drama in 3 acts

Act One:

Porch conversion begins, after years of planning and waiting.
Much tearing out and piling up of old materials into unsightly masses of non-recyclable Stuff. Thousands spent on carefully-sourced materials.
Much enthusiasm all around! Trepidation about impending Winter only increases determination to forge ahead!

Act Two:

Phone conversation with builder reveals diagnosis of carpal tunnel and doctor's orders to Not Use Arm.
Director's Note: after reading your lovely comments this evening, I must clarify; it's the builder who is having terrible trouble with his arm...not me! Very sorry for the ambiguity. I appreciate all the kind thoughts, though! And I will redirect them to the builder, in hopes they will speed his recovery!

Act Three:

I do the chores.
Because Act Two was earlier this morning, and I don't know what will happen next.
(Clearly I could have said that last thing yesterday, as well.)
A search for that rare creature - a carpenter willing and available to take on a project midway - has begun.

Note:

I have nothing but sympathy for the builder. Empathy, even, since the reason I hired him is that my construction abilities are now limited to the point of non-existence by my own pain issues.

Of course, as you know, I also have a lot of time, money, and hope - oh, the hope! - invested in a project that needs to be done as quickly as possible, working around the weather.

Tell me something: did you think things were getting too dull and predictable around here? Because I can't say I had noticed that. I thought Winter sitting on my shoulder while I searched out a window caulk that can be applied at 20 degrees F was Drama Enough.

Nope! Drama Level is definitely cranked up a few notches now. No panic, but frequent moments of deep meditative breathing.

And now I'm going to go fetch some hay. Which always makes me feel productive and successful and accomplished. (I am easy.)

Wheeeeeee!

~~~

One more edit, added this evening...
when I picked up the hay, I got another piece of unwelcome news:
the farmer I buy my hay from won't have enough to get any of his customers through the Winter. It's been a tough year for hay; the second in a row, actually. Everyone who buys their hay (as I do) will be scrambling soon if they are not already.

Still. Refusing. To. Panic.

Just stubborn, I guess.

~~~~~

freezing rain

I believed the weather prediction for a night and a day of rain, beginning Sunday. The high temperature was expected to hover below freezing point, so icing seemed likely, as well as relentlessly raw, wet conditions. Yesterday afternoon I texted the builder to cancel work on the porch today, put out extra hay and water buckets, and brought in plenty of wood.

By 3AM the freezing rain had begun. It hasn't stopped yet. Not heavy; almost a drizzle, but colder than rain and wetter than ice.
After their breakfast buckets, the goats opted to stay in their shelters all day, dozing and munching and watching the rain from the open doors.

The hens came out of the Poultry Palace as usual, but hastily disappeared under one of the outbuildings, and were not seen again til I put them to bed at dusk, which seemed to arrive at about 3 in the afternoon.
Piper abandoned her couch, rearranged one of the throw rugs to get it closer to the woodstove, and spent the entire day sleeping.

Yawn.

I can't say much was accomplished today.

But it was a very good day to be grateful for a roof and a fire.

~~~~~

before sunup

 These snaps are all a bit dim in tone,

but welcome to morning chores!

Yes, it would be nice if the temp would rise above 22F (-5C), but

aren't we glad the snow has stopped?

This is the lengthy interlude between a very grey dawn

and the moment when welcome rays of sunlight

come a-dazzling through the trees.

We hope.

Since this was the babies' Very First Snowfall,

I brought a pocketful of celebratory carrots.

Carrots are a welcome treat, anytime, night or day.

Every one of my goats thinks carrot pennies are the best treat ever.

 "I loooove carrots!"

"As Herd Matriarch, I should have the Most Carrots.

Obviously!"

"Did someone mention carrots?"

We got a couple-or-three inches of light, fluffy snow,

but under even the leafless trees there was less.

  Under the hemlocks, there was almost no snow at all.

I didn't take a picture of that absent snow, but here's a tip for you:

next time you are caught in the woods during a snowstorm,

find a hemlock.

Hemlocks are our Friends.

~~~

 Dara:"Look at this great pile of hay, Vinca!

Vinca:"Yum! Let's share it, 50-50, okay?"

Vinca:"New plan! Let's eat it up as fast as we can,

before Mama gets here and maybe knocks us sideways!

~~~

Fingers crossed it will warm up enough this week

that I can move some of these intrepid survivors to a safer place,

before the Return of the Snowplow.

Gardening has really been back-burnered since the porch project began.

But if I see one chance for transplanting this week,

I will gladly make it a priority.

~~~

Meanwhile...about those carrots...

Tsuga knows exactly which pocket to check.

Mostly because last year she very gradually, day by day,

quietly managed to chew a big hole in the other pocket.

Now anything I absent-mindedly stuff into that pocket just falls right through.

Which may be why I now have three single work gloves.

Or maybe not.

I do tend to leave gloves all over the place.

Tsuga is the one doe I hope to breed this year.

I have two potential bucks in mind, but there are tactical issues with both.

Stay tuned.

Oh Tsuga, little hemlock girl.

I am so looking forward to seeing your first kid.

 ~~~~~

a different perspective

Would you like to see a couple of goatcam snaps?

Here is Lily of the Valley,

looking out the open barn doorway.

And this is what she is looking at:

The largest round glow is the light over my back door.

One wall of the porch (with it's new row of windows)

is visible because of the floodlights at the gable peak.

The little bright rectangle of light in between

is the window of the room where I am typing

right this moment.

And in the foreground...

those two blurry vertical streaks?

Those are two tiny snowflakes.

They are not alone.

There have been a couple of brief flurries earlier this season,

but this is the first snowfall predicted to drop

a couple of inches here.

We'll see.

The builder is off til Monday, so I'll be focusing on other projects (fence tightening and gate building, for example) and general tidying up, indoors and out, depending on how cold it is. And taking Piper for longer walks. 

Piper has been shortchanged on fun for much of the past week, I am sorry to say, as the days are so short and I have been, frankly, exhausted. To be honest, even getting the evening chores done has been a struggle; I've started feeding and watering the moment the builder leaves, at 3 or 4 PM, and crashing the moment chores are done.

As a result, Piper has been enjoying an unusual abundance of treats and snacks each day, and of course she gets some exercise running around here at home, but it's not the same as snorting up and rolling in and running through the woods, even briefly.

"Are you feeling guilty yet?"

Today I had a chiropractic appointment, so I put Piper in the car and we stopped for a quick run in the woods enroute to my appointment.

 And then, on the way home,

we stopped again, in a different place:

And - bonus! -

those brief interludes were very refreshing for me, as well.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

~~~~~

progress on the porch

Yesterday a few hours were spent on another materials run...more lumber, rock wool insulation for the kneewalls, adhesive foil and caulk for around the windows, and more nails. Lots more nails. 

But it was a gorgeous day, and a start was made on installing windows. I'm looking forward to having them all in place so I can adjust my eye to the different view - it's quite a change from the floor-to-ceiling screens.

I think it's going to be nice.

Onward.

~~~~~