After a brutal cold weekend in which I was stunned to see that actual temperatures had reached 20+ below zero, it was quite a relief to get up this morning to a balmy zero with little just a breeze.The toughest part of the past few days has been getting ready to go out.
2 pairs of pants, good socks, boots, turtleneck, sweater, sweatshirt, vest, heavy sweatshirt, hat, scarf, by now I am sweating……then get the dogs harness vests on and leashes….. tie the scarf, pull on heavy gloves….try to force my hands through the leash handles… and out the door we go!

For 5 minutes because the dogs aren’t stupid and their paws get cold.

So the dogs go inside to eat their biscuits by the fire while I go back out to feed and water the flock, gather eggs and bring in a cart of firewood.

You know it is cold when even the ducks and the turkey are happy to stay inside.

Lucky for me the dogs are quick to take care of the necessities, but to make up for the lack of long walkies, we do this 5 or 6 times a day. Just getting dressed is exhausting!

So it is with pleasure that I look forward to a few days that start at zero and climb into the twenties. Next weekend we are being teased with high 40’s. It will be like a summer vacation, though I really can’t complain because this winter we’ve hardly had to touch a shovel (just for the steps) and we had our firewood cut and stacked by late fall.