Christmas has Come!

What a time of celebration with family and friends!  Early Christmas morning (about 3:30), the dogs and I snuck off to the barn while Farmer Rick and family slept soundly.  While sweeping the mangers and prepping the cows for milking, the new farm dog - Sandy - chased barn kitties around and under the still half-asleep cows.  They were dozing in and out as the light bulbs gradually brightened as they warmed and the radio cranked out joyous Christmas tunes.

There is no quiet way to turn on the milker pump, but I was hoping that no one would wake in the house.  We managed to keep our secret quiet for about 3/4 of the milking, but soon thereafter, Farmer Rick came down to the barn, rubbing his still sleepy eyes and patting one of the dogs on the head as he entered the barn.  We hurried through the rest of chores and quickly headed back to the house before daylight.  We warmed up the griddle and had pancakes, OJ and cinnamon rolls ready to go as the kids both young and old were crawling out of bed.

The only thing wrong was that once the day started to get in full swing, Farmer Rick and I couldn't keep out eyes open as we settled in the couch to watch all of the festivities!

Getting the Tree

What a super cold day!  We finished up with a blizzard-like snowstorm late last night, but now that the snow has ended, we are left with a bitter cold wind.  Still, we all bundled up in our snowmobile suits and heavy gloves to head to the woods to find a tree.  One of our boys took a snowmobile ahead of us to break a path through the snow because it was so deep, then followed by Farmer Rick with a plow on the four wheeler.  Behind them followed mom with the horse harnessed up and ready to drag the tree back.  Even with the path broke by the snowmobile and four wheeler, both horse and driver were huffing and puffing, dragging ourselves through the very deep snow!  Farmer Rick ended up picking up stragglers along the way, piling them on the back of the four wheeler, as they were getting quite tired from trugging through the snow!  Luckily, I had been in the woods before the snowstorm hit to pick out a tree.  Two days prior, I took one of the geldings to the woods to scout one out so that we could save time and energy since I knew the storm was coming. 

We quickly spotted our "Charlie Brown" tree and one of my boys cut it down.  I attached it to the logging chain and away we went, dragging the tree behind us, right up to the back door of the house!  Boy, am I ever glad we had that tree picked out ahead of time!  ALL were cold and wiped out from trudging through the snow.  Even though the tree is rather thin, these have been pretty much the norm throughout the years and our family is used to them.  A very "spacious" tree harvested from our swamp, but loved by all!

Filling the woodpile

As I look out the window at the sliver of moon in the easter sky, my eye shifts to the thermometer reading minus 1.  While contemplating the cold,my mind wanders to the woodpile that is quickly diminishing in the woodshed.  With all of the fall work and activities, this project just kept being put aside.  But now, it's payback time!  Farmer Rick spent a good deal of time after milking last night sharpening saws, mixing gas, and checking oil levels.  Today we will be spending almost the entire day in the woods trying to catch up on the wood supply.  When walking the woods during deer season, we take a mental note of fallen trees and blow-down branches.  There's a huge oak that is blown over from the roots on the backside of our heifer pasture that will be about a 3 day project to cut up.  But, it's nice to know that the wood won't go to waste.  Farmer Rick will take the John Deere 3020 with the wood-hauler (retired) manure spreader, and I'll take the four wheeler and cart for hauling saws, chain oil (and tired dog) to the woods.  As long as one can stay dry with a thermos full of hot chocolate of coffee, you can last a long time in the woods, even if the temp doesn't meander much above zero for the day.  We are supposed to get a few inches of snow starting this afternoon, so it'll be nice to have the bulk of the wood loaded in the old spreader before it hits.  But, it will be so much easier to relax and watch the falling snow this evening after chores, knowing that we've made a substantial gain in the supply of wood.  It will take a full week of days like this to get the woodshed full, but it'll be worth it.  Having wood heat compares to none other when it comes to constant warmth that fills every room.  After spending many a cold winter in drafty old farmhouses, it's a welcome caress of warmth that greets you when you come in the door after a long day in the woods and chores in the barn.