Winter Solitude

I am writing this on Wednesday morning as a winter storm has hit Hickery Holler. A quiet has descended upon us as a thick blanket of new snow settles in and temperatures drop to below zero. The landscape has turned into a winter wonderland, the snow is still pristine as the temperatures are too low for much to be moving to track it up. A light snow continues to sporadically fall this morning.

                        

                          

                                 

School has been cancelled for the second day in a row and Baby O enjoys sleeping late,  watching movies and playing on the computer. O Wise One tracks out twice daily to top off the bird feeders, give the chickens water and food and pick up any eggs that might freeze. He makes sure that the rabbits, turkeys and guineas have lots of thick straw bedding and food and water also. Yesterday Baby Hank stayed at home as his mother was not able to get out here to drop him off and therefore wasn't able to go to work. The roads are better today but drift closed as fast as they can plow them open. Baby Hank's dad did manage to get out here today in his big four wheel drive truck to drop him off.   

Sadie the Wonder Pup is now bedded down in a large kennel in the laundry room to stay warm and Riley snoozes regularly on the couch overseeing all activity and watching that Baby Hank. After all he just might drop something edible that a little black dog might like.

                            

As for me I try to keep everyone in food and work on various projects inside.

                               

There is always mending and ironing.

And old T shirts to be cut into strips for a rag rug that I am collecting rags to make .

And a new quilt block to make and experiment with how I will set it. Them little black Scottie dogs sure do hold a special place in this old ladies heart. 

And we can't forget those seed catalogs to dream over.

I have also discovered a new series on Netflix called Rosemary and Thyme. It is kind of like Murder She Wrote with a gardening twist. I love them BBC Series.

After months of gardening, weeding, harvesting and preserving that harvest I must admit that I do enjoy a few months of solitude that winter provides before that cycle of food production starts again.  About the end of February I will again get the urge to think of planting seeds again. The grow lights will be cranked up and a new season of seedlings started. But for now I enjoy the season and thank God that I do not have to get out every morning at my age and fight snow to go to a job in town. Hopefully those days are over as I live frugally and enjoy my husband, my last child at home, my grandchildren and my farm.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter