Record snow

Last week we had yet another big storm. In just two days there was a new record set for ANNUAL snowfall for our city. Earlier this season Scotty repeatedly wished for a LOT of snow this winter and he sure got it! Now he says it's too much. We are all getting a little tired of it, mostly because of cabin fever. We've been playing games and doing a lot of baking and such but we have only been out once since the storm started last Friday. All told we had over 18" over the two days.





On the farm here this means that we have some extra worries with regard to the animals. The chickens are unable or unwilling to tromp through the snow so Chris shoveled them some paths to get to the food and water we set out for them near the house where our large eaves left a strip of dry ground. They have been hanging out right by the house every day since the snow. Amazingly they are still laying plenty of eggs in the little straw nesting house that Chris made.



The kids wanted a snow fort so we bundled up on the second day of the storm to go make one. Unfortunately without proper snow clothes they got cold right away and went inside after 10 minutes, leaving me outside to finish it. One of them picked up the camera while I was out there and snapped this photo of me working on it.



Today the snow finally started to melt a bit but we are expecting another storm tomorrow! We took the baby junglefowl out today and we all got some much needed fresh air.

Portrait of little sister by Scotty

Roll Call

The chickens have taken to hanging out close to the house around dusk lately because they are hoping for a handout of kitchen scraps. Over the last few days they have started to line up on the greenhouse stem wall as though they are reporting for duty. Their interest in people food also allows me to get very close up portraits of them.






One of the aggressive Buff Laced Polish roosters, a.k.a "Tackle Puffy Head."



A Cuckoo Marans hen. These hens lay beautiful dark brown speckled eggs.



A Gold Laced Wyandotte with a Buff Orpington.

Scotty's parts box

Scotty is quite proud of his collection of "parts." Over the years he has disassembled many a thrift store toy or old machine and has amassed quite a collection of gears, washers, motors, wires, and the like. He has great plans to use them for all kinds of inventions in the future. He really likes looking at them with his grandpa, who has his own collection of parts.

Solstice celebration

To celebrate the return of the Sun and the longer days to come our homeschooling group gathered at my house Thursday. The kids made sun ornaments while the moms made gingerbread, pomander balls, popcorn and cranberry garlands, stew, wassail, and bread.



Susan made a little mother and child out of pipe cleaners to put in our solstice cave. The Sun Baby was made of a sparkly golden pipe cleaner that Crystal had given us.


We built a little cave out of building scraps and decorated it with some pine boughs and the garland. Then we put the figures inside and at the moment of Solstice (5:22PM here) we filled the cave with candles and sang a little song to welcome the return of the sun.




Afterwards we came inside and watched the candles burning out in the cave from the warmth of the house. We played music and made a lot of noise in the tradition of Yule.

Winter in New Mexico

Many people don't realize that our area of New Mexico is indeed a seasonal climate and we have real winters here. OK so maybe they aren't like a Minnesota winter (thank goodness) but we do get cold temperatures and the occasional winter weather. The nice thing about when it snows here is that it is relatively rare so it's a huge thrill for all. A week ago we had a wonderful winter storm come through. This is the same storm that messed up Denver so badly and delayed millions of Christmas packages. The kids were just bouncing off the walls with excitement. We stayed home all day and watched it come down. When it was all done we had six inches on the ground!

Chris came home from work early because in this town everything shuts down after just a couple inches of snow. It's so funny coming from Illinois to see 24 hour news coverage of a couple inches of snow. All the news crews go out and get video of cars having slid off the roads.



The fields were framed on all sides by frosted trees. It was really beautiful. Even the piles of building materials in the front yard looked pretty!



Chris and the kids went out and played for quite a while.



Remembering how wonderful it felt to come inside for hot cocoa after snow play when I was a child, I had some warm and ready for them to drink by the wood stove when they were done.



Speaking of the wood stove, I have to boast that although we have had below freezing overnight temperatures here since October we didn't need a fire in the stove until December 14th. Before that our only heat source was the sun and our passive solar house.

Some recent photos by Scotty