Sat. Jan. 17th… Cold is cold….but this is ridiculous… at times……

This morning started out at 15 below zero on the rear deck again, but quickly soared all the way up to 10 degrees, as was noted in the barn, as we picked eggs from the chickens as they sat in their nests. They didn't want to vacate their nests, even after laying their eggs, because they were so cozy and comfortable with the heat lamps shining on them. One nest even had three chickens stuffed in the same compartment, which I thought was ingenious. Just like there is safety in numbers..... so, is there heat in groups of huddled chickens.
We did have one problem and that was that I found water in the refrigerator starting to freeze, so we pulled all the eggs to the house and placed then in the refrigerator in the basement. Shortly after that, we checked the refrigerator in the barn again and the actual temperature was 17 degrees inside. Obviously removing the eggs and having the door open, allowed the temperature to drop like a rock. It is now so cold, that the refrigerator can’t control the temperature at the 38 degree set point until the frigid Canadian cold front passes and we get back to our regular temperatures. I'm sure the compressor of the refrigerator has not run in several days now and won't until it warms up again. You know it’s cold when the refrigerator can’t keep the eggs warm??????????????? I wonder what they do in northern Canada and Alaska? Do they use heatalators to keep their cold foods properly??
Our family company, slept in this morning which is exactly what anyone on vacation should do. Once done blogging, I will introduce Andrew to the world of reloading. There will be about a half hour getting set up, because all the components are still in the boxes, so must be pulled out, the press mounted on the bench and possibly…… we might need to install lag bolts into the floor to keep the bench down against the floor when I am resizing the brass. Sometimes, it takes a lot of force to draw the brass back to the original size after firing them in the rifle. I think Andrew will be very interested in reloading, because it’s something you very seldom are lucky enough to see being done… and we can then shoot a few rounds of the ammunition we reload.
Later this afternoon, we will go to Green Hill Café to have an early dinner, so we can then go to the Villa Vosilla to watch and record Joe (Vick’s father) perform for the weekend crowd in their beautiful night club ballroom. I’ll post a few pictures and possibly a little recording of his performance if I can, later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Friday, Jan. 16th… Farming’s harsh realities in sub-zero world…

