Monday, December 7, 2009

Ducks in the Coop!

I managed to tempt two of the ducks into the coop run today. The other duck was more difficult and flew to the roof of the house. When I went out to close up the coop door after dark I found the duck sitting on the deck. I herded him toward the coop and after a lot of feinting, got him inside, too. Now all my birds are together in a much safer building which has done a lot to give me a feeling of relief. I just checked the temperature outside and it's down to 17.6f! Plus there's a snow storm on the way. I hope they don't mind too much, but they aren't getting out. No point with the pond frozen over.

Today Hal made tire chains for the rear wheels of the mower. It moves so much better through the snow now. We were able to move 3 loads of firewood. Then we had hot chocolate.

I think I may sleep pretty well tonight.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The Spirit isn't Willing

Or at least the Christmas spirit hasn't arrived yet. Just can't get into the holiday thing this year. My mom, little sister and her boy friend are coming in 2 weeks and the house is barely decorated. By this time last year it was approaching gaudy. Don't know if it's depression, stress, old age, who knows? I know a lot of people who feel the same way though. Probably didn't help that my ducklings got killed a week and a half ago. Even getting that deer on Thanksgiving Day didn't really kick start me. I imagine this might be how I'd feel on lithium. No big "ups" and no big "downs". Just sort of moving forward without any enthusiasm.
I do have the C-7 lights on the outside now, and candles in the living room window. Instead of running them along the gutter I put them along the deck and around the picture window. Easier than dragging the ladder around and no chance of them getting frozen into the yearly ice dam on the roof. Of course, if we get a ton of snow the ones along the deck will get buried in the snow bank I'll create when I shovel. But we haven't gotten much snow yet, might be an inch total out there. It is cold though.

I forgot to put the wreath up for a week. That never happens. I put up some of my indoor wreaths today. I also started cleaning the loft so sis and BF will have a place to sleep. The loft was big problem but manageable now.

The last couple days I was helping Hal with the firewood. He'd cut and I'd pile it into the trailer and stack it by the house. I tried to do it alone today, but that mere inch of snow made it nearly impossible to get the lawn tractor and trailer into the woods and back. No chains on the tires. I had to detach the trailer 3 times and throw the logs back onto the ground before I could get back to the house. I finally gave up. That's when I started cleaning the loft instead.

A small bit of good news, the hot tub no longer leaks. Hal got some advice from the plumber guy who plumbed the main lines from the heat exchanger and it worked great. Looks like we'll be able to hot tub all winter long. And I won't be emptying the bucket in the basement so often any more and then having to refill the boiler. Now if that plumber would show up and fix his leak that would be perfect.

Well, going to bed soon, hopefully I'll have more spirit tomorrow.