Peaceful Morning

Morning in Vermont

It's been quiet around here the last few weeks, with not much happening other than daily morning chores.  Even though it's cold, mornings like this really make me appreciate the beauty of Vermont.

Winter in Vermont

Sunny Day and Chilly Snow

We're still here!  There's not much happening other than the day to day chores of feeding, watering and petting.  It was sunny this morning, so the herd came out of the barn to soak up some rays for a bit.  They don't go too far into the snow, as evidenced by their tracks, but they are pretty happy with the Christmas tree that we gave them to gnaw on.

Belly Deep

Treats!

The snow was belly deep to a goat this morning.  The boys weren't quite sure what to make of it, so I opened the gate to let them go explore a bit.  Blackberry did the initial recon, but Strawberry is the one who led the charge to the other side of the  pathway, where the
boys enjoyed a nice snack of tree branches until the snow came down in their faces.  It didn't take much prodding to get them to go back into the barn.

Blackberry is not impressed.

Checking it out.

Leading the way.

Single file across the path.

Snow?! Where'd that come from?

There's a goat under there somewhere.

Winter Has Arrived

This morning, compared with this afternoon.

I think winter has finally hit for real.  Even though we had snow a few days ago, it's been warm enough outside that the kids and I have still been running around in bare feet.  That all changed today.  The boys don't seem to mind it too much, but I'm sure they'll be happy for the warm barn later tonight.

It's beginning to look a lot like Winter.

Can we come out to play?

First Snow!

We've had a few flurries in the air, but nothing that has stuck to the ground until this morning.  Just as the sun was coming up, everyone in the house started to realize the news:  The first snow had arrived!

Most of it had melted by afternoon, but there are still flakes in the air from time to time.  It won't be long before we're carrying water buckets through the drifts down to the barn!

The Joys of Winter Preparation

`Tis the season for preparing for the coming of snow.  It's been many, many years since I've had to put wood in for the winter.  The last few places where I've lived have all had either electric or oil heating.  My in-laws, however, have a good old-fashioned wood-fired boiler in the basement.

My father-in-law and I have slowly been moving chunks of wood from the giant wood pile by the driveway, down to the basement near the boiler.  The forecast is finally calling for a bit of snow tomorrow, so I'm chipping away at the pile a bit more today.