In a world that’s been anything but peaceful for the last year, it’s nice to sit back and simply enjoy the peace and quiet of winter here in New England. Even if it is starting to make us a bit stir crazy.
February seems to be starting out to be more cold and snowier than December and January were! I closed the shop due to large snowstorms once in December, opened late one day in January, and have already been closed once in February. There were also two snowy days when I came in, but business was quite slow! While it’s my preference to keep my hours consistent, it seems wiser to stay off the roads when they are bad, and I think most people feel that way as well. Don’t go out unless you must.
The worst part of the snow and cold is that we haven’t been able to get Luke out for walks consistently. We need to make new trails in the woods for him, so he doesn’t strain his knees too much walking in deep snow (for those that are new to us, Luke has luxating patellas in both his back knees; click here to learn more about that condition). Dad has been busy trying to keep up on snow cleanup and hasn’t had time to do that yet. My car keeps having issues and he’s been spending time trying to get that fixed too.
I took the photos above and below on a very short walk around the yard. If I’m being honest, that deep snow was harder on me than it probably was on Luke! I didn’t have time to dig out my snowshoes, but clearly, I need to do that! Luke was game to go out in it, and we followed deer tracks some to make it easier, but it wasn’t long before he was holding up his paws because they were cold; so, we headed back to the house, following our own trails.
We are all starting to feel a bit of cabin fever now, I think. Things are slow at the shop (not unexpectedly post-holidays) so I have more down time both there and at home. I’m not good at relaxing, I’d rather be busy! But I’m doing my best to enjoy the down time while it lasts; I’ve been doing more reading in front of the fire on my time off, with Luke by my side, or at least nearby – he sometimes prefers to lie directly in front of the stove!
We did have the distraction of trying our winter hatch of chicks in the incubator! Unfortunately, that didn’t go as well as hoped, and we ended up with just two new chicks hatching. Aren’t they the cutest though? Once again, we’re not sure what went wrong, and being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we are trying again! While it’s frustrating to watch and wait, especially those last three days when hatching should start, with little result, I decided to just focus on the two newbies, and not the disappointment.
We are trying something else new. Since having chicks in the house can be a messy endeavor (they create a crazy amount of dust!), we purchased an air purifier to see if that would help. Thank you to our friends at My GBGV Life for their review of one (you can read it by clicking here) recently; that’s really what put the idea in my head. We’ll let you know how that goes, or if we’ll be back to only hatching when it’s warm enough to keep them in the coop!
At least we can already see the days getting longer. The hens have upped their egg production recently, and they don’t coop up for the night quite as early as they did. We do believe that our young girl, Annie Oakley, has started laying, but we haven’t really caught her in the act so we can’t be sure! We’ve had some smaller eggs though and suspect those were from her. Their first eggs are often small.
While the flock is not impressed with all the cold and snow, they are doing OK! They spend more time inside the coop, or the garage when they are free ranging. If it’s sunny and a little warmer (which it hasn’t been much), some will wander over to the porch and sit in the sun for a while, mostly the guinea hens. It’s funny to watch them, because when they decide to leave, they’ll often fly back instead of walking in the snow. Guineas can fly much better than chickens, but oddly they often choose to walk instead.
While we wait for spring, or even just more moderate conditions outdoors, we’ll watch these two little cuties grow and wait for the next batch of eggs to (hopefully) start hatching! I need a project to occupy my time at the shop, so I have a new one I’m going to start soon. I’ll fill you in more on that once it’s underway.
How is everyone else surviving the winter? Are you enjoying the peace of it too, or is it simply too quiet?
I have been watching the weather reports thinking of all our friends in the pathway of this snow and freezing rain. We have had colder days but nothing like what others are enduring. For all the days you’ve had snow, we have had rain. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun shine. I am so looking for Spring like days… Sounds like the store is doing well and Luke looks amazing.
Take care my friend, stay safe
We are all doing well, thank you! We get a sunny day here and there, in between snow and ice storms, and frigid cold – well sometimes the sunny days are frigid cold, but at least they are brighter!
We can see the days getting longer now too, and that’s always an optimistic sign.
xoxo
Those chicks sure are cute!!!! I hope that the snow slows down so that you and Luke can enjoy longer walks. It hasn’t been too snowy here until now. It’s looking like a big storm that just hit this evening. I’m glad because we need it.
We were finally able to get out for one decent walk! We stuck to the plowed road, and then just did a short walk through the deep snow. He seemed to do find with that. Now we’ve got ice on top of that snow, and more snow on top of that ice, so I have no idea what the conditions are like out there now!
I’m so in love with those chicks! I could watch them all day!
I’ll have to try to do a video of them too, their sweet little noises make them even more entertaining!
That snow is almost as deep as ours!
Hubby and I spent about a combined total of four hours cleaning it up. I wielded the shovel, and he the big snowthrower…which I would love to use to tame the drifts, and snow at the end of the driveway from the plow, but its way too big and heavy for me…
We are told it will go down to -11F tonight…Brrr!
Sorry all your eggs didn’t hatch…but Toni and Cleopatra sure are adorable!
