started in October or November. It should be finished in the next week or so. I have not really been able to do anything in my studio as we had to shut off the heat out there for a few days when our gas dipped extremely low, so that loom is empty. I am counting down the days until spring!
The New Year came in with sub-zero temperatures here in Ohio. We have been dealing with frozen pipes, frozen gas (natural gas that heats our house) and frozen water for the animals. It was down to -10 degrees F on Tuesday morning. Our gas pressure has been dropping, likely because moisture in the lines is freezing up and causing blockage, so we have been doing whatever we can to preserve gas. This included closing off the opening to the upstairs of the house as well as covering the 8' sliding glass door with foam insulation panels. Not pretty, but it sure does help.
We will leave these in place as long as we need to. I do miss being able to sit at the table (hey no judgement on the messy table!) and watch the birds at the feeder, though.
And getting up and down the stairs is interesting. Grover can just shove the panel up with his nose and slide under. But last night I wasn't quick enough following him up and he leaped onto the panel from above and broke it in half. I was underneath trying to hold it up and laughing for all I was worth.
So in the morning the first thing I do is check to see if any water pipes are frozen, then load the wood stove, then make the coffee and feed the dogs. We have another couple of days before we have a thaw and we will be below zero again the next couple of mornings.
Yesterday Apples was shivering in -9 temps and I was wishing I had a blanket that would fit her. I knew Apache's old blanket would be way too large. When I mentioned this to Sam he said he had bought some horse blankets a couple years back at an auction for about $4 because no one else wanted them. I wasn't expecting them to be as nice as they are! One of them fit Apples just about perfectly.
Bodhi and Peg, the two 18 year old alpacas, have had their coats on since Sunday night. I am glad to have this blanket for Apples. Really, who would pass up 3 horse blankets in great shape for $4? Thankfully no one in my family!
Grover and I attended an agility trial this past weekend in Zanesville. It was a two day trial and we had 4 runs on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Our only qualifying run on Saturday was our first one, Premier standard. Our other 3 runs were not disastrous, but we made mistakes and didn't qualify. On Sunday, we no Q'd in standard. Grover dropped a bar when I pulled off too soon to make a turn at the next jump, but he got all his contacts and did a great job. We ended the day with a Q in jumpers: JWW Q
So all in all not a bad weekend, especially since practice time has been almost non-existent. Our next trial is the weekend of Jan 13 & 14 at Incredipaws in Pataskala, Ohio.
Now that Christmas is past, I can post photos of things I made for gifts this year:
A family of socks in Portland Timbers colors for Ian, Michelle and baby-to-be!
Socks for my mom:
And a hat for Tony
I also made another sheep hat for the friend of a friend.
And that was it for gift knitting this year. It was enough.
I have now gotten back to work on my sweater knit with handspun alpaca/shetland yarn. I love this so far. I am now working on the second sleeve.
And one day a couple weeks ago I over-dyed some batts I had made a couple years ago using some alpaca and silk which I had dyed before carding. I have never been happy with how they turned out and so I decided to over dye them with a gunmetal blue. I just rolled them up and immersed them in water and poured on the dye and simmered til the dye exhausted. I am SO happy with how they turned out!
There is also some "firestar" blended in, which is a sparkly substance. I love spinning this and have spun up one entire batt, about 2 oz so far. I have 3 more batts. It is so nice to spin something sparkly and colorful after all that BROWN for the sweater. Not to mention the tactile feel of the silk as it goes through my fingers. This will have to be something lacy when I finish spinning and plying it. That may take a while. But January is perfect for spinning and knitting by the fire.
Grover and I got in a short walk this morning. It was a balmy 16 degrees and snowing lightly. Grover has perfect snowy woods camouflage, don't you agree?
We have had snow, then thaw, then snow again. The chickens really hate the snow, but after being literally cooped up for 2 weeks, they ventured out on a warm sunny day. I think they were dismayed at being unable to find anything to eat. A couple of them got "stranded" in a grassy place under a tree when it was time to go in for the night. It was like they were on a grassy island surrounded by snow and they didn't know what to do. I picked them up and carried them to the coop. They are silly and amusing birds.
And then everything thawed (except the water line) and the bees came out. That was good to see. I was wondering if they had survived the sub-zero temps. They still have a couple of months to go before I will be sure they have made it through. 
On the second hike, with son Sam, we stayed on the road side and I took a photo of some of the work the beavers have done below the road. I have been expecting that large cherry tree to fall for weeks. It just amazes me what these animals are capable of and I love that I can watch what they are doing. I just wish I could see them more than a quick glimpse once a year or so. 
