Happy New Year!

In the wee hours of the morning of December 31, I got to fretting that when the snow on the electric netting around the chicken yard melted it was going to conduct electricity and electrocute both the chickens and me. I discussed it with Terry when we were fully awake and having our morning beverages. “It can’t happen,” he assured me. “That’s what grounding is for.”

I did not share his confidence mostly because I don’t share his understanding of electricity. Seriously, I don’t get why electrons don’t leak out of outlets when nothing is plugged in. It’s all very mysterious to me. I had just gotten a catalog from the company that sells the electric netting, so I read up on the hazards. The only hazard associated with snow was that the snow could lay down the fence. I had noticed that the snow was pulling on the netting, making it difficult to latch it to the coop. I resolved to clear away the biggest drift.

The chicken yard before I shoveled. Hilda had shoveled some of the snow away shortly after it fell a week ago.

Closer view of the drift, which comes about halfway up the fence

New Year’s Eve was warmer than I thought it would be. I went out about 11:00 when the temperatures were in the mid-20s and shoveled. I cleared away a little more of the deep snow for the chickens as long as I was out there. I put the snow in a wheelbarrow and dumped it, according to Terry’s suggestion, between the tractor shed and the garage. The snow was packed. I could have cut it into block and built an igloo.

The snow pile between the tractor shed and the garage

My shadow and the spot I cleared around the fence

I was cavalier about leaving the fence open when I emptied the wheelbarrow. The girls were all in the coop, and they stayed there. After 45 minutes, I had the fence free and decided that was enough for the day. The moment I latched the gate for the last time, the chickens came out. How did they know I was done? My mission was accomplished; it was easier to clip the fence closed.

I spent the afternoon preparing my share of the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day foods. I baked the last of the Christmas cookies, which I had cut out and frozen the week before. I mixed up a batch of pecan caramel rolls for breakfast. I cut two ribeye steaks into chunks for the hot oil fondue. Finally, I made cocktail sauce.

Hilda prepared shrimp and breaded mushrooms for the fondue and made curry sauce and teriyaki sauce for dipping. She also served broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce. We had a nice dinner frying our steak, shrimp, and mushrooms one bite at a time. I meant to take a picture of the proceedings but forgot. All I’ve got is a picture of the cookie tray, which I took before we opened the champagne. We watched our usual selection of holiday videos and went to bed at 10:30. It was past midnight somewhere in the world.

New Year's Eve cookie plate. The chocolate cookies are Christmas bison, which are structurally more sound than moose or reindeer, with their fragile skinny legs and antlers.

 

New Year’s Day was very cold, -0.7° when we got up at 7:00. Hilda delayed opening the coop until after our caramel roll breakfast (I forgot to take a picture of those too).  The girls came out to enjoy the sunny afternoon, regardless of the low temperatures.

The girls stretch their legs on a cold but sunny afternoon

Bridget, who was pure white for the longest time, seems to be getting a bit of brown on her feathers. At first I just thought she had been under the perch at a bad time, but the color has persisted longer than dirt would have.

Bridget (in front) shows some color on her neck feathers

Perhaps the most exciting thing that has happened over the holidays is the installation of the coop cam. My brother and sister-in-law got us a security camera to put in the coop. Someday soon I will call tech support to figure out how to access it through the internet. In the meantime, we can see what the girls are doing in the coop from our computers in the house, even at night through an infrared feature. It is very fun and quite addictive. I haven’t been able to figure out how to record video in a format that I can open, but it is easy to take still pictures.

The view from the coop cam