Frozen doors…frozen water…frozen food containers and maybe frozen animals are all to true a possibility during the sub-zero temperatures sometimes experienced on up-state New York farms. There is much you can do to overcome many of the trials and tribulations of winter, but you better prepare in the comfort of fall or you will suffer along with your animals during a time of great stress and pandemonium, if tragedy strikes and you are not ready…… AND BELIEVE ME…you can never be too ready for old man winter’s savage attacks on man or beast.
We started to seriously winterize, as most of you followers know, in the late stages of Autumn when fall was just gaining it’s grip. We did many little things previous to this….during the summer as we were building the barn, making provisions for future winterizing features, like installing hinged ventilation louvers on the underside of the outside porches and so on, but the real winterizing began when the cold winds of fall started to remind you of winter’s approach every time you went outside.
Some of the things we did, were to install board and batten knee board sections around all the outside runs. This served to stop predator interest in trying to gain access to the runs, thus breeching the safety of the fowl residing inside. We placed 2b stone all around the perimeter of the runs and then crusher stone dust over that, to discourage digging under the walls. We installed heavy gauge, clear, vinyl furniture cover material over the top wired area to stop the winter winds, so the fowl could be out all winter long to peck and scratch in the dirt runs. The vinyl can easily be removed and stored in the spring, to allow free flow of air all summer long again.
We tried to diminish frozen drinking water in several ways…… one being to install heated buckets…… on to the old hen house, the duck house and one to the barn chicken house section. We also have large, flat, round water pans, which still freeze, but are easy to dump. The chickens love to peck at the ice and gain the benefit of water that way too. Each morning I dump what is left in the pans and refill them, but seldom is there any ice chunks to be found anywhere the next morning, so they love to eat the ice blocks left over. Next we installed heat lamps which heat the box nests and provide a roosting place at night, on the entry rail in front of the nesting boxes. We also pointed a heat lamp at the bleacher style roosting rails on the other side of the room. We use a lot of wood chips to both insulate the floor and nesting boxes, to provide a dry warm atmosphere for the chickens and the ducks. For the ducks, Keep your heated bucket and food in the outside run area. They will eat and slop in the water (as ducks do) out there and your duck house remains clean, dry and comfy for all of them.
The bunnies are easy…… a big pile of hay in the pen, a water bottle with a heat lamp suspended directly above to keep it from freezing, which also provides a warm spot for bunny to sit too. Install through the cage feeders with the metal lid to refill them and you’re all set with the bunnies.
In this weather the turkeys live with the chickens. The Guinea fowl live with the chickens year round, so the turkeys don’t mind the company when it’s really cold out there.
We had freeze proof water hydrants installed in the fall so we would have water in the barn and at the old chicken/duck house all winter long and I’ll tell you…..like Vick said…..”It was worth every penny to have it done!” It is so nice to have 55 degree water available at demand and it helps, to some degree, to melt any frozen containers you find.
Seems we have it all figured out…… but even with all the preparation we made, I found a dead Barred Rock bantam hen this morning. I had suspicions she might succumb to death because I found her in the duck house (where she chose to live) yesterday, on the floor, in the frosted corner of the room. I thought at that time, she was dead, but she was fluffed and sleeping. I picked her up and moved her to the old hen house and placed her on the bleacher roost, very near the heat lamp and she seemed pleased…….ruffled and re-fluffed her feathers and settled into a big feathered ball. I thought at that time, she was either sick and would die, or was chased away from the heat lamp by the ducks, which they will readily do……… the selfish little devils. Well…… despite my endeavors to help her, she went to the floor under the nesting boxes during the night and expired ………… obviously from sickness, or she would have stayed on the roost under the heat lamp.
The only bad thing about our operation here is that we still have one thing that can cause us great stress and pandemonium, and that is a power outage because of downed lines. Although we will always be subject to this occurrence…… we have discussed making preparations for installation of a watchdog generator capable of running the house lights and heat, the barn and outbuilding needs and the well pump for water. Once that contingency plan is in place, we will be able to rest assured we have done everything within our ability to be prepared and provided the best possible life for us and our animals here on the farm.

Thurs. Jan. 15th… Cold is just a figure of speech… unless you’re out there!!!

If you’re out there, it’s cold… really cold! It hurts to breath while you’re out there and you can hear the snow squeak under foot as you walk. It always amazes me that the animals can survive these kinds of temperatures…… The computer shows 6 degrees out there, but the thermometer on the rear deck is at -15 degrees right now. I don’t know where the computer gets it’s reading…… obviously it is somewhere in Greenville or Freehold because you can use either town for your location in the computer. I think I’ll put my coat on and go see how cold it is in the old chicken house and duck house. Being tied together and vented together……check one and you’ve checked the other. Their heaters work together to keep both the same temperature. I might go into the big barn and throw some hay into the bunnies so they can cuddle in a hay nest tonight too. Some new wood chips in the nesting boxes would be nice for the chickens too. Maybe it will make getting through this cold night a little more comfortable for them.

Below is a picture of the loading bench I just made. Tomorrow I’ll get most of the reloading components down there and I’ll snap another picture of it then and you’ll see a large difference.

This evening I wanted to start the Cub Cadet and let it warm up, but I couldn’t get it to start. It turned over great, but without the crankcase heater…… it’s a cold hearted bugger in this weather and didn’t start. Diesels are like that you know.

