winterlude

 The kids could hardly believe it this morning when daylight revealed an expanding patch of green grass out the front windows. 

 I can hardly believe it myself, this long spell of 40 degree weather.  I just need three inches more of my raised beds to thaw and I can plant some tulip bulbs.  This will probably happen, because this warm spell is supposed to continue on for at least another week. 

 It's lovely, this mild month in the middle of winter, but I do believe it has confused my circadian rhythm to an extent, because I have been going through a dismal patch of insomnia this last few weeks.  At least with the stomach flu, head cold, teething toddler and so on I have had lots of company in the long watches of the night.  I guess this strange weather is interrupting our Alaskan hibernation period.  Frankly, it has been a rough month for sleep. 

 But it sure is nice to get outside in the mild temps.  The hobbits are loving it.  Exploring our wooded paths we've seen all kinds of things that continue life as usual over the winter.

 Like this patch of evergreen (some trumpet lichens I think?)

And the chickens have been ever-so-kindly laying us an increasing supply of eggs (8 yesterday!) Eggs so beautiful that it feels like Easter every time I look at them.  So I guess every cloud has a silver lining.  And as this record-breaking warm January winds down to an end I know that this rough patch of sleep and sick kids are things that will soon become distant memories.  And in the meanwhile, I am so thankful for good breakfast coffee and fresh eggs.

snow days!

Finally, after weeks and weeks and weeks of temperatures in the -30's (sometimes much colder when the wind blew) a nice, big, fat blizzard rolled in this weekend.  The storm brought a welcome foot of snow (nothing compared to what other places in Alaska have been getting) and some temps in the high 20's, which feel balmy, and lovely.

It's been weeks since Sadie has been able to play outside, so even though the wind was blowing, she was one happy little snow bunny! Especially helping her dad shovel snow and Chasing cash.

The chickens ventured out of their coop to strut around in the snow while Loren gave them a new bed of straw.  Even with the extra heat source in the chicken tractor, this winter has been really hard on them.   You can see in the picture that a couple of the hens frostbit the tops of their combs.  Last week I went to check on the chickens before bed and found that somehow Rex had managed to get his feet wet and they were like two blocks of ice.  He got a week of convalescence in the bathtub, and even though Loren kept book marking my Joy of Cooking to the "Coc au Vin" recipe he managed to make a surprising recovery.  Loren was super nice and soaked his feet in epsom salts and put bag balm on them regularly--all the while bitching that, "we should be eating this damn rooster!"  When the temp finally went up yesterday, he went back in the coop--much to everyone's relief.  A bathtub is no place for a rooster.  Frankly, I'm amazed that chickens can even survive in this climate--it is a true testimony to their hardiness.

I hope the kinder weather will hold for a while--I think we could all use a break from being housebound. It would be nice to get out and enjoy the lengthening days with some sledding or skiing, to be sure.