New Year's Day

New Year's Day dawned bright and very cold here. My part of Oregon has been frozen solid for the last few days and that always changes life a bit on a farm that is normally extremely wet but relatively warm in the winter. So it was no surprise that I was thinking a lot about ice this morning as I went out to feed my critters.

The freezing temperatures have created works of art out of simple objects I've left lying around. An old screw on a wooden plank takes on a whole new look:

An old horseshoe found out in the pasture last year is transformed into an object of many textures:

Our clay fireplace now has icy moss adorning its sides:

Likewise, the shrubs and bushes all look like they were were decorated especially for this holiday morning:



The chickens received warm cheesy rice for breakfast with a few ripe banana pieces thrown in for variety:

Poor, sweet Cowgirl. While the rest of my hens have made it through their feather molt and have a full body of feathers to keep them warm again, Cowgirl just began dropping hers about a week and a half ago:

She's having to keep warm with only about half the amount of feathers she normally carries on her body, poor lass:

Beau and Chester wished me a sweet good morning. Actually, in this photo they are letting me know that I am late to breakfast:

Outside the barn, ice needed breaking on the stock tank:

And I scooped the pieces out with my tiny blue fish net:

Mr. stock-tank-goldfish is alive and well. He has no problem withstanding the water freezing solid over his head:

Chester's furry winter brow is a hearty one this year:

Even at meal times, my Kai llama is ever on guard. Here she is watching a dog with jingle bells attached to his collar (poor guy) run past on the road above. She was entirely unimpressed:

And here's Chester, telling me I've admired Kai llama for long enough and need to appreciate him again:

This is bad. This is telling me that despite all the precautions I took to prevent my barn water from freezing, not only did it freeze, but something has gone wrong and I have a burst pipe or something. Water marks and icicles next to closed spigots are bad, bad signs:

Have you ever wondered what frozen donkey poop looks like? Well, now you don't have to. I enjoy the ring these little icicle balls make when they hit my metal wheelbarrow:

Later on, my goat boys told me they wanted to go for a walk:

...so, of course, we did:

Kai llama, Pete and Reggie then "did lunch" together in the center pasture:

Back inside, Roxy politely told me that she was finished with the Christmas tree for this year (it will come down tomorrow):

...and then immediately offered me my choice of toys to throw for her:

So, here's a toast to the New Year:
Goodbye Two-Thousand-and-Ten,
I was really ready for you to end,
Anticipating the bright new year,
I've got plans and I'm full of good cheer!
:-)

p.s. Chester and Beau think they're really cute.