blue-sky day

 

It rained all last night and this morning, with a forecast of "continuing" and a warning about high winds. But yesterday was a blue-sky day, and so warm that I was able to do something I've been wanting to do for weeks:

gather up the feed pans and give them a scrub.

Very satisfying result.

And because it was so warm and sunny and the forecast was for this 24-hour rain we are currently in the middle of, I dragged the chaise out and spent an hour or so just enjoying the day. The deep blue sky, the tiny downy woodpecker bold enough to visit the suet feeder even while Moxie and I were lounging only a few feet away. Such a perfectly pleasant day - a warm clear day with no biting insects - is a rarity in my neck of the woods. Very much a "seize the day" event.

So I did the Daily Markmaking, with this water-soluble graphite sketch:

This sketchbook snap is from a cell phone. It's an experiment, because I suspect my actual camera is signalling it's pending retirement with various mysterious behaviors. I know many cell cams take excellent snaps, but my phone is very basic, the images are not high res, and I'm not sure about their blog-ability. Please feel free to comment/advise.

And to bring us back to today, here is a barncam snap taken a few minutes ago: Violet and Sambucus in the barn, waiting out the rain.

Very wise, goats.

You know Room Service will always come to you.

~~~~~

zipping right along

February is zipping right along, that is. Not me.

But I'm keeping up. Just.

We've been having some cold days, but clear, mostly. Cold but not windy, mostly. Cold but sunny, mostly. It's been, in other words, an exceptionally fine February so far.

Which is great, because regardless of the weather, or how I happen to be feeling physically, I'm outside and in motion for a minimum of two hours every  morning and every evening. The goats provide the core of my personal healthcare system, and I'm grateful for the incentive.

red maple, on a day when it was warm enough to hold a pencil

I've started to write a blog post at least four times after evening chores in the past two weeks, and each time have fallen asleep over the laptop. Or, more accurately, under the laptop. Actually, under the laptop and two cats. It's an easy way to fall asleep, I suppose, if one is very thoroughly tired. But it's certainly a strange way to wake up.

So even if this post is only a jumble of random jottings, I am going to post it before evening chores today. And I'll add equally random snaps. Like these:

And these:

vase, view 1

vase, view 2

And in conclusion, two short random notes:

• Good news follow-up: I took delivery of three additional pallets of chaffhaye, and the forklift operator got them close to the barn. This makes every single day easier for me: there's still wrestling and sweating and occasional swearing involved, but no sledding or dragging through gates.Those 90 bales should take us to May Day.

• A happy "find:" the field technician who got my internet and phone line reconnected a few weeks ago dropped his (quite costly) Leatherman tool into deep snow whilst repeatedly to-ing and fro-ing between his truck and my house. He looked, I looked. He thought they would probably be near the pole where he reconnected the line. I thought they would probably be near the stone wall he scrambled over to take a shortcut. Well, I was able to give him some good news this week:

they were in the garden

I hope your days are full of good news and happy finds.

~~~~~

so far so good

Afternoon sun on the Upper West Side.

We've been having some lovely, sunny weather this week. Still quite cold, mostly teens and 20s F, but not windy. Very pleasant weather to be out in.

Moxie surveying her domain.

Bluebird hoping the starlings left some mealworms.

Tsuga in the sun.

Fernie at my fingertips.

The brighter sky in February has been very welcome, especially following the series of snowstorms in late January:

Now the forecast is a few days of warmer weather - in the 30s or even higher - which could melt more of the remaining snow in the driveway. This would be helpful because I'd like to get the next delivery of chaffhaye to the top of the driveway, at least. Each pallet holds 30 densely-packed 50-pound bags. They are large, slippery blocks and I do not find them easy to handle. If the pallets have to be left at the bottom of the driveway this time, every individual bag will eventually have to be brought up with either a sled or a wheelbarrow. The driveway is a hill. I've brought countless items up the driveway over many years, and I can tell you: 90 bags of chaffhaye would be No Joke. So here's hoping for good timing, a clear-ish driveway, and an experienced forklift operator.

Meanwhile, I hope you are having blue skies in your neck(s) of the woods!

~~~~~