Thurs. Jan. 15th… Tomorrow evening our company arrives……

Bill Loraine and Andrew arrive tomorrow night, to start their winter weekend vacation, which we all excitedly await. They come up in the spring for a weekend and then again in the winter, every year and by the time they get here, they are busting at the seams. The winter visit is used to kickback and relax in front of the fire, watch TV and talk or go shopping. The spring visit is usually more intense with fishing, shopping, sightseeing and antique shopping. We are going to do a little antique shopping this time because Loraine needs a “tiquinfix” after the holidays and long workdays, so we’re planning to find someplace to seek out those hidden treasures. Bill doesn’t really need anything to enjoy his stay. He says, As long as he’s away from home, work and hassle, he’s mooch-o-cool-o! We will meet the at Vick’s parents and brothers house again, because that’s how every visit starts. Bill and Loraine grew up around Vick’s family and have remained close throughout the years, so they are as happy to see Joe and Anita, Rich and Robin and the kids that evening as we are. After dinner, we will all sit and talk…laugh and sip some wine, (or whatever else might show up) then head for home and relaxation.
Today, after feeding the critters, I’ll finish my re-loading bench in the little room downstairs and bring my equipment in from the storage site that now houses it. I wanted to do this “build and move” for quite some time, but was always busy with more important tasks, but now that Andrew is coming tomorrow, it’s a good time to complete it because he likes to shoot target and he can learn how to hand load the cartridges too. That’s always fun and different.
Although they are calling for partly cloudy skies for today and no precipitation…. It’s lightly snowing here. It’s one of those lazy fine snows that you can’t see until you look very, very close, but they were right about cold… it’s 4 degrees here right now. BURRRRRRRRRRR. I’m going to the coffee pot and then the pellet stove. See ya later!!

Wed. Jan. 14th… BitDefender is a lousy whore site… Stay clear!

If you ever hear of anyone buying or thinking about buying a subscription to their shit site…… tell them to stay away. They should pay you $29.99 to download their whore software, especially since you can expect them to leave a virus into your computer as soon as they pay them to do so. Obviously they make their bread and butter by selling you a program…… then selling a passport through their software, to a entity that creates a virus and then charges you to remove it. This can happen again and again………as I can attest to it. It will go on until you finally get pissed off enough to dump their lousy software and buy something from a reputable anti-virus software developer.
In light of this, I have investigated enough to decide to go back to Norton which is marketed by Symantec. After all it was developed by an actual physician who thought a virus that affects your computer could be very similar to a virus that affects a human and he worked with that concept until he developed a first class software company, which he then sold to Symantec. He went to work for them continuing to develop virus software. With all this in mind, I figured this was the program I needed to be using. Soooooooooooo, I purchased Norton and I’m hoping that that is the end of this silly Virus bull dung. So… There you have it.
Now……… we went out and grabbed the 6x6 treated post for the barn. We will install it to be the corner of the Alpaca stall and by placing it as soon as possible, we will be ready to finish the stall railing as soon as Ed Pooters finishes the lumber for it. We also picked up ten 2x4’s for the fabrication of a reloading bench in the basement. Andrew, our grandson from Long Island, will be visiting this weekend and he will love to shoot and reload the .284 and .30-30, then reload the cartridges and shoot them again. It’s something that most people never get to experience and it is a real blast. (excuse the pun!) Perhaps we will shoot a few pictures for the blog while we are shooting. Stay tuned. (and……… that “shoot a few pictures” thing was not an intended pun either!!)
We’ll have fun with Bill, Loraine & Andrew this weekend, through Monday, then the following Monday, we will pick up our friend, Robin, the southern Peach, at the Newark Airport, in New Jersey. She is flying in from Georgia and it will be the first time in three years that Vick and Robin have visited one another. She will stay eleven days, which will allow us to show her the Catskill’s in all their beauty. Robin has been just like a sister to me and Vick and we’re very pleased she will be staying with us for almost two weeks. I’m sure she will enjoy the farm, the wildlife, farm life and seeing Vick again.

Wed. Jan. 14th… Temp. disposed with Virus infection again???

