Warm in Here

While we were out to chores the temp was diving.   Five below, eight below, ten below.  Stopped looking.  It was around 20 F. in the barn and manageable without my gloves on.  Can't use the hose and mix slop with gloves on.  Everybody seems fine except for one poor dead chicken I found frozen in the pen.  I've been giving the chickens sunflower seeds and buckets of slop to keep them hydrated.  Hopefully that will be my only loss this winter.  I had a "chilling" thought tonight as I was working out there...what if this is the beginning of a trend and we are in for another winter like this, or a few?  Quite possible if not probable.  I asked my dear friend and shearer, Jim Baldwin, if we could put off shearing for a while.  I was hoping to shear March 15 but I love my sheep too much to strip them naked in this cold.  Not with temps diving below zero at night.  Certainly not the goats, who are desert animals and don't take the cold as well as sheep.  Another month and I think we will be out of the woods.  My kitties are doing alright.  Two Toms, Pounder, son of Lydia and brother to Lizzie, and his buddy, Big Red, live on the front porch.  Matt enclosed it with translucent panels in the fall so they are not snowed/rained on.  I put boxes of wool on the porch for them to snuggle in at night.  Although there is water all over the barn - I know because I toted it there - the porch kitties want their own food and water.  I love the boys and give them what they need.  It's just a few extra steps.  Cats are so territorial and I have several groups in the barn - the Hay Mow Kitties, the Milk Room Kitties, the Work Room Kitties and the Wool Kitties who live on piles of wool fleeces where Thor and Knut hang out.  Yes, they all get separate feeding.  No wonder I am out there for two hours every night.  Time for a snack and jammies, then chamomile tea.  If it was good enough for Peter Rabbit, it's good enough for me.