A Sunday Update

I'm still a ways off of getting my camera back and photos taken, but as a reader suggested, I can post updates without pictures. So I'll try to make occasional notes on what's going on here at the frozen farm.

I became very sick on Saturday, with a sore throat and hoarse voice. In the evening, just as I began washing the dinner dishes, a pickup truck pulled into the driveway. I went out to find it was my neighbors with their three little boys and a few cousins of similar ages to sing Christmas carols and give me a plate of homemade cookies. The temperature was dropping toward 11 degrees and I was in my shirtsleeves, so they didn't stay long, but it sure warmed my heart.

Four cows declined to to come into the barn for grain yesterday morning. They did come today, but slowly and painfully. I suspect that their obesity is causing arthritis in their legs, which of course gives me added incentive to get them to lose weight. It also causes me to worry about my own health, but that's another story.

I woke up this morning feeling even sicker than I felt on Saturday but was able to do all of my usual morning indoor chores. I did email the choir director at church to tell him I wouldn't be singing with them today. I ate chicken noodle soup (from my own roosters) for breakfast and went out to do the outdoor chores. It was "up" to 18 degrees by then. I came back into the house and tried to sleep.

I didn't feel particularly achy except for my throat and voice - and I had work to do, so I began by driving to the little grocery store in a nearby village and buying more cat food for medicating Daisy and Bugsy. When I got home, I went into the pigeons' room to attach trim boards around their window to block drafts for the winter. That went well and I still felt able to do more, which was a good thing because the cattle were completely out of hay and had been all morning. I brought them out a new bale, moving the bale feeder as I always do. I didn't have to worry about avoiding standing water because it's all frozen now. On my way back into the house, I stopped to roll the trash bins out to the roadside for Monday morning pickup.

Well, that's how my Sunday went. This is a new kind of blogging but I can make occasional posts of this sort, at least when there is anything of possible interest to say. I appreciate those of you who follow this blog.