Hi Ya’ll…… As it would seem, this morning I was infected again by another virus…… Now I gotta tell ya, this was starting to piss me off……… I had about all I could take from BitDefender, as it had given way to something and had the “real time” monitoring shut off, virus detection removed and the identity protection shut off. You could not update the virus list either…… just like the last time. Having had enough of this crap, I deleted BitDefender from the computer and downloaded the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool that Microsoft offers and upon performing a complete scan of my computer files……… it found NOTHING!!!!!
Now, I know that anti-virus developers will stoop so low as to inject a fake virus into your computer, which will hold you hostage until you buy their program to remove it, and some will even go as far as to hijack your credit card info after you give in and buy their program to remove the virus and empty your bank account and max out your card, but why would an anti-virus program, once bought, continue to say you have a virus when you don’t??????? I don’t know of an answer to that, unless BitDefender is a whore company, selling to you and then cheating on you and allowing a virus to pay them so BitDefender will let them infiltrate your computer by breeching their software.
My scan is now over and there was absolutely no spy ware or virus in my computer. Let me do some more investigative work and I’ll blog the results later today, but for right now. If you have BitDefender or know of anyone who does………tell them to dump them and find something else to protect them. What CRAP!!
(I have nothing right now and my computer runs better than it has for a long time. )

I think I might go back to Norton, who knows. Need to check them all out again. Later!!

Tues. Eve, Jan 13th… The ARI is a magnificent theft deterrent…

Hi everyone…… We’ve been getting quite a few emails about the ARI numbers of Alpaca’s, most of which, wondering about what I said pertaining to how it was definitely useable as a theft deterrent for Alpaca ownership. Our e-mailer’s wanted me to explain how this would be possible, so I am borrowing the following information from a public overview page from the site, www.alpacaregistry.com
Using advanced DNA technology, ARI validates the parentage of alpacas submitted for pedigree registration. Once an alpaca's parentage has been validated, ARI issues a registration certificate that provides known lineage and assigns a unique number to each alpaca. ARI itself is a tremendous asset to the entire alpaca community. Created in 1988, the ARI methodology and database are some of the most sophisticated and accurate of any livestock industry anywhere in the world.The vast majority of alpacas in North America are registered with ARI. The Registry protects the existing gene pool and helps ensure each breeder's investment is protected from cross-breeding with other camelids and precludes the registration of an alpaca if its parents were not ARI registered alpacas. ARI is currently a closed registry which means that every alpaca that is registered must be DNA tested and validated as an offspring of two other ARI registered parents. If this can not be validated, the alpaca will not be registered.In addition to maintaining the growing database of alpacas and DNA records, ARI manages lists of animals owned or sold by owners. Certificates of Registration are printed and provided to owners, displaying up to five generations of ancestry. Online queries available to ARI members can provide recorded and validated ancestry for any alpaca in the database regardless of the number of generations, as well as other information.
Now… with the above information about all this, picture if one of our animals were to be stolen from the farm, taken somewhere in the United States and resold, to transfer ownership or to register offspring, you need to have a DNA test run, and as soon as it is performed, it would show the Alpaca ownership registered to Vicki and I. That ARI# would have also been listed as stolen as soon as we found the animal missing. Knowing this information, virtually means there is no market for stolen Alpacas in the United States, because just as a car has a VIN #, there is a DNA registration on each animal. That is how the ARI operates.
This evening has been an exciting one…… reading about the Alpacas and Angoras… And then there’s Casey Mae. She is now a little woman and she is extremely popular with the other girls. It is however messy, so Vicki has created a menstrual panty for her…… and from my old undies……. How exciting…….. Not.
She does, however, wear it as though she knows it’s purpose…… never trying to remove it, but content to allow it to do it’s job. Check the picture below…………… Funny, is it not?

Tues. Jan 13th… Another clear morning going to the dogs……

Good morning from the cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm!! A bet a lot of people wonder why we called it that, and if you just have enough patience to wait a little while longer, it would be extremely evident to you. We will soon have the Alpacas here and we'll be building an addition to the existing barn already, to house a bunny hutch…… where we will house the promised four German Angora rabbits we will be getting from Claudia this summer. She won’t have a litter until all the young are promised and since a litter consists of at least six young… she will need to have two more sold before she will breed one of her does. We may need to take all six if she doesn’t have any more interested parties between now and this spring.
The Alpacas are due here around the end of March or so…… maybe sooner if we can’t stand to wait for them. It is easy now, because of the winter cold and snow. (which doesn’t bother them at all, by the way!) The barn is all but ready for them to arrive and will be before they get here. Spring officially arrives on March 20th this year, so I’d expect a few mildly warm days around then, that we can build and hang the last gate to the pasture and add the support posts and cables to both. Ed Pooter’s will be calling soon to say the stable stall, lumber order is ready to pick up and we'll need a 6 x 6 corner post for the stall yet, which we will pick up at GNH lumber.
Well, to make a long story short…… I think with chickens, ducks, guinea foul, turkeys rabbits, Alpacas and German long haired Angora rabbits on site… you can see why Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm was a good name for our little piece of heaven.
Now for the “going to the dogs” portion…… we have another ridge of low pressure carrying snow to us from across Pennsylvanian again. It will reach us around noon I suppose, but I could care less. I got a phone call from Rose, my step-mother, telling me that they took my dad back into surgery again this morning for an infection and soreness in a spot on his arm that they operated on in the middle of last week. The biopsy came back as cancerous, which we expected. We didn’t expect however, for the spot to become infected or whatever is going on and be so painful. Rose will keep us informed as things progress. Dad won’t care…..he’s like me… if it’s cancer….cut it out and don’t stop until there’s nothing’ left. It is a worry to me however, because we lost my mom to cancer in 2002. She waged a courageous thirty seven year battle with the "Big C" before succumbing to it though!! That’s why it’s very important, to see a doctor about anything out of the ordinary immediately and have it taken care of immediately. That’s another reason why you should live every day to the fullest, because maybe…… tomorrow…… isn’t on the menu. What can a person do except enjoy the life they have, love those around you and plan for the future….. Then using all of this, try to create the life you dream about. Below are a few pictures of Iggy and Luke, our Alpacas. Two are recent and two were taken last summer at shearing time.



This was Iggy a couple of weeks ago when we went to see him and Luke.
Iggy is the short affectionate nickname for Iago, who is a full Chiliean, Suri Gilding Alpaca.

This was Luke during the same visit.
Luke is short for Luciano, who is a Chilean - Peruvian mixed, Huacaya, unproven male Alpaca.

Both Iggy and Iago are ARI registered, which makes them theft proof.




This was Luke last summer, right after his shearing



This was Iggy before shearing last summer.

Mon. January 12th… Boob day…USA… finally after three years…

You know…… it might have been four years, so she says……… in any event, due to the love I have for her, a keen liking of her lovely feminine assets and quite honestly, after joking around about the previous reasons……… most of all her healthy, well being… I’m extremely glad to say, she kept her appointment for her “annual” mammogram today. In the future, we will strive to make her “annual” visit actually fall within a twelve month window, rather than the thirty-six to forty-eight month, year she has kept in the past. Vick’s appointment was eleven o’clock this morning, so we ended up leaving early, traveled down the road to Catskill for her appointment at Greene County Imaging, then went on down to Kingston and lunch at the China Bowl. We also hit Gander Mountain and picked up a few of their excellent quality flannel shirts and I got one of their heavy, felt style, chamois shirts, which are very, very, warm. It is a fawn color and one that will look very nice when worn to a semi-formal function in the winter time. Vick got a really nice Gander Mountain, hooded, jacket style flannel shirt with a zippered front. Very slick looking and warm!!!!!
She also grabbed a heavy flannel shirt to wear around the house when the temperature dips into the single digits.
While down there, we hit a few of their wine stores, looking for our favorites, but they didn’t have any. Huh……… No taste down in that town…… too bad they didn’t build Gander Mountain in Albany where all the good folks shop (and they have quality wines too.) Even Coxsackie has better wines and liquors…not to mention nicer people than Kingston and Catskill too. I feel so sorry for the few really nice people we did meet in both those towns, but they should move to a more Northern area where nice people are the norm……… not an isolated exception to the rest there.
After returning home this afternoon, we snuggled up on the couch in front of the pellet stove, with all five dogs around us and drifted off to dreamland until about six o’clock this evening. How nice it is to have such a cozy living room with a comfy couch and be able to snuggle with the most beautiful woman God ever made. (sorry ladies…… Please don’t misconstrue my words to show that I’m saying each and every one of you aren’t beautiful or sensuous and sexy, but that is for some other man to tell you….I have my own sweetheart to ogle and be in love with……… and she IS the most beautiful woman in the world to me!)

