Winter begins in earnest...

Well here we are, Christmas is over, New Year's Eve passed without any comment, and it is January 4th already. My son and his wife and child arrived for Christmas. It was wonderful having them here. They are already gone now that I am writing this and it seems like a whirlwind. The one fairly nice day, we drove over to the bird sanctuary and fed the swans.

They are domesticated, not tame, but they come quickly waddling up for bread or crackers. I was glad I had gloves on because they sort of clap their bill shut over the bread and if your finger is in there that gets clapped, too. But it was magical having these great creatures be so close and take food from your hand. Two days before this, I was outside with Cricket. We heard this strange, rhythmic noise coming closer and closer. As it came overhead we looked up and saw two Whistling Swans flying over the farm, beating their great wings in complete synchronization and making this strange, wonderful noise. I don't think the swans at the bird sanctuary are the whistling type but they were fun to look at and feed.

The next day a neighbor came by and Don, Matt, our neighbor Bob and I stacked three cords of wood by the wood stove. Here I was missing the garden and thinking the work at the farm was over until next Spring. Not. The wood had been delivered a week or so ago and sat in huge, ugly piles on the lawn. Turns out, stacking three cords of wood can get you pretty warmed up, even on a cold winter's day. It was wonderful having my son home to help. See the wood stove on the left hand side of the picture? That small, green thing? It sits behind the summer house and we keep it going 24 hours a day, stoking it every 12 hours. We figure it will cost us about $700 to heat the house for the entire winter with wood. And this is far less than using propane in the tank. Besides, it is "good work" as my husband says, and he enjoys heading out there twice a day to feed the beast.