Snow Day Continued

I had too many photos from the snow this weekend to pile it all into one post so this is Snow Day: Part II:

Brought to you by Skeet:

Who's first order of business is to check in with the local feline supervisor

Our chicken yard was transformed:

Into an igloo!

The cats have taken up refuge

With the chickens:

And guineas

With 12 chickens and 6 guineas, the coop is full, but don't tell the cats because this is where I find them on a regular basis:

At least I think they're cats. Maybe they're just channeling their inner chicken. Better start laying eggs if they want to hang out in the nesting boxes.

Skeet secures the perimeter

Before taking time out for play

Rabbits beware

Hound dog at play

can you say HAPPY?

Skeet's got life figured out

No stress allowed

Life is good

Jump in with both feet

                               

or in this case, 4 feet

I could learn a lot from this hound dog

                                                 

Snow Day

We have enjoyed an unusually long, and beautiful Fall, but it came to an abrupt halt Saturday morning:

We awoke to about 6"

Which is quite a lot for us here in the desert. Skeet was elated:

But first things first:

Yes, even before our breakfast, critters are tended to:

And feed troughs need to be shoveled out before feed can be doled out:

With both of us shoveling, it only took half as long

Breakfast is served:

And after tending to some other chores:

And a little more time behind the shovel

DH enjoyed a well-deserved breakfast of steak and eggs

This was a heavy wet snow and pretty as it was:

We lost some big branches:

We're grateful for the moisture:

But thankful it doesn't hang around for more than 3 or 4 days. Glad I remembered to pull the laundry off the line:

Around here, a snow day means my oven will be busy:

After all, one tends to work up an appetite after all that shovel time:

Under the Needle - November

Between cooking for the crew, long days at the Sale Barn, a fun road trip to the WRCA Ranch Rodeo Finals, Thanksgiving, and a reindeer assembly marathon, I haven't spent much time sewing this month. As busy as life gets for everyone, I think it's important to make time for the things that bring you joy and as much as I like to sew, there are so many other things I enjoy as well. Thus, my sewing time is often sporadic. I might go a month or longer without setting foot in my sewing room.

The 1st week of the month I made blocks for another little string beads quilt using those Farmer John's Market FQ and a rustic fabric I had in my stash:

I wanted to make it bigger, but I ran out of the background and my online search has been unsuccessful. No worries, I'll dig up something that'll work. After all, all those old quilts so many of us love, have odds and ends pieced together and I have always thought that was part of their charm. 

The rest of the fruits and vegetables will be paired with a black dot, but I haven't settled on a pattern yet.

I also pulled out a bin of leftover strips from a previous quilt that needs to be pieced into blocks and then into a quilt for a friend dealing with some serious medical issues:

I picked up 2 quilts from Jackie on Monday. One is a Christmas gift and the other is a scrappy Christmas quilt for us. I  hope to get them trimmed in the next day or two, make the binding, and stitch it to the front in preparation for some hand sewing over the next few weeks:

                       

It's been too long since I had a quilt finish. I also made a couple of baby quilt tops using this pattern:

                                                       

I simplified it a bit in order to showcase a couple of special fabrics I had and I really like the end result. Alas, I handed them off to Jackie without taking pictures of the finished tops.

Lots of projects going on at once. I'd probably get more done if I just settled on one project at time, but I know we all sneak in what we can, when we can, and sometimes this is just more fun!

The Never-Ending Reindeer Project

I've been making these little rascals for over 20 years and each year I proclaim that I will no longer make them:

                             

Yet, here I am... once again... knee deep in yarn scraps and wiggly eyes...

Each year I am certain there cannot possibly be anyone who I haven't gifted one and each year I am proven wrong, although this year this herd is headed back with our girl. Ours girl's neighbors and co-workers will hopefully get a kick out of them. Honestly, if I've made a dozen for 24 years that's 288 reindeer. 😲

We missed our boy this Thanksgiving, but loved having our girl and her doggy duo for a few days:

                                     

This time I pilfered some of her photos. I love viewing her visits through her eyes:

                                   

In between moving cattle horseback, mineral runs, puppy trots, quail hunting, shooting and jerky-making, we were hard pressed to find time for a reindeer assembly session.

She laughed and said, "Most people just get to lay around over Thanksgiving." Poor kid's going to go back wore out, but her Daddy sure enjoyed her company

                           

Last night we had a 'Friends-giving' gathering with friends so I finished making pop-poms this morning, packed up the essential reindeer parts, and sent them with her as a build-a-reindeer project box.

                               

Perhaps it's time to pass on the tradition to the next generation. 😉

Happy Thanksgiving

Just popping in to wish ya'll a Blessed Thanksgiving and sending safe travel prayers for those of you on the road or in the air.
I'm pulling out an old photo our girl pilfered from our archives last week to share with ya'll- it pretty much sums up their childhood - a couple of wild, dirty, happy Indians.

           

A Few Quiet Days

DH asked me to help him run some heifers through the chute first thing Saturday morning:

                               

It was 26° as we hauled the medicine box to the chute:

        

DH and our north camp man brought the heifers up :

         

Funneled them through the pens:

         

And into the alley:

           

Waiting their turn:

Next:                                 

Hot irons on a cold morning:

He said he has abused the crew the previous week and didn't want to sour them on helping us. They had put in 12 hour days and that's a lot to ask of day hands. He deserves better help than I am, but we muddle through. We vaccinated and branded 100 hd of keeper heifers with a year brand:

                                  

By 8 a.m., they were branded and ready to move out to Chuck Box. - a pasture about 3 miles away.

                                                                     

On Sunday morning DH spent a couple hours deer hunting and I made a trip into town for Thanksgiving groceries. DH has been nursing a cold and I thought I had escaped it, but I woke up on Saturday without much of a voice. We were going to be shorthanded at the Sale barn on Monday and I HAD to be there. I'm a clerk there and sit on the block by the auctioneer. I weigh each animal being sold and assign pen numbers to each transaction, calling them out multiple times to the pen riders out back so they know where to pen the cattle. On Sunday, after I unloaded my groceries, I made some chicken noodle soup. I needed to do everything I could to assure I had enough of a voice to get through the day. I ate a few oranges. I drank tea with honey and lemon and a nip of whiskey at night. I fixed a concoction with apple cider vinegar and honey and lemon as well.  

It made for  few quiet days and on Monday, it was touch and go, but I made it through. Today I had to run into town and meet with the wife from North Camp and buy a new refrigerator, and tended to errands I wasn't able to cross off my list on Sunday. I am swearing off town for the foreseeable future!