Assorted Shots From Around The Farm

It's still too early to know how February will turn out, but I can tell you that December and January had such cold, snowy, windy, icy weather that even the old timers were complaining. But the farm has survived more than a hundred winters and is surviving this one also:

My bird feeder (with the neighbors' horses in the background) has attracted lots of Chipping Sparrows, Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, Bluebirds, Cottontail Rabbits...............

And Chickadees. At first the Chickadees, which I never saw or heard in warm weather, were cautious and would fly away in a panic at the mere sight of me. But over time, they became accustomed to me and realized that I was the source of all that birdseed. They became much tamer:

The poor cows had to survive brutally cold temperatures and blowing snows. I was doing chores one morning when I snapped this photo of the cattle eating hay amidst the blowing snow. I don't suppose they were happy about it. I know I wasn't happy to be out in it:

But on quieter days, they relaxed:

And they continued to get grain twice a day. Scarlett, ear tag #2, developed lice and I called the vet in to treat all five of them:

And indoors, the dogs and cats stayed warm. These are my two kitchen table buddies, Bramble and Draco:

And old Snoozey plopped himself down on the dog food bin. Snoozey is a floor cat and not a climbing cat. Seeing him even this far off the ground was a surprise:

The dogs went out into their yard frequently but briefly. That didn't stop old PeeWee from pooping and peeing in the house, but I learned to live with it since he always made it through the night in the carpeted bedroom. I tried reprimanding him for his downstairs misdeeds, but it's difficult to punish a nearly deaf and blind old dog without making him more afraid. And it's easy to clean up on the hard floors:

The chickens stayed locked up in their coop all winter:

And they seemed to have become comfortable with their confinement. After all, they have each other for company and a nonstop supply of both food and (warmed) water. And the temperature in the coop has generally been 10 to 20 degrees warmer than the outdoors:

The eggs pretty much stopped for the worst of winter, but that's alright with me. They'll start again in the springtime: