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| Our wee Doodlebop does not like getting her little paws cold She has the three-legged, pitiful, pick-me-up thing down pat |
A balmy five degrees in sunny, tropical Fultonville this morning. The boss went downstairs at around four and I asked him to turn the heat up so the dog wouldn't be cold....I wasn't sure if I had given her a fresh hot water bottle at bedtime.... After all, she is just an itty bitty dog, and it gets almost as cold as outside when we turn the heat down. Turns out her bottle was still warm anyhow. I fill a 2-liter soda bottle with hot from the faucet, screw the lid on real tight, and wrap it an an old wool sock...
It is gorgeous out though, frost fog has sprinkled the crispy, brown, dead goldenrod with silver spangles that glitter like holiday decorations, and the sun is slanting its rays across the hills in a pretty, if coy, fashion. I realized yesterday that we have six months of winter here in upstate NY, three months of mud, one month of borderline bearable because of the heat, and two potentially really nice months, June and July. What were we thinking when we decided to be born here?
And stayed? I'm not sure, but as I said, it sure is pretty out. We are practically juncoed in here at Northview this winter, with dozens of them swirling through the bushes morning and evening in a delightful chorus of sparrow bells.
Under the heading of you learn something every day, I recently discovered that one of their chip notes sounds almost exactly like a chipmunk alarm call. I was wondering how we got so many of the little rodents, until I saw that it was the dapper little birdies instead.
Speaking of timely...there is a very nice man from a nearby town who has been bringing me coffee cans of sunflower seeds for several years. They are so welcome! Especially this year, as the boss bought me a bag from a certain feed mill upcounty and they are all moldy! Talk about a ripoff! But the juncos and their ilk will be able to eat the nice, healthy seeds from the nice gentleman, because he stopped by yesterday, and we had a lovely visit talking about dogs, and birds, and Bruce the bull calf to boot.
We will toss the bad ones out to sprout next spring.
What's she going to do when the snow is six-plus inches deep? Lear to levitate, I suppose. LOL!
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ReplyDeleteI let the dogs out this morning and it sure was balmy! I am glad that the wind wasn't blowing as hard as it was on Thanksgiving day! That is nice that you get the bird seed! Speaking of which, I need to fill ours!
ReplyDeleteYou have not mentioned spotty in a while or I missed it. I imagine the news is not good or you would have told us.
ReplyDeleteThat little dog has found a good home, she sure is loved.
BALMY!!!? We are heading down this weekend. Yesterday our high was 31* today 41*. Then by Friday we will see a high of 21* I dread the 5 degrees you are talking about...they will come...it will be in January and/or February but they will come.
ReplyDeleteBrrr
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
" . .What were we thinking when we decided to be born here?"
ReplyDeleteWe Ohioans often ask the same question . . and then answer as you do. The turning of the seasons.
And you've got all that natural beauty at your doorstep.
Lisa, I hate the cold....have I mentioned that? lol
ReplyDeleteEllie, sad to say, we finally decided on the day after Thanksgiving to put Spotty down. It was a heart wrenching choice, but she was declining rapidly rather than improving. Cows just don't do well down for such an extended period of time. It is hard to lose any of them, but she was my very favorite cow in the whole barn, and I waited thirty years to finally have an SWD Valiant daughter of my own. Thanks for caring...it means a lot. And we do love Daisy, crazily. She fills holes in our hearts that we didn't even know that we had.
Linda, this is so cold for so early in the year and I am hearing that worse is coming next week or the week after. ugh!
Cathy, we do! And I am enjoying it more than I usually do for some reason....the beauty that is.....
When you put spotty down could you use the meat or was she too close to you? It seems so sad not be able to use it. I know that sounds heartless but I too grew up on a dairy farm and know it is hard to lose not only a good cow but the finance part of it too.
ReplyDeleteEllie, no, we didn't use the meat. She had had quite a lot of various medicines, which rendered it unwise to eat her.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking. I remember we butchered out cattle that had a broken leg or one hit by a car.
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