Four hours – wow! That’s quite a workout! Lucky for us, hubby has a plow on his 4-wheeler. It makes clean-up much easier. I can’t shovel much because I have a bad shoulder, so he has to do the bulk of everything.
That is way too cold! I don’t mind if winter lingers, if it could just be a little warmer, right? Hang in there, and stay safely inside where it’s warm!
cute little chicks 🙂
OMG those babies are soooooooo cute! now we have about as much snow as you do, we got about a foot of snow last night! I love it though as long as I don’t have to drive in it!
I agree! It really is so pretty!
Sorry you didn’t get more chicks, but those sure are adorable. Luke needs a sled for you to pull him around. Keep warm! XO
Oh, you’re right! He probably wouldn’t stay on it though! LOL
Dang, that’s sure lots of snow, you need a snowboard Luke. Those wee chicks sure are adorable and we hope the others get out n’ about soon, they’ve gotta have coop fever!
Or maybe someone needs to make snowshoes for dogs too! 🙂
We did finally get a couple sunny days so the birds were able to get out some. Like cats, they love a good sun puddle! 🙂
Looks like Luke could use some snowshoes too! We’re supposed to get around 10 inches of snow tonight. So yeah…we’re ready for spring.
Yes, he definitely needs snowshoes too!
Toni and Cleopatra are so cute! They grow so fast. Cinnamon empathizes with Duke. We have had the coldest and snowiest February in over 25 years! And awake to another 5 inches this morning. Driveway shovelling has become an onerous chore and we can’t wait for some warmer weather. Love the post! Thanks for sharing and have a marvellously Happy Day
Thank you! It has certainly been a crazy winter, and now so much worse for those in TX. I really feel for them; at least we are used to dealing with the challenges of winter, even though we are tired of it!
Tony and Cleopatra are adorably precious. Tell Luke we empathize with him in the cold snow. It’s been a brutal few days but should start improving today. Stay warm, stay safe and keep sharing great photos of the ‘girls’ and Luke.
We’ve had snow, ice, and more cold this week but we squeezed in a good walk before all that hit. One more snowstorm tomorrow, and then I think they are saying next week will be better with more moderate temperatures (anything above freezing would be great).
Everything is so inviting, so lovely ~ Luke, all the farm animals ‘n’ baby chicks, cozy by the fire ~ Norman Rockwell come to life. (we are envious …) Peaceful is the best word.
We are truly quite blessed. ♥
That’s a lot of snow and cold, but Luke seems to be doing just fine. Well until his feet get cold.
I’m ready for spring. This cold and gloomy has overstayed its welcome.
I linked this post to Awww Mondays. I had to because Luke is so Awww worthy.
Have a fabulous day and week. Smooches to Luke. ♥
We finally got out for a nice walk on my day off this week, and Luke did very well. He even chose to go into the deep snow on the trails so we let him do that for a short ways.
Thank you for linking us! Luke sends extra smooches back! ♥
Oh my, the chicks are adorable! Welcome to the world, Toni and Cleopatra!! As for winter, all we get is cold rain. We had a dusting of snow last week, but it was all gone by the middle of the second day. As to relaxing, I’ve learned to love it, especially after a stressful day with little relief. It feels good to just sit down with my coffee and catch up on my blog reading. And Ducky asleep nearby.
Maybe someday I’ll learn to relax! Tom is much better at it than me. We’re getting it all this week – snow, ice, cold….luckily we got a decent walk in on my day off before all that hit.
Be glad you don’t live in Texas! At least you have power, heat, and clean water.
And at least we are used to dealing with this stuff. I really feel for them.
Love the little fluffies. Sounds like you will be busy come spring time, so being prepared will be good.
At least it will be less hectic than last spring when I was so busy with getting the shop ready to open! This year I can focus more on the farm and garden.
hi toni and cleopatra!!!! we have a little cabin fever too… first flood then snow then ice… we stopped at ice, it was no way to drive… mark walked the dogs more on his bautt than on his feet…
The ice is definitely the worst! We got some of that this week too. 🙁
Hope the air purifier works for the dust. We run ours in the bedroom every night. The chicks are so cute, but what a bummer so many didn’t hatch. We’ve enjoyed the arctic blast, but it is going on two weeks now and we are ready for some warmer weather so we can get back to our usual long walks in the morning. This will be the fifth day in a row we don’t even get above zero. Even winter lovers need some above zero weather for fun after a while! Enjoy those two little cutie pie chicks.
Oh dear, and we thought our weather was tough! Yours is definitely tougher. We ended up with an ice storm this week which is only going to make things worse. Luckily, we were finally able to get out for a walk before that. We did some on the road, and then a bit in the woods too, so it wasn’t too tough on Luke (or the humans – ha, ha).
It looks like we’ll be getting a bit better after one more small snow storm tomorrow.
It’s hard having fun in the snow when it’s almost up to our tummies, isn’t it, Luke. Toni and Cleopatra are just too cute!
It is hard!! We finally did get out for a walk though, so I had to show my parents that I was tougher than they think (they are the wimps, really – BOL).