Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A Great Day at the Farm

This is how the day started. A beautiful bald eagle in one of the trees by the woods. I saw him out the window & rushed to get on long underwear, shoes & snowshoes. I was so afraid he would fly away by the time I got close enough for a good shot. He was a patient bird. Let me get a few good shots & then off he flew. The way he was looking at me, I am lucky he didn't pick me up as a tasty morsel :-). After I took a few more pictures of everything that was ice coated, I started to chip away at the ice on my car. I've never seen so thick of ice. It rained/sleeted & snowed yesterday too. That is why I am still at the farm today. The road conditions were iffy this morning.
That is a thick layer of icy snow.
The snow was sparkling like diamonds



Neighbor Jim came over & plowed the driveway right after that. They had a great time on their trip & Brutus was very happy to see them. Mid-day, I walked over to see Lizzie & the kids & to get some eggs. She is doing much better keeping track of her sugar now. She is due in April. I told her I will probably be here when she has the baby this time. She mentioned having fast labors (gee, after 11 kids, you think? :-) & hoped that Nancy (our nurse neighbor) would be home when she goes into labor. She said she wouldn't want to have the baby at home though. They don't even tell the kids that a new baby is on the way. I guess all the sudden, one just shows up. No sex education for the Amish. Anyway, if she does go into labor and things move really fast, I told her she could use our house. Yep. That's right. I offered up our house. Hopefully, she makes it to the midwife on time. She is about 45 minutes away though. That would be exciting! I'd rather that she have the baby here than in my Subaru though :-)
Shep was around this morning, so I fed him. He came in the house again (barely). After I got back from Lizzie's, he was waiting for me on the step. I decided to see if he would "sit" some more for me, so I got out the cheese. He ended up coming in the house (workshop area) and was checking it out. He is starting to trust me. We did a lot of "sits" which he is very good at & then I started the "come' command with him. He would go outside & I would say "come" & he would come in & walk to me. I hope he is around tomorrow before I leave. I want to see if he is that receptive again.
Such a handsome boy.
Other things I did in the last couple days...went through all the potatoes in storage & made hash browns to freeze, made tomato soup from some puree I had frozen, mopped down the living area floor and almost finished the afghan.
Should get up & get going tomorrow. I miss Steve & Mia & we are going out to eat with Amy & Rob tomorrow night for Rob's birthday. We'll be back on Friday afternoon...

10 comments:

Lynn said...

Brrr...great shots of the snow. It must have been a real thrill when you saw the eagle! Shep is very handsome -- he'll be coming into the house soon. :D

Lois Evensen said...

Your pictures of the snow are just beautiful. I love the crystals sparkling. It's sweet of you to offer your house for her delivery if it's too fast to get to the hospital. I have labor coached many times (was a Certified Childbirth Educator in another life) and it is a marvelous experience.

Shep has such a pretty face. I hope he decides to move in. :)

I so enjoy your blog. Thank you for sharing.

Hugs,
Lois

Nancy said...

Shep is a smart boy -- I have faith the more time you spend with him, training him -- he will soon start to look at you in a different way -- a good way, of course! :)

Nekkid Chicken said...

Beautiful pictures! I just love to watch predatory birds in their world. Amazing creatures. Stay warm up there! Mal

Anonymous said...

Thank Good I haven´t send the letter I´ve written to Eli and Lizzie! I was congratulating them for the coming baby :-) :-) :-)It´s so typical when I finally had written one :-) :-) :-)

Well I´ll better write a new one this weekend then :-)

Shep is a border collie isn´t he? He will never forget what You´ve been teaching him! They are the most intelligent dogs one can find.

Your photographs are beautiful! We have lots of eagles here but I´ve only seen one myself and that one I almost hit with my car one morning :-) :-) It was eating on a dead hare on the road just after a turn :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

You sure did get a thick coat of ice!! So thick in the trees, and oh yeah, the windshield. Would save you a lot of grief to turn the car on and put the defroster on and let it run for awhile till it defrosted!! lol Shep is so cute. Can't wait till he moves in with you! You'll have a good friend!! Can't believe they didn't tell the kids. Do they really think the kids don't know?? They have eyes??!!! How funny. Hope delivery goes better than last time! ...debbie

Judy T said...

We've had a few eagles around here lately as well. I hate to say it, but I'm glad the snow and ice stayed your way, I've had enough for the winter.
Judy

Judy said...

How lucky of you to have spied a Bald Eagle. Our trees are still covered in the ice from the storm. We had a cozy night reading by oil lamps and sitting near the wood stove to keep warm.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

Great pictures! I always loved seeing the eagles when we lived in Alaska, but have seen a few since we came to Virginia--I am in awe of them still!

I hope you've had a good weekend!! Stay warm, spring has got to get here sooner or later! :-)))

angie said...

Hi Barb,

Sorry I haven't been good about keeping up on your progress. I've been working a ton at my day job.

Look forward to hearing more about Shep.

Hope all is well.
Angie