So it's only the fourth and here we are! Today, it was warm and partly sunny, tomorrow cloudy and warmer, Friday, cold again.
We are getting ready for Christmas. The kids are all excited and the trees are up, and we are all very happy about that.

we came from here: The thread "November, month of the Beaver Moon" in Farming forum

Thanks for the new thread, Kathleen. It's been in the 20s over here in the Pacific NW, with mostly clear skies. The mountains on either side of us, Cascades and Olympics, have been absolutely gorgeous - crystal clear against the blue sky. A bit nippier than our usual weather. I am planning to mostly skip Xmas this year. Instead, our immediate family (spouse & I, adult children, grandchild) are taking a holiday trip together down to a small village in Mexico where we will hang out in sunshine and warm waters. No tree, no gifts, no shopping. Yahoo. Perhaps I'll put out some lights and a few house decorations. Or perhaps not. I'm looking forward to a stress-free holiday.

Glad to see a new thread for December.

Nothing going on here. I finished mulching my garden with the Fall leaves I collected. Now It is just time to wait for spring.

I don't do a tree anymore. Since we have had the grandkids, we've been going to their house for our family celebration. That way DS doesn't have to load up all the kids' loot that they get and drag all that plus crabby kids home at midnight. It is all there and doesn't have to be moved. LOL I have a couple of evergreen wreaths I put up outside, but that's about the extent of it. The cats would no doubt have a hey-day if I had a tree.

We're leaving next week for our vacation in sunny Mexico..........going to Huatulco again. Went there last year, but we're going to a different resort this time. Gads, we've got so much to do here before we leave. Have to rip up the living room carpet and tear out all those nail strips as we're getting the hardwood under the carpet sanded and refinished. The kitties are going to the Bed and Biscuit boarding kennel. I said I do not want them inhaling all that dust and fumes into their little lungs.

Worked at Equity today, only 120 calves so it wasn't bad. What IS bad is the new program for the health papers. I haven't had to do it yet, but I'm thinking my day will come next week. Alison said that she isn't going to turn anyone else loose on it till SHE has it figured out. She said something today about writing out instructions for Norma and me. I hope they are VERY concise. LOL

Chilly here, too. Well, no, it's COLD! Our overnight low was -4, high today may have reached 20, supposed to be at 0 or below (one forecast said -11) for the next couple of nights at least. I'm very glad to have a good supply of firewood! No tree here, maybe just wreaths and lights. Hubby will be doing Santa appearances all over town for the next 3 weeks, starting this coming Saturday with a 5 hour session at the Festival of Trees, and ending on the 23rd, with the last nursing home party.

Meanwhile, the Thanksgiving leftovers are getting kinda thin, so we will be having turkey noodle soup tonight. With homemade noodles, of course! I have one of those hand cranked pasta machines to flatten and cut the dough, which takes nearly all the work out of making noodles, and is fun besides.

Anna and Deb, enjoy the warmth of your winter vacations! It seems to me that it would be a very difficult adjustment to come back home to winter.

This afternoon we have 13 deer bedded down in our pasture like a bunch of cows, and have been seeing bald eagles in our trees. Some of the neighbors cows are having late fall/early spring calves. The eagles do a lot of clean up duty. They're good at following their food sources.

Wow Mary, that's pretty cool about the deer bedded down. As long as they aren't also into nibbling things they shouldn't.

We woke up to a balmy 64 today. After having lows of 20's a week ago. It's very weird for me, coming from Mi. but then I think the weather is screwy everywhere any more. I certainly want freezing temps down here, just not this early in the season. I didn't quite have all my outside chores finished and I've become quite the pansy when it comes to the cold.

Do you have snow with that cold?

I spread straw over the three rows of garlic and the stupid guineas had a field day. Straw everywhere. And I'm not redoing it because they'll just get in there and throw it all around again. I so want to get rid of those guineas! I didn't think they were supposed to eat my produce, just the bugs, but I caught them this year eating tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce! GRRRR!

Homemade noodles sound great. Now if we could get Anna to bake a pie to go with that?

Arlene, you could always add the guineas to the pot with the noodles.

Arlene, you need a plan to catch the guineas and make them into guinea stew. You already have too work to do so don't need that aggravation of having to redo everything.

'Cept they may be a bit tough, they are kinda old! And I'm not sure my son would like that, although, he does cherish his garlic so maybe he would consider it! A few less mouths (beaks) to feed too!

We only have a dusting of snow, so no help for protecting the plants. The garlic would benefit from a good snow cover, both for protection and moisture.

Unfortunately, the deer do get into lots of things, eat holes in tomatoes and squash, eat the tops of nice cabbages, wipe out a whole row of lettuce, and can denude the grapevines and eat all the grapes in one night if I don't put heavy netting over the grape vines. They munch leaves and tender branches on fruit trees and shrubs, and generally make a nusance of themselves. They have thousands of acres to roam, as our area is sparsely populated and bordered by wilderness, so they don't need my stuff. We do enjoy seeing them in the pasture. This summer one ran in front of my car, hit me in the headlight, hood and fender and went flying. Cost $3500 to fix it. Deer paid with her life.

Today on our way to town we met a herd of cattle that was being moved by riders on horseback and a couple of dogs. They were at least 6 miles from where they started and still had a couple of miles to go. At the speed of cow, 2mph after the initial half mile or so of woopee here we go, it's enough to freeze you half to death by the time you can get off the horse, if you can get off! Temperature was about 15 with a brisk wind. Definitely a cold job! Cow pies don't take long to freeze on the road when it's that cold, and are just like rocks when you hit one with your tire. They had frozen by the time we came home.

Mary, at least they didn't splatter on the undercarriage of your car and stink. LOL

AnnaZ said:Mary, at least they didn't splatter on the undercarriage of your car and stink. LOL

Oh my cow pies on the road! Glad we don't have those.

Rita, think "free fertilizer".............

Not so free if you have to chip them frozen off the road (or truck)!

AnnaZ said:Rita, think "free fertilizer".............

I think I will skip those free fertilizers!

We have the addition of horse poop, especially after church on Sunday. Amishmen don't diaper their horses. It's just part of living in the country.

Winter is settling in here: cloudy with snow, and cold. Slight warm-up tomorrow with a chance of freezing rain for a short time, then cooling off to some very cold weather with snow. What fun

Nasty weather around the country lately.

The herd was coming toward us. We did a bunch of dodging to miss the worst of the fresh manure on the road, it wasn't frozen until we came home. Cow manure on the underside of vehicles is common here, just ask any mechanic! Kathleen, at least horse manure is usually drier than cow.

Minus 15 this morning at 5am. Now has warmed to 0. Tonight will get down to -11 they say. And then it's supposed to warm up. We only have about an inch of snow, drifted around. I hope it kills off the squash bugs that became a problem last summer.