Day 30/365 - January 30
The fog was so cool this morning...we are high enough here in flat Texas that sometimes, the fog doesn't get all the way up to our house - it lays low in the 'valleys' that surround our little 'mountain'. You could see out in this pasture the line where it began. It looked very ethereal in person...
Day 31/365 - January 31
This is a hawk that hangs out around my barn. I really like him because he loves to eat mice and snakes - the only two animals around here that I allow to be killed (or, as we like to say in Texas, the only two 'varmits' I allow to be killed around here). I don't know what kind of hawk he is - anyone have any ideas? But he likes to sit on the electrical wire that runs over my muck pile and I often see him searching the pile for food. He's not very scared of me and lets me walk right underneath him while he sits there (which is how I got this picture). The weird thing about the picture is that it was a grey, cloudy day so when I zoomed in to get him up close, I lost all background and reference so it looks like I cut and pasted him out of a different picture. He's so cool - I need to think of a name for him...
Day 32/365 - February 1
This day will live in infamy in my world as the first day of the worst cold and snow I've lived through and North Texas has seen in over 30 years. The cold front blew in while it was raining overnight and turned all the rain to ice. Then snow fell. About 5 inches of it. (Which is 7 less than last year but it was MUCH colder than last year.) The snow doesn't look that thick in the picture because the cold front brought 40+ mph winds that blew it everywhere (nothing in some spots, big drifts in others). And I know, some of you are saying "inches!" What are you complaining about! We deal with much worse up north! And I know that, but remember, I may have Midwest roots, but I'm a California girl at heart and this is hard for me to take! I took this picture as the sun was setting that evening. Again, what a beautiful sky! It looks so warm and peaceful, like I cut and pasted it in from a tropical picture - but I didn't! I love the contrast of the cold, dark snowy foreground and the warm, wispy colors of the sky...
Day 33/365 - February 2
This is my trusty Kubota. Jason and I agree that this was the best money we ever spent. We use it for SO much around here that nothing else can do. Today (and the rest of the week) it was my best friend in this sub-freezing temps as it carried the four 5+ gallon buckets of water I had to fill in the house and take up to the barn several times a day to water the horses. Everything was frozen and I didn't get water back to the barn for another three days. It was hard enough lifting and loading those heavy buckets - I think I would have fallen over dead if I'd had to haul them up to the barn myself too!
Day 34/365 - February 3
This picture was actually taken on the 1st, the day the storm rolled in but I wanted to memorialize it here so that in another 6 months when I'm complaining about the heat, I can pull it up and remember the agony of this frigid week!
Day 35/365 - February 4
Ahhhh yes! The night the pipe froze - or unfroze! I took this picture shortly after midnight on the 4th. We had been awakened about 30 minutes before to the sound of a fire hose being turned on in the kitchen. A pipe broke in the ceiling right in front of the table and came gushing out of the register, the can lights, the moulding/pillar on the right and the pocket door/door frame on the far left of the picture. It's almost a week later and now the ceiling is down, fans are running 24/7 and my kitchen is taped off in plastic. Southern Florida or Southern California is sounding good about now...
Day 36/365 - February 5
Tommy had been locked up in his stall for about 5 days when I let him out finally. It still wasn't dry (which is bad for his feet) but I felt so bad - he was MISERABLE in that stall all day. I knew he'd have a lot of energy to unload so I had my camera on hand. He ran all over for awhile before he whipped the herd up and had them galloping across the pastures with him. That's Ginger and Ruby in the front, Tommy then Magic (my two racing thoroughbreds!) and Prince and Tinkerbell bringing up the rear. I think Butters was off eating somewhere (of course), Belle is still on stall rest, and Star thought it best to stay out of the fray and rest in the stall ;-)
Until next time...
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