Sunday Eve, Jan. 11th… An Angel looks over my shoulder a lot……

The day is done… and so is the pile…This was a good day!! This is the day I have been waiting on since last spring. It needed to be a day just like today and I’ve waited and watched ever since I took the hot tub off the rear deck, if you remember seeing me do that way back when it was still posted on AOL Journals. The day I’ve been waiting on needed to be a snowy day…… with overcast skies, so the smoke didn’t worry anyone…… lots of snow needed to be on the ground, surrounding roofs and everything close to the wood pile. That way, we would not have to worry about the cinders blowing onto a neighbor’s roof, our roof, any of the outbuildings or the boat or campers.
We dragged the snow off the top of the wood pile, removed enough boards near the top to open a hole down through the pile, poured about a half gallon of diesel fuel and lamp oil down through the pile and touched her off. It burnt hot, quick and clean, except when the hot tub plastic and foam burnt, which sent a black whirl of smoke up for about ten minutes, then reverted back to clean burning, with little smoke at all. At last check, I found the pile to be cleanly burnt to the ground with little ashes. There are a bunch of little boards left around the outside perimeter of the pile, which had no fire under them to cause them to burn. We’ll have all those little boards saved this spring for the fire ring on the rear deck, which we burn in the evenings when we want to sit out there and sip wine and drinks with friends and chat. So, after today…… we no longer have a huge, ugly pile of scrap wood out there for everyone to see when they come into the driveway. Later in the spring, we are going to remove all of the high fence, where we refer to it as Fort Apache, and clean everything up so you can see the campers and out through the woods, which will be pretty and natural instead of looking like a dump concealing wall.
As I mentioned earlier today, Bill, Loraine and Andrew are coming up to visit over the Martin Luther King holiday, as they do every winter. This time we are going to shop a little and take in a live performance of Vick’s dad, Joe Drao, entertaining at the Villa Vosilla in Hunter, NY. That Saturday evening. Joe has entertained here in the Catskill resorts, since his early years when he entertained at Leeds, NY when he was twelve years old. Joe is well known by all those who vacationed in the Catskills throughout the 50’s and 60’s, and is still going strong. People come from the city and surrounding area to book rooms for the weekend, to see Joe and spend the days on the slopes of Hunter Mountain just as they’ve done for most of their lives. After Bill, Loraine and Andrew spend their weekend and head home, we will get ready for Robin, our friend from Georgia, who will be coming on the 26th to stay for eleven days. We can’t wait to see her, because Vick hasn’t seen her since the winter of 2005, when she flew up to New Jersey to spend a few days with Vicki and then take her father along back to Georgia to live with her. We plan to have a good time and show Robin the Catskill sights before she heads back down south.
This evening I made a meatloaf, just like my mom always made when she was alive. I made it while Vicki was making rice for her and I. First, I started off with a container (2.25 pounds) of ground beef, added a chopped onion about the size of a tennis ball, a whole sleeve of Saltine crackers, crushed up and two duck eggs……. needed and mixed all together and shaped into a loaf, placed in a roasting pan on a rack with just enough tin foil for it to rest on, so it didn’t sink down through the racks rails. Placed in the over at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half or until it reached 165 degrees inside the center of the loaf. Ooooooooooooh…… I think my mom was watching over my shoulder when I took the first bite, closed my eyes and reverted back to her kitchen when she was alive and made the last meat loaf I can remember. Mom smiled………so did I...... Vick thought it was pretty darned good too……… and not greasy! I wish Mom and Vick had met before she passed away.

