Ho Hum

There's not a lot going on around here, at least anything fun or exciting, just a lot of maintenance. So far, in the last couple of months we've replaced worn out faucets in the bathtub, the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink.

One evening I started hearing weird almost clicking-like noises. At first I thought it was the cats and finally went to investigate. I traced it to underneath the sink in the kitchen. I opened the cupboard door and saw sparks flying around! I didn't have a clue what it was, but handyman extraordinaire Tom figured out it was the hot water heater shorting out (plus we called an electrician friend). The 220 voltage was coming up the water line! Luckily we didn't need a new heater and no one was electrocuted. We did replace both elements and flushed out a lot of scale that had accumulated in the bottom.

There was also a leak in a water pipe that Tom had to cut into the floor from the basement to get to.

Then there was the computer drama. I was using my laptop, when suddenly it went dead. It came back on, but seemed to be acting funny, so the next day I drove forty-five miles to have it looked at. The guy checked out a few things and it worked fine. He decided it must have been a temporary glitch and I took it home. That evening it quit again, so the next day I made the drive again so the computer guy could take it apart and run diagnostics.

We got back home to find a message on the answering machine saying the computer was fixed. I didn't feel like making the trip again that day, so waited until the following day to make the drive for the third day in a row.

What they guy found was that a plastic part on the headset jack had broken off inside and ended up in with the fan so it couldn't spin and the computer was overheating. Of all the things...and the computer didn't feel hot so we didn't think that was the problem. Oh well, at least it was fixable and cheap.

Am I boring you yet?

Here are a few photos I took in the past week or so.

 Mellie's enjoying a warm sunny afternoon.

Two days later she was eating in the snow. A couple days after it was like the upper photo again.

I caught the moon setting over the bunkhouse early one morning. I like the snow on the tree branches.

Another morning, I looked out and saw what looked like lace hanging off the roof. I took a few shots from inside, but couldn't get the full effect,

 so I went outside.

 Pretty cool looking.

With the lengthening days, we're doing chores later in the evening. We always wait until dusk when the chickens go in so we can shut the door to their house.

There are a few other animals up near the barn that we're feeding right now.

 There's Emmy Lou, the Brown Swiss milk cow. Look how sweet she is.

 And the goats. This is Hannah looking for a handout.

Teddy Blue wasn't far behind. See the tip of his horn on the left?

You could say our goats are friendly, but pesky is oftentimes a better word.

Sampson will probably be here for a couple more months, until breeding season. I asked him to pose for the camera.

"You mean like this?" He said. "What, you missed it?" 

Well, it is hard to get your entire, huge head in one shot. 

 "Okay, one more funny face."

"Now, go get me some grain. See, I left my bowl where you can reach it." Usually he drags it into the middle of the pen for me to go fetch.

Of course, I can't forget these two. From the way she looks, you'd think Ellie May has no where to lie down except in the mud, but I think she just likes rolling in dirty spots because she always looks like this, while Frodo is always clean.

It's time for the winter time blahs, although in between the wind-howling days, we've had some beautiful weather. I've been going out for walks in the sun and enjoying it.

But today I'm rebounding for exercise because, once more, the wind is quite ferocious. It's so loud that I expect to have to lean into it, as if I'm out in it, except I'm inside.