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.
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