Animals don't mind the cold like we do

Although I love having animals it can be rough in temperatures below zero such as today. After experiencing temperatures in the 60’s last week, today’s temperature of -10 is hard to take. But that is the way weather is here in Colorado, always changing. We will have cold temperatures for at least a week and also had a few inches of snow yesterday. It has been so dry here that any precipitation is appreciated.

Below freezing temperatures means that I have to haul buckets of water from the house to the barn because the well freezes up. Just spending time outside in when it's this cold requires time; time to put on the long underwear, wrap the scarves, put on gloves, boots, coat and so on. I do appreciate what my animals do for me though; eggs from the chickens, manure from the horse and the chickens, bug eating by the chickens, mohair from the goats, riding the horse in the summer as well as companionship – they never complain about what I give them for dinner (hay)! They do seem to fair better than I do in this weather though.

I am getting a fire started in the wood stove in my shop so that I can get to work today. I save all my stems from herbs after stripping the leaves off and use these to start my fires in the winter. So the sweet scent of lavender is wafting through the shop now. I’ll pour myself a cup of tea; maybe black Assam tea spiked with a little Earl Grey. Or maybe a cold day like this is perfect for a pu-erh, yes that's what I'll have! I hope everyone else stays warm today.

Look in the next few days for my give away as part of the One World One Heart blog event. http://oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/one_worldone_heart/page/2/
I want to spend some time coming up with a perfect gift (or two) for readers.