It's winter now

No biking today. Perhaps not even a dog walk today. Yesterday morning, when there was not a cloud in the sky, the weather forecast predicted a storm blowing in with 90% chance of precipitation. Yeah, yeah, we have heard that before. But just in case, I gave the horses a spa day and we covered the hay. Good thing too: it rained more than one inch overnight, and it's still at it.

Snow at 5,000 feet, and the snow level is falling. I could be painting molding, but Dan convinced me to have a "play day" and read my fun book: Free country, a penniless adventure the length of Britain. It is also perfect weather to do some cooking, snert (Dutch pea soup) is good when it's cold and rainy, and I should get started on making Kerststol (Dutch Christmas bread) to have my version perfected for the holiday.

Exodus

The weather is still quite mild, it is lovely having doors open in the beginning of December. It is not to last, I am sure, and the animals are giving signs too. Rodents are looking for warm places, and green stuff to eat.

I am normally quite tolerant and do not mind sharing, but when I found my lovely spinach gnawed and my kale assaulted, the gloves came off. Well, sort of, I bought out the live traps.

Over the last 3 days I have caught 12 mice in two garden beds, and 1 fat rat in the tack room. The wood rat taxied 1.5 miles away, the mice walked to the state land at the back of our property.

Ready for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and even though I grew up not celebrating it, I much enjoy and honor this holiday because I have so much to be thankful for. It is good to stop and reflect.

We do not do the usual food thing, although I do cook special stuff because it is a special day. This year we are having maple sugar scones for breakfast, a pumpkin-quinoa soufflé for dinner with roasted brussels sprouts, homemade dinner rolls, a green salad and apple-blackberry crisp for dessert. The day will be a relaxed one, just us and the animals.

So where did the summer go? We seem to be so busy that it feels like time is slipping through our fingers. We ride our bicycles three times a week, and love it. Remaining days are spent with projects around the ranch. Lately we have remodeled horse stalls, planted the winter garden and cleaned out the summer one, and started an indoor painting project.

This morning we raised a platform on the highest point on the property in hopes of attracting a nesting hawk pair. After watching a couple of Red Tails raising 3 hawklets this spring via a nestcam on Cornell University's campus, we wondered if we could be home to such an event. It is possible that a great horned owl will evict them if hawks do build a nest, but time will tell. The owls will be welcome too.

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, and hope that you have reason to be as thankful as we are.