hail

today's weather forecast showed a 0% chance of precipitation.  we just had a fair amount of hail come down---enough to turn everything white.  as hail goes it was pretty benign.  it was like little, pointy snowballs, not the hard, icy spheres i'm used to calling hail.

the ducks were pretty excited by all the little white balls jumping around on the ground and started running around eating them.

zane likes to catch it in the air like he does with snow.

i think i'm going to count this as some form of snow rather than hail.  the texture and coverage was far more snowlike than hail.  i can understand why the inuit people have so many words for snow.  it doesn't only come down in pretty little flakes.  

time to put another log on the fire.

thanksgiving feast

i made a little thanksgiving feast for two (zane made three).  nothing fancy but it was pretty tasty.

cole slaw with currants and pears, baked chicken, cranberry sauce and cornbread

an icy morning

thanksgiving day

when i wake in the morning
there's a fire in the woodstove
the smell of coffee brewing
and a smile on your face

the sound of winter

there's a certain kind of quiet
that comes with cold
a solemn silence
that settles with snow

a little snow

we're getting a little snow today (and some rain).  most of it has been pretty wet and slushy but we did get a little of the fluffy stuff coming down for a while.

zane loves snow and had a good time running around and biting at the flakes and icy chunks as they fell from the sky.

the ducks are unfazed.  they love the wet weather and don't seem to mind the cold at all.

i prefer the view from inside.

...but this view ain't half-bad either...

i took a really nice video of the snow coming down but lately blogger seems to be unable to upload any of my videos without seriously degrading the quality.
here it is anyway:

 

trees and light

spent the day with my two favorite guys enjoying the warm sunshine and the beautiful sights.

 

fire and ice

it rained off and on all day yesterday, the rain turning into hail in the early evening, and last night brought the first bit of icy weather we've seen this fall.  it was a little breezy and 30F when i went out to feed the ducks and chickens this morning and never broke 50F all day.

a thin layer of ice covered the water in the ducks' pool

duck down encapsulated in ice

staal decided to burn the pile of brush we accumulated over the summer.  i helped keep an eye on the fire for a while.  it was a good way to keep warm on a cold day.  i found a wonderfully textured piece of ice that had formed on a tarp nearby.

seems like this fall and winter may be shaping up to be cooler than last year.

blue

the sky is
always bluest
on a chill, fall morning after a rain
what storm has swept through you in the night?
your eyes are
bluer than the sky

still with me

duck yard

we're enjoying some good rain today.  just before the last big rain we had i sowed a pasture mix into the duck yard area and put up a temporary fence to keep it protected while it germinates and gets established and yesterday staal and i put in some 4x4 posts for the permanent fence.  i've decided to divide the yard into two sections.  i'm going to completely enclose a section off the back of the duck shed that will have wire on all sides as well as over the top and provide a safe area for swimming and exercising when i'm not able to keep an eye on the ducks.  the fully enclosed area will open into a larger fenced pasture/duck garden area where they can forage when i'm out working but need to keep them contained.

the ducks are still sleeping in their duck safe in their run at the back of the kitchen garden.  i've been putting off moving them until i get a secure outdoor run built for them.  runners are a little high strung and a bit skittish about new things so i've been working on getting them comfortable walking into the new duck shed and spending time in there.  we've had some kale parties inside and they've spent some time enclosed there when we've been out running errands.  they seem to be adapting to the new space quite well.  i've been leaving the shed door open during the day while they forage and they've started going in on their own to get a drink and root around in the straw.  

with the fall planting done and the rains keeping the gardens watered i'm hoping to be able to focus a bit more time on getting this little project wrapped up so i can move the ducks to their new digs.

duckherd and flock

happy birthday, zane grey

hard to believe it's been four years already.  he's an amazing companion and he's made me a better person.  i love him dearly. 

after the rain

family portrait

trio

el nino es aqui

over 2" in the rain gauge and still coming down.  'twas a beautiful, wet fall day.  may we enjoy many more.