Tidbits from around the farm

- It snowed yesterday. It wasn't the first snow but there was still a dusting on the ground in spots this morning. The kids jumped on the trampoline and hid in the truck camper shell (which is parked on the ground in preparation of its future use as a chicken coop) while Alex cut and split firewood and I hauled three wheelbarrows of horse poop to the garden. Frozen horse poop is heavy, I want you to know.
- We've come to terms that our cat, Black Magic, is no longer with us. We just wish that when our animals die that we know about it. The amount of traffic on our road may have caused his demise. I've had Black Magic for 5 years. My Aunt Vicki sent him to me as a sign she was still around in spirit form, watching all we do. I'd asked her to send me a cat as a sign but it had to be something significant and the next morning there was the littlest black kitten making its way through tons of traffic when we were on our way to the farmer's market at an unusually early time for us.
- I'm annoyed that radio stations are playing Christmas music and people are actually decorating their houses for the Christmas holidays. Come on. Don't we have enough stress about the economy without worrying about buying presents for people who don't need anything??
- Yesterday we had lunch with Alex's Russian coworkers, Ivan and Alex. I incorporated some facts about Russia into our homeschooling for the day - the Russian alphabet has 33 characters, for instance.
- It is supposed to be in the teens tonight and a high of 30 tomorrow. We're still not done with all of our "outside stuff." Tomorrow is pegged for nailing shingles on the horses' run-in shed, getting more firewood, taking down the pony pasture and maybe, just maybe, putting up some fencing on the very back pasture. More than likely, only one or two of those tasks will get done.