It's Starting to Feel a bit like Christmas

Winter came early this year.  At the beginning of December we got some cold weather, below freezing both day and night.  The kind of stuff we sometimes get in January.   The kind of weather that would be positively mild for some, but unusually cold for us.  It's all relative you know, and makes me feel rather wimpy when I think about it, but I'll pass on experiencing that bitterly cold stuff.  Generally our cold weather comes with a freezing wind, bringing the arctic weather from the interior of the province.  It's the wind that gets to you. Once the wind stops it feels positively balmy.

The animals seemed to handle it alright.  Pride was all bundled up in his blankets.  A cosy quilted one given to me by a friend and his waterproof rain sheet on top of it.  When it was the coldest, we added fleecy shipping boots to keep his lower legs warm.  He's an old man, he deserves all the coddling he can get.  He will be 32 next March.  He enjoys a few apples a day.

Pride has a couple of three sided shelters that he can stand in.  He prefers to be able to chose whether to be in or out.  He knows where to stand in the field to catch the most heat from the sun, and the least wind.

Sometimes gravity takes over and he has a snooze.

The chickens too found the sheltered spots to be protected from the wind, and soaked up some vitamin D.  We put a heat lamp in the south coop, which is the coldest one.

As the weather started to change, we did get a bit of snow, about an inch.  It`s all gone now, melted by the rain, but it did make it feel a bit more festive while it was here.

We`ve managed to get a bit of Christmas decorating done.  The odd thing placed here and there.  A centerfold in Home and Garden magazine we are not.

The Thanksgiving centerpiece has been seasonally updated.

About a week ago we dragged a fresh cut tree home  I dragged the fake tree out from the storage area at the end of the dining room.  That was a struggle and a half, let me tell you.  Two others spent quite some time trying to figure out why parts of the strings of lights would not come on.  They had no luck.  I made supper while others decorated it a few days later.  Last night a section of lights seemed much brighter, and then all of a sudden they went out too.  Before the tree is returned to it`s storage spot in January, we might take all of the lights off.  The box said there are 800:(  We always joke each year that we need lots of ornaments to cover up some of the lights, at times it just seemed too bright.  Now there are a few dark spots.  I always think it looks it`s best when the rest of the lights in the room have been turned out.  When every one else has gone to bed and it`s all quiet and it`s just me and a few sleeping animals.