sorry for my lack of posts.....

I know its been a while since my last post. I assure you all that we are fine and all is well. NW has been playing winter basketball, and it has taken up much of our time, more then I would have liked. Then there are the daily chores of the estate, never seems to stop. Well before I knew it a few weeks had passed since I had been on here. So, after blog surfing and seeing what everyone has been up to, I decided to sit down and write a bit myself.

I am sure most of you are in the path or have been of this storm, the first sign we got that it was going to be bad came last night when the school district cancelled classes for today. I broke the  news and was met with many hoots and hollers. 

 Overnight it started....

 First came the freezing rain, then sleet and finally a bit of snow. Not a lot but enough to cover the ground and for the boys to have a few snowball fights

.Senior going to work today was questionable, and I made the decision for him, after watching the early morning news and weather..for us the storm involved ice and lots of it, I made the decision for him, his drive to work is more then an hour, and I didn't want him out there on these icy back roads. I am glad he agreed, because as promised, the ice added up and yes there have been many wrecks. 

I went to tend to the chickens, these are some of my new ones, and had no clue what snow was, I don't think they liked it too much as they stayed in the coop all day. I have noticed that our rooster "Black Jack" is not doing his traditional crow, he has started making more of a cackling noise. Not sure if this is because of the much colder weather we have had all week, or if he is just mimicking the hens...I have not had a roo do this before.

I have been hanging out at our public library more often, when I saw the trailer for this movie, I did not realize it was a true story until I saw Ron Howard being interviewed about it, so out of curiosity I  checked it out. and I got to tell ya, its one heck of a survival story. 

I truly believe everyone should read it, to learn the things "not to do" in a survival situation. I an about half way through it, and will sit at night and read parts of it to Senior, and tell him the things they did and shouldn't have done. Pretty amazing, I can't wait to get back in to it tonight. 

So the big parts of the storm have moved north...here we are having some small snow showers, but tomorrow promises to be brighter...might even see the sun..  

Hope you all have a good night, if you are in the path of this blizzard...stay off the roads, and stay safe..

-JUGM

ice storm





 

We saw the brine trucks out on the road early yesterday in preparations for the coming storm.We all hoped for snow, but we got a hard freezing rain instead. I know my friends to the north giggle at my silliness over the winter weather, This is nothing compared to what they have endured. I laugh at my neice who now lives in PA, she wants to know who ticked off "Elsa".  LoL

 

Senior and I lived in CT for nearly three years, and had some very snowy winters. The boys have only seen snow once, and never have seen the impact of an ice storm. They had a blast, it all  made for a fun day and some good pictures....

 

 

Old Glory froze in place:

 



limbs weighted down by ice:



the back pasture looked like a winter wonderland:



Our little picnic table in the front yard was covered in nearly a half inch of ice:

 



 

Wow..the impact of frozen water:

 

Canned butter..and other stuff

 I have been trying to get to this post for a few days now, but every time I sit down to type..something happens and I have to stop. So here is attempt number 1000

First off..an apology: I was watching "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last week..because I think his monologues are really funny. And saw where Julianne Hough a" Dancing with the Stars" judge was going to be on. They announced the contestants for this current season..one of them was Sasha Obama. I commented to Harry and Sandy about this over the weekend, and I tuned in Monday to watch..only No Sasha Obama..  I searched and searched the web for an answer, and other people who heard that announcement was just as perplexed as I.
I can only assume that it was a mess up on the part of Kimmel, or Secret Service scrubbed her competing due to security concerns...  oh well.

Now, on to other things... Everyone else has been canning butter, so Senior and I jumped on board this past weekend with it as well. I found a really good recipe for it: End Times Report-Canning Butter. The one thing I liked about this recipe was it did not need pressure canning or a water bath.
So It was very easy to accomplish.

The folks over at ETR also have a good recipe for canning hard cheese such as cheddar. One that we will most likely try out this weekend.

We have had lots of rain here since Saturday...our garden is a nightmare. But, weather is turning cooler and I had to go dig out the boys "Winter Wear". I say winter wear but really coming from Florida to these parts it is more like "Fall Wear" . My Neice is also in the same boat, moving from Florida to PA. She awoke Tuesday morning to 45 ldegrees...She is a true Florida Girl, and all ready missing the warmth. Plus every thing is gas there, so she has to learn how to regulate her heating usage. It's going to suck for her this winter.. 

School is almost out for the day, so I am off here to go fetch the kids..  Have a good day everyone!

-JUGM