Battening down the hatches

For some time now, we've been anticipating the first significant snowfall. We had a dusting a while back, but nothing big. But yesterday's weather called for a dump of the white stuff.

And although it threatened here and there to make that dump imminent...

...it didn't really start snowing until about midnight.

So yesterday I took the opportunity to do some cleanup around the driveway area. We know from past experience how annoying it is to have the ground covered in snow for six months, then after it melts find missing tools, assorting boards, and all the other flotsam and jetsam around a farm.

I started by scrubbing out the cows' water tank. This had gotten overgrown with muck sliming the sides and bottom.

This tank had a float valve on it all summer and fall, a handy device that keeps the tank perpetually full. But we can't use it in the winter because the hose connecting to the water tap will freeze.

I drained the tank and gave it a good scrubbing...

...then filled it with fresh clean water. We'll also put in a tank heater to keep it from freezing.

I went around the area picking up random assorted debris. Some if this is trash, some goes on a burn pile, and some gets piled near the shop so we can chop it into burnable lengths for the woodstove.

This is stuff for the burn pile. We'll burn next spring.

This old rotten hay bale probably weight 150 lbs from all the water it had absorbed. It got pitched on the burn pile too.

I anchored things that could get flipped in the wind with heavier objects.

I drained and coiled all the hoses, and stacked them in the barn. Don and I also folded and put away assorted tarps.

Despite a freezing wind, I also went out and picked the peas that were ripe.

Yes, these amazing peas were still clinging on. I just had to accept the fact that they weren't going to ripen any further.

It was a fairly small haul for a second planting, but hey, it was an experiment. I'm happy to get any.

This morning we found it had snowed about four inches. For Younger Daughter, who is working in Coeur d'Alene, it was her first time driving in snow. She left when it was barely light.

As is typical, the chickens didn't know what to make of all that white stuff on the ground. The half-grown birds, particularly, had never seen snow before. They refused to leave the coop.

Everything looks very wintery now!

The snow is quiet and pretty and peaceful. Yesterday's cleanup efforts seem far away and even unnecessary (though I'm glad they're done). Until the snow melts, we'll enjoy the transformed world around us.

Thanksgiving cooking monster

Like millions of people (mostly women) across the country, this week I turned into a Cooking Monster. I long ago learned the wisdom of doing most of the cooking for Thanksgiving the day before, leaving me unstressed on Thanksgiving Day itself.

So on Wednesday, I cooked.

I started out with wild rice stuffing.

...and bread stuffing.

Lydia was, of course, very attentive during this process.

For dinner rolls, I used a recipe from our neighbor Enola Gay's The Prepared Family Cookbook:

Called "Angel Biscuits," they're a light but flat dinner roll. Very good.

I made two blueberry pies and one pumpkin pie:

And, as usual, I made a huge mess.

By the time everything was cleaned up Wednesday evening...

...75 percent of our feast was made.

Thanksgiving Day dawned without rain, which is something of a rarity lately. Since snow is expected in the extended forecast, Don decided to take advantage of the weather and cut some firewood.

Then he split...

...while Younger Daughter manhandled the rounds over to him.

Meanwhile I put the turkey on to bake...

...whipped some cream...

...and cleaned the house. We were expecting two sets of neighbors for dinner.

After Don finished splitting the firewood...

...Younger Daughter loaded it in the wheelbarrow and dumped it on the porch, and I stacked it.

She also set the table.

The bird came out about the time our guests started arriving. Don's the expert gravy-maker, so he busied himself with that, as well as carving.

The guests brought so many dishes -- mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and deviled eggs and bottles of wine -- that we couldn't fit it on the table and had to use the counters for a sideboard. What a blessing indeed!

We had just the loveliest dinner and visit.

Afterwards, I put the turkey carcass in a pot of water with a splash of vinegar...

...and I'll can up turkey stock today.

Just a bit of Thanksgiving humor:

Above all, we remember this as a holiday expressly for the purpose of giving thanks to God for His glorious bounty. We cherish not just the food, warmth, and shelter He's provided, but the bounty of our friends and family as well -- which is why an essay entitled Why Thanksgiving is Inescapably Theological, sent by reader Rob, is extremely apropos.

A blessed (post) Thanksgiving to everyone!

America's worst traffic jam?

Some startling footage emerged yesterday from a news helicopter covering traffic in Los Angeles: what might possibly be the worst traffic jam in America.

According to the article, "If these motorists thought setting off early would help them beat the Thanksgiving getaway rush, it appears a few others had the same idea. ... The news channel’s helicopter captured the 'complete gridlock' on the 405 motorway, one of the busiest and most congested routes in the United States."

The short video embedded in the article starts out bad enough:

Then it pans back and gets even worse:

And even worse:

"It's like the red and white blood cells flowing through the major arteries of the city," wrote on person. "Pretty, [but] wouldn't want to be in it."

This is a level of gridlock unfathomable in this area. To all my dear readers in Southern California, please be safe this holiday.

Need a good laugh? Read this

Some days, you just need a good laugh. That's what happened when I read this article:

'Feminist' snow plowing cripples Stockholm

It seems Stockholm had put in place a "gender-equal" snow removal plan. Please go read the whole article, but here's the gist:

The city government is intent on putting as much civic energy into clearing bike paths and sidewalks used by environmentally- and fitness-minded women as into the roads frequented by male-dominated motor vehicle traffic.

But chaos reportedly was the result for both genders. ... Buses (also, it turns out, heavily used by women) were stuck by the hundreds on roads blocked by stalled cars. Light rail trains moved at half speed, forcing stranded commuters to walk for hours to get home from work, slipping and falling on glasslike sidewalks and bike paths. Others stayed home with children as schools shut down.

Daniel Helldén, a Green Party member who is vice mayor for traffic, was quick to blame the record snowfall (15 inches in a day) rather than the new policy. ... He explained the rationale for gender-equal snow removal: “It hurt more when you fall when walking and cycling, while those who drive are comfortable no matter whether it’s snowing. It is about three times as many pedestrians who are injured than motorists in weather like this. … But there is also an accessibility argument that the city should be accessible to all. Snow and ice keeps many at home. Above all, it affects women who increasingly are walking and cycling more than men.”

Fredrik Antonsen complained on his Iotakt blog: “The Green Party's policies — whether it's about energy, security and defense, schools or snow removal — is a policy that does not work when reality intrudes on it. The Green Party is a party that dreams, that is so naive it hurts. Yesterday's snow chaos had been difficult without the Green Party's ideas, but became even harder when the ideas became reality.”

BwaaahahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahaha snort hack gasp.

Okay, I feel much better know.