Not everything you'd imagine and a giveaway.

I've put on my armor (thermal long underwear, wool sweater, lined jeans, two pair of wool socks, Carharts, down jacket, wool scarf, dorp hat with ear flaps, glove liners and felted mittens) and trudged through the winter war and made it out the other end.  I remember when I liked winter a lot more.  Now?  Not so much.  All my plans for nesting and resting were for naught, especially when there were beings in my care that are out in the thick of it.

This says it all - but it wasn't the lowest point.

And I have a serious issue with weather forecasters.  For the week prior to this latest onslaught, all we've been hearing is "Snowmegeddon" and "Winter Storm Harvey" (don't get me started on this naming every storm thing) and dire warnings of wind chills to -41 degrees due to high winds.  There was to be blowing snow, power outages, life-threatening cold.  The reality?  We got about 8 inches of snow, topped with an inch of sleet (lovely combination) and, while our temps did plummet to -12 degrees, there were no high winds.  But, by Saturday evening, I had decided that there was no way on Earth that I could protect my quail from high winds and -41 degrees.  So I quickly re-worked the laundry room to set up two large bins where they could ride out the worst of it in relative warmth.  I very carefully waited until dark to move them, one-by-one, directly from their hutch on the deck into their bins and, even after taking all those precautions, I awoke Sunday morning to find that three had died in the night.  I am assuming it was due to stress, as quail are fearful little things.  Had we actually had the dire weather predicted, I wouldn't have felt as bad - but I could have left them in their hutch and just wrapped them to ward off the cold.  Now I have to reverse the procedure and I am terrified that I will cause the rest to die.  Keep us in  your thoughts Wednesday night.


I am glad that the snow came before the Arctic freeze, as it made the shoveling bearable.  I got all the pathways cleared and the out buildings cleaned off, then made chicken vegetable soup with everything I could get my hands on in the fridge.  My neighbor kindly plowed the driveway, so I was able to make a quick trip to the farm to feed the barn cats - knowing full well that I would not be venturing out on Monday.  Monday was brutal.  The chickens are inside the coop with a light on and are holding their own.  Today, the weather is supposed to ease up - just in time for heavy rain on Thursday.  WTH?  Beam me up, Scotty!


Peanut managed to levitate himself outside to do his business - looking reproachfully at me at every opportunity because, you know, I am directly responsible for the weather.  I tried to keep him in sweaters all weekend, but he managed to wiggle out of every one.  The last one was a little snug on his sausage body, so I felt there was a better chance of keeping him clothed.  A half hour later, I heard a 'bump, bump, bump' in the living room and discovered he had pulled both front legs inside the sweater, got stuck, and was flopping around the living room like a stranded seal pup.  Sigh.  At least Lovey keeps hers on.


Enough of the mitching and boaning.  Amazon, quickly becoming my least favorite retail source, bollixed up my order of "Making Winter" - something I was looking forward to reading over the long weekend.  They told me it had been delivered, but the problem was, it wasn't delivered to me.  A very nice customer service rep from some distant country sent me another copy and, wouldn't you know, the original showed up yesterday.  So, their loss is our gain.  I am giving away my extra copy:

It had great recommendations and contains recipes and projects and fiber work.  Unfortunately, all the fiber work is crocheting and, while it's on my list of things to learn, I haven't reached it yet.  That said, there is a cowl in there that I am dying to make, so that might be the motivation.  In any event, it is a lovely book.


To enter, just leave a comment below by midnight, Friday, January 25.  I will announce the winner the following Monday.  (Entries are limited to the Continental US, my apologies to my readers in other countries - the postage is prohibitive.)   Bon chance!