Backyard Bounty

It’s amazing how -21 degrees F can put things into perspective. We’ve had a cold snap for the past few days, but today the sun came out and temps reached 11 degrees by the early afternoon. We had to get outside. What amazed me is how warm 11 degrees feels after we’ve been living in the equivalent of a deep freeze for several days. (I’m not kidding. A local kid demonstrated on a Facebook video that if you toss a cup of hot water into the air at that temperature, it basically turns to snow. You could flash freeze meat in those temps.)

So I bundled up the boys in all of their cold weather gear, including the fabulous elbow length mittens I bought this fall. One of the greatest challenges in small child outdoor fun is keeping those gloves or mittens on their pudgy little hands. If one come off, you might as well pack it up. I hate having my hands feel like ice, so I can’t really blame them, but it does put a damper on the activities. Since I wanted to find a way to spend time outside during the winter, I broke down to buy a couple of pairs to give them a test run. They’re worth it. I pulled those babies half-way up their arms, and pulled on the coats. The mittens did not come off.

As we wandered into the wintry whiteness John exclaimed, “It’s a snowy day!” Sam made a snow angel, then both boys headed over to the slide. A couple of inches of snow sure makes it an exciting ride. They went up and down that thing more times than I can count. John needed a little help once and awhile since he was bundled up pretty good, and couldn’t climb the ladder very well, but they had a great time.

Luna, our new black lab pup, joined us for a short time. She loves dashing around the sunflowers and other snow covered garden plants. Actually, I think this is the first time I’ve mentioned Luna on this site. We lost Melvin many months ago, and the house has been unusually quite. While I kept lobbying for various labs and mixes, Grant maintained a low enthusiasm level. I thought he was holding out for a small dog. (We are a mixed family. Give me a dog the size of a small horse I’m happy as anything. He prefers the mini dachs and terriers. Analyze that.) Much to my surprise, he found Peggy and John Warner in Augusta, who have a good reputation for labs in this area. We headed over to Augusta a month ago to take a look at her and meet the parents (which impressed me and sealed the deal).  We picked her up a couple of weeks ago. The first couple of nights she woke up once, but since then I’ve been impressed. She sleeps all night without a peep out of her. As for housetraining, she’s getting the hang of it. Accidents still happen, but at least she’s starting to scratch on the door when nature calls. Anyways, she loves running around in the snow for a short amount of time. After her little feet became cold, she wanted back inside to hang out with the cat.

People often ask how the chickens fare during these cold spells. When it’s below zero, I don’t even let them outside.  The hard part is providing them with enough water because it freezes so quickly. We’ve tried heated buckets, but I really don’t want the chickens to end up in their own little hottub. I’m looking into other options – including one that’s similar to a rabbit waterer  that is heated – so they can have fresh water without having to make 3 or 4 trips out there each day. Plus, it always concerns me that they may not drink enough before it freezes, particularly when they’re busy eating the treats I bring them. Overall, they’re doing well and still giving us 4 to 6 eggs each day, including at least 3 very impressive double yokers. The Leghorns are always our over-achievers on that one.

After a short time, we decided to head back inside. Although John wasn’t complaining, his calf was exposed because his snowpants are just a little too short (and the others I have are a bit big). I figured I better pull the cocoa card to coax them inside before it was uncomfortable. It was an ideal way to wrap up a fun time kicking around in the sunshine and snow.

Tags: chickens, eggs, snow, winter