Winter blues

I didn’t post last week because I had nothing to report. While the same is true of this week, I feel like I need to come up with something to keep my rhythm.

I’m in a funk. I’d really like to go into hibernation until spring comes. While Ground Hog Day officially marked the halfway point of winter, it seems that winter began that day and hasn’t let up since. It has been unseasonably cold. On top of that, I spent the better part of three days last week at a workshop with seven of my colleagues. It was productive, and I’m glad I went, but it put me behind. I had to spend ALL day Saturday and several hours today grading, which frankly makes me hate my life.

We haven’t had much new snow. From a shoveling standpoint, that’s a good thing. From the perspective of groundwater recharge, not so good. The old snow isn’t going anywhere. The path to the chicken coop is glaciated with packed snow and ice. We have to be very careful as we do our chores.

Icy path to the coop

 I went for a walk yesterday and today. It was good to be outside. The creek has frozen over completely.  I almost didn’t go today because it is 16° and there’s a wicked northwest wind blowing. I bundled up and went anyway, and I am a better person for it. The bright sunshine did me good. The girls were also very glad to get out after spending Thursday and Friday in the coop due to low temperatures and high winds. They don’t come out under those circumstances anyway, so we might as well leave the coop door shut. Interestingly, they are still laying well. I would have thought they’d be spending all their energy keeping warm.

The girls enjoying a relatively mild Saturday

Here is 34 seconds of chickens cooing peacefully.

Maybe something exciting will happen next week.