Tucked In

Pipes were frozen in the milk house when I went to do chores this morning.  Was so careful about leaving a drip on inside but not out there.  Spouse turned up the milk house heater and by nightfall they had thawed enough for me to get water for chores.  The water buckets hang on the fence outside the milk room door so it is much easier to carry water from there .  The big slop sink drain is still frozen but oh, well, if this is the worst this severe cold throws at me I'm lucky.  I was able to take a lovely rest in the middle of the day and knit a while, something I'm not able to do on a work day.  It was glorious and gave me the strength to deal with all this snow and cold.   The Nubian girls are starting to show. Very thrilled they will deliver in warmer temps.  Goat babies are much more vulnerable in the cold than lambs.  No lambs yet and, if I'm correct, the only one who will deliver soon will be Finnute, one of the little ewes I brought home with Gippeto, the big Wensleydale ram.   I'm counting my blessings.  I was upset because Louie, little Wensleydale ram, was  too small to mount the big ewes when I brought him home last summer.  If he had bred them I would be in the throes of lambing right now.  No thanks.  It was 14 F. in the barn this morning.  24 F. tonight, much better, but still not ideal lambing temperatures.  Lots of people are lambing now because they want lambs for the Easter market.  I don't sell lambs for meat at all, and I keep the boys for wool,  so I don't have to do that.  The cold weather lambs are healthier they say, and I believe it, as only the strong ones can survive this cold.  The piggies are doing fine.  I am so pleased with the hardy, stocky nine week old piglets i brought home from the Montgomery's farm in Unadilla Forks.  They are thriving on the warm mash I give them twice a day.  Was feeding them three times but two seems to be fine.  I make it very warm and soupy and give them all they can hold.  When they are finished eating I pour warm water in the pan so they can suck up what's stuck on the bottom.  Love the way they swish the water around with their snouts.  I gave them plenty of hay to make their beds.  Somehow they manage to cover each other so no skin is visible at all.  I'm not going to talk about pigs at work any more. People are horrified that I can raise animals to eat.  They eat commercial bacon and sausage, some of the more cruelly produced food of all. and they don't stop to consider where it comes from and how the animals are treated.  My pigs are spoiled rotten their entire lives and only travel five miles down the road for their appointment with Miss Tammy.  Go figure.  Speaking of spoiled animals, my rabbits are FAT.  I've stopped feeding the bucks and childless does twice a day. I bring the bunnies inside at night to sit on my lap for brushing.  Couldn't help but notice the poundage.  Spouse says we are running out of firewood.  He thinks he can get some up the road from a nice man who has a cross in his pasture illuminated every night by a solar light.  This man even delivers.  Matt is very good about humping in wood for me to keep the stove going.  It has to be stoked every three hours or it's out.  The Beast as I call it is great for this weather.  It has one speed - blast furnace.  When it's minus 25 outside that's just what I need.