Warm Barns

So I thought the Boxing Day Blizzard was going to represent the bulk of our snow this winter - but more than a month later we still haven't seen the ground. On top of the foot of snow that has blanketed the landscape for weeks now, we're bracing for another foot or two over the next couple of days. What is this - Norway? So how are we all coping? The cats stare longingly at the busy bird feeder but decline any invitation to venture outside. For them cabin fever translates into more wrestling matches. LeRoi even deigns to play with Koschka's toys when he thinks we're not looking. For us, lots of opportunities to practice cross-country skiing in the back fields. I admit to being transported by the vast stretches of untouched snow, the bracing air and last week, the sound of ice in the trees, tinkling like giant crystal chandeliers in the breeze. Then it's indoors to our cozy barn. On the farmstead, after lots of shoveling and plowing, life goes on fairly normally. Last night two ewe lambs were born and more are due this weekend. For the time being, hunkering down in a warm barn is a good idea for all of us.