Getting Through the Winter ...

So far we've had tons of snow, a huge thaw, and now we're into the COLD weather!

On days like these I alternate between cursing the winter and wishing I live somewhere milder and feeling virtuous for surviving it all! Typical Canadian, eh?

Things that get me through:

• Stock tank de-icers (the sinking kind - the ox plays with the floaters and the donkeys are scared of them);
• My thrift store long down coat (despite the fact that it sheds feathers on everything I wear under it; and despite the fact I hate that birds died for the down (well - maybe they died for the meat and the down is a by-product - in any case, th ebirsd are no more ...));
• Electric water pails & bowls - for the goats, geese, & pigs;
• My barn kettle (from the thrift store) - I use it to warm water for the pigs' soupy meals, to thaw ice from pails, whatever.
• My barn radio (thrift store!) - brings a sense of civilization to an otherwise brutally frigid day - keeps me calm & intellectually engaged while I shovel poop! I listen to CBC Radio One (like US NPR);
• Thoughts of all the fun things I will do once spring comes: new fences, gates, yards, stalls, whatever - I am a perennial planner;
• Hearing everyone chewing their hay once chores are done ... I often sit on a bale (if it's not too cold) for a while and just soak in the contentment.