Sun. Jan. 11th… Snow…………………………… How Nice……

Gee, we got some snow. Now that’s something new!! Add this to what we already have and we’ve got………… simply…… more snow.
Actually, it is rather beautiful out there and since we have no place to go…… there should be no hurry in clearing the snow away. It’s quite nice to just sit here in the house…… next to Vick, on the couch, in front of the pellet stove and suck up the heat and watch TV. We have a few good, old, movies like, Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption and one other I can’t remember, which we just bought in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart last week.
We just got in from feeding and watering all the critters, gathering eggs and wading snow. We went from the barn to the house, dropped the duck and turkey eggs, which we keep separate from the chicken eggs and then went out to the scrap lumber pile, where I scrapped off the snow and made a hole down into the middle of the pile of old board scraps and dumped a little diesels fuel in and lit it. I hope it takes, because that will end the scrap lumber pile problem and without worrying about it spreading into the woods, etc. It’s the only ugly thing lurking around the farm which is an eye sore that we don’t feel the neighbors should have to look at. So, if it catches and burns……… good riddance to it.
Ahhhh.. Haaaah!!! It burned…it burned… now the ugly pile is gone!
The wood took off and got hot enough in under the pile to overcome the melting snow on top. The heavy 15” snow cover on top helped to buffer the flames and kept the fire from getting out of hand. I’m sure the cars driving by as the flames reached twenty-five feet into the air and swirls of black smoke jettisoning upward at the height of the burning, probably thought the fire was positively out of hand, but I knew better. Being a fire chief for many years in Pennsylvania, in my younger years, taught me to assess the potential of BTU suppression with snow cover. All you must do to control a fire is to master the fuel, or the temperature of said fuel or be able to seal off the oxygen needed for combustion. I knew I could drop the BTU’s of the fuel in a heartbeat by shoveling snow into the fire…….and the availability of the snow far exceeded the amount of heated fuel to cool. I assured Vicki that everything was under control and that I could slow the fire at any given moment. That helped her to relax a bit and enjoy knowing that the ugly pile was leaving before spring and we wouldn’t have to burn it then with bare woods.
I guess I could go out and run the snow blower around the driveway so it appears as though we give a shit if anyone else comes for eggs. Really we don’t care….. Because the car is four wheel drive…… and we wade snow without complaint…… saying God gave us the snow and he’ll take it away when he’s ready, but other folks don’t feel like that and they expect you to clean things up. What a bore….. And it sure makes winter a little less pretty when everything is plowed open. When the snow melts and you have all the mud to deal with, you understand the sins of plowing. We don’t, and we can walk on clean white snow until there is none left and then there is only a short period we have to deal with mud.
Think about it……… I call it wise winter management, which is one reason we can enjoy the snow.
Our friend Robin, from Georgia is going to come on January 26 to stay for eleven days and we are elated!!! Vic hasn't seen her since 2005, so we are both extremely excited about picking her up at the Newark Airport and bringing her home to enjoy her company. We will tour the area and spend some time at Vick’s parent’s and brother’s house, laughing and enjoying her visit. Now we can look forward to Bill, Loraine and Andrew’s visit over the Martin Luther King holiday, and the Robin’s arrival shortly thereafter. We love entertaining and sharing our lives with family and old friends and can’t wait.






The opening picture is a place in Buffalo, NY recently when they go seven feet, one inch of snow in one storm. These pictures are a picture of our real snow fall this time.