Oh my gosh, what a weekend we had! While we were not thrilled about all our snow melting, we couldn’t help but enjoy the temperatures in the 50’s. The best part was that we did not get all the rain they were predicting; it rained a little bit overnight on Saturday but that was it. If you saw our photos on Friday, you’ll be amazed by how much difference a day or two can make!
The chickens and guinea hens were beside themselves with glee over the warmer temperatures and returning bare ground. It wasn’t quite as good for poor Luke. Saturday mornings the Dadz usually walks him while I go off to pick up work for the week. However, the snow was just too deep and soft to risk him walking in it with his bad knees.
By Sunday morning, however, a lot of that snow had melted. With those temperatures and even a little sunshine, there was no way I was not giving it a try. Conditions alternated between mud, snow, and ice; so while we couldn’t get too long of a walk in we did get out there for a bit. His poor knee did pop out once, so we had to err on the side of caution and keep it short (and keep him out of the deeper snow in the woods).
It was a perfect morning to get out and do some chores. While there’s not a lot to do in the winter, it was a great time to change out the nesting boxes, putting in clean straw, and give the coop a good raking and some fresh straw. We use what they call the “deep litter” method in the winter. That means we put a deep layer of straw and dry leaves in the coop in the fall, and it doesn’t get changed out all winter. We rake it to move it around and add fresh straw as needed. This helps to keep the coop warmer, since the waste breaks down into compost creating heat. The bonus is that the compost can go right onto our garden when the coop gets cleaned out in the spring!
It was also nice to be able to open the coop windows to air it out some, and we even let some fresh air into the house! A contractor once told us that airing out your house in the winter was a great way to save on your heating bill. His claim was that fresh air heats better than stale. I just enjoy the smell of it, and the feeling that we’re hopefully getting rid of some germs that might be lingering in the air!
I’m not sure what we’re going to end up with for walking conditions. By Sunday afternoon, the clouds had moved back in, the wind picked up, and the temperature was dropping. I’m hoping enough has melted during the day on Sunday to give us some clear paths and compact the snow in the woods, but we may end up with more ice than anything. The birds will be happy with bare ground for a while around the yard (our walking trails don’t get all the sun that the yard does), since it looks like there won’t be any more storms until the end of the week.
It’s anybody’s guess what Mother Nature is going to throw at us next, so it’s one day at a time on our little farm!
I’m sure it will be snowing there in no time! We are setting heat records down here
Yes, we got the snow we wanted, but that was followed by bitter cold, which we did NOT want. Oh well! Enjoy your heat!
The fog on the snow is so pretty! We hope you & Luke can get out for your walks this week. It has been in the 80’s here and feels like spring but will be back in the 50’s next week. I swear this weather is always keeping us on our toes. LOL
xoxo,
Bell Fur Zoo Mama
Your 50’s sound pretty awesome to us, since we’ve hit a cold spell, and it’s barely reached 10 degrees. Luke and I were at least able to get one walk in before the temperatures plunged!
The birds add a lot of color to your yard! Figuratively and literally 😉
Very true!! 🙂
oh my gosh what beautiful photos.
Thank you!!
You sure had some happy birds there and I hope Luke’s knee is okay. We’ve had nothing but yucky rain for days, it’s getting kind of old.
There’s not much good about rain! Hope you’ve had some sunshine since then. We got one sunny day but it was so cold out we really couldn’t enjoy it!
Luke’s knee has been better the last few days, thank you.
It was quite the January thaw. We had a high of 64. At least if we get more snow, it will be starting fresh.
We’ve gotten more snow now, and the walking conditions have been better thankfully. I think you’ll be getting snow today, like us?
It must have been wonderful to have some unexpected warmer temperatures!! We are in the middle of rain, rain and more rain in the PNW.
We really did enjoy it, but on the downside it made the return to cold seem that much colder! LOL
We had some freezing rain and not a wee bit of sleet…and then over all of that a bout an inch of snow. Makes for treacherous walking until you put on the ice cleats…or wait till it melts.
Maybe you can ask or research to make one yourself, a brace or a wrap for Luke to keep his knee stable when he is out walking. Sorry he has that issue.
Enjoy your topsy turvy yo-yo weather!
I am looking into buying or making a brace, but Luke can be difficult about having things put on him. So we’ll see.
We’re back to winter now, full-force! Extremely cold temperatures and more snow on the way. We’ll be glad when January is over, at least then you feel like there’s an end in sight! 🙂
Sorry about your knee popping out again. I hope there is something that can be done about that. You’re so handsome.
Have a woof woof day and week, Luke. My best to your peeps. ♥
Luke has been doing better on walks; we’ve been keeping them a little shorter. That and we doubled his joint supplements. So far so good!
Poor Luke! Do they have knee braces for dogs? Something to stabilize his knee so that he can walk with confidence in the snow?
I’m glad all the chickens and guinea hens got some quality time outside! I know that is hard to come by in the winter.
They do have knee braces for dogs, but early on I was told it would not help much with his condition. However, I do see now that a lot of people are using them for that. Truthfully, I never looked into it much because his knee popped out so rarely it didn’t seem necessary. I don’t know why it’s been so bad this winter, other than the conditions we have. I also wonder if I should switch him back to the joint supplements he used to be on, though I tend to think that’s not the issue.
Anyway, thanks for suggesting that again, I will look into it. The biggest concern is that with all of Luke’s fears and quirks getting the knee brace on him might be impossible. 🙁
We did get a lot of rain…and a little bit of ice. But no snow. This has been a strange winter so far.
It sure has! Hopefully all this odd weather means an early spring. Wishful thinking probably though! 🙂
So far we haven’t had much snow at all this season. You have had way more than we have!
It’s just so odd that every time we get some, next thing we know it’s melted and we’re starting all over again!
Fresh air in winter is not only great to experience, it’s mood-lifting. Here’s to more pleasant days this week.
It does not take long for me to get stir crazy when I can’t get outdoors; I definitely need that mood lifter.
We’ve had temps in the high 50s since Wednesday of last week. We took Ducky to the park on Thursday and Friday and just let her enjoy the new scents in the air around her. Saturday was rain all day. Sunday was beautiful but we stayed home to avoid the crowds. This week is supposed to be rainy and/or cloudy all week. UGH! I’d rather have snow.
We haven’t seen much sun this week either. The one day it was out it was so cold we couldn’t even feel any warmth from the sun. 🙁
That would be a nightmare day for us, we don’t like all that melting as it only creates a mess. Hope you don’t have a lot of ice from it all.
It didn’t turn out too bad…we had to cut one walk kind of short but the next day was better. Snow coming this week and we hope that will even everything out!
I love it when the signs of mr. winter go away… and even when he comes back, soon he willbe conquered for some months.
It at least gives us hope!!
We got temps in the 60’s and just marveled on our later in the day walks. Love the photos of the fog coming off the snow piles. Temps have dropped again and we’re back to January☺
Yup…we knew our unexpected spring could not last long…. 🙁