Frosty Morning

I love the Colorado blue sky on a frosty morning.

Alpacamundo Monday: Frosty Morning

I love frosty mornings.

Especially when the de-icers are working.  It's always nice to find open water during a hard freeze.

Winter is Coming... Eventually

No snow.

Barely a freeze so far. 

I'm still wearing flip flops most days. 

The water tank de-icers are out and the extension cords are marked.

Happy Solstice!

It is beautiful and sunny on this, the first day of winter.

Tomorrow, the days get longer. :-)

Winter (Finally)

As the saying goes, "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes."

Before I was a farmer, I was an alpine ski instructor.

Just like skiing, how you dress is important for farming.

It's important to stay warm, but not too warm.

If you start to sweat, you you will get chilled.

Of course the Himalayan Canines and Andean Camelids could not be happier that winter is finally here.

I'm Still Here

The last few months have been crazy-busy with the Day Job.

So busy, that I had a drafted post for Fiber Arts Friday last week and did not get it posted.  I have hardly even read most of my favorite blogs for months, let alone written anything.

Aside from working, sleeping and doing the minimum of farm chores, there hasn't been much else going on.  I wish I could say I'm working on something amazing or ground breaking, but I can't.  All I can say is that it's consuming most of my time and energy.

It's January, though.  The days are getting longer.  The weather was remarkably lovely last weekend.  I saw a Robin several days ago and the Geese seem to be on the move.

Hubba and I took a day to visit with a friend and his new Tibetan Mastiff Puppies over the weekend.  Of course, our dogs were very interested in what we had been up to.  ;-)

My seed catalogs have arrived.  I'm realizing that in about 2 months it will be time to start planting early-season seeds, so I guess I should get busy on my plan.

Next month, I'll start booking shearing clients too.

Spring is coming.  I hope I'm ready for it.

Feeling Grateful

A few years ago, when we moved back to Colorado from New Mexico, I bought a big down coat.  I call it my "Saint Paul Parka."

I bought the coat because New Mexico has mild winters, I had lived there for a very long time and was suddenly commuting to the Twin Cities of Minnesota... specifically, Saint Paul.  I knew my winter coat, that had been perfectly fine for New Mexico, was not going to cut it in Minnesota.

What I didn't realize at the time is that Northern Colorado gets just as cold, only it's not for as long.  Of course the sun shines more here, but I digress.  ;-)

So when the weather is like it is right now, I am grateful for my Saint Paul Parka.

We went below freezing (+32F) yesterday afternoon and will stay there for the next week.

Spring in the Rockies

I've been feeling frustrated that I haven't gotten my seeds in the ground yet. I guess I should give myself some slack. ;-)

Snow Day

We finally had a proper snow day yesterday.

Not sure if you can tell in this photo, but three dogs were having a wrestling match... until they discovered I was taking photos of them...

Hubba did some plowing... most of the snow went into a pile in the middle of the basketball court.

The Alpaca Dog helped out while everyone else continued to play in the snow.

The boys are building a snow fort...

It snowed some more... about 12 inches total.

And then the morning after... Bright blue skies and fresh white blankets of snow.

The boys hollowed out their fort today...

We love winter in Colorado and are so very happy that it has decided to spend some time with us.

Thoughts on Easter

Yesterday morning, the day before Easter, it was snowing at home in Colorado.

There were several commercials during the morning news advertising spring dresses.  It reminded me that as a child, growing up in the Rocky Mountains, I never understood those advertisements.

We would go to Easter Mass, dressed a little nicer than for normal Mass, but our outfit was always finished off with a pair of worn out snow boots and a heavy coat.  The Easter Egg Hunt always took place in the house and often there was a fire in the fireplace.  I could not understand that people were able to wear spring dresses, white shoes and Easter Bonnets or search for Easter Eggs in a park during this time of year.

Of course now I understand that in some places it is actually warm and spring-like on Easter, but my experience of Easter still includes worn out winter garments.

I hope you had a great weekend full of promise for the new season.

Winter is Back

It was about 6 degrees F when I fed the alpacas this morning.  A far cry from the 60 degrees F of a few days ago.

There's a layer of ice over everything then a small amount of snow on top.

It doesn't look like much but it's c-c-cold and slippery out there.  Of course, I've got my St. Paul Parka, several layers of long-johns and woolies and big snow boots to keep me warm and upright.

With the winds being calm, all of the alpacas were out of their shelters enjoying their toasty warm coats.  I like how they look with the snow sprinkled over the top of them.  I didn't take any photos of that though because my fingers were too cold.

A Beautiful Weekend

The weather has been so lovely in Northern Colorado over the last few days.  It's hardly appropriate for January, our supposed coldest month.

The tree's are budding, the iced-over lakes are melting and the temperature gauge read 60 degrees F on Friday.

I spent Friday afternoon, coming up with anything I could do outside in the sunshine.  I made sure the water troughs were full and clean and the barn was swept out.

I picked up dog poo and the trash that always appears after a wind storm.  I re-staked our future veggie garden so our neighbor can break the ground with his bobcat.

I sat on the back porch and cleaned all of my combs and cutters so I can send them out for sharpening.

I gave the girls a mud puddle to splash around in.

I love these little breaks the Colorado Front Range can give you in the dead of winter.

Of course winter will be back with a vengeance in a couple of days.  They say we will have the coldest temperatures of the season... a high of 7 deg F is forecasted for Tuesday.  {{shiver}}