In which 2021 is behind us, but the sn*w lingers on

 It's supposed to rain tomorrow.

Finally!

I ordered a cord of firewood to be delivered Xmas Day (the seller had time available and probably wanted the cash).  The weather forecast called for sn*w, but although everybody else was reporting the first flakes, we had nothing here until almost 10pm.

The firewood sellers were coming here from Camano Island, which in normal conditions is about 30 minutes, maybe 45 if you have a heavy load of wood and non-industrial-strength shocks on your truck.  It took them almost 4 hours!

They kept texting me, "the weather is slowing us down," and I sent them a picture of our house and driveway with no weather on it at all. 

Nothing, not even rain.

They sent me a photo of white stuff on trees, and sure enough, when they finally arrived there was sn*w and ice all over the wood.  

We also figured out that the route these people took was weird, windy and steep.  If they'd stayed on the Pioneer Highway from Stanwood, the road is mostly flat and the curves are wide and gradual.  Their chosen path was a very strange choice, but yanno >whatever<.  

As soon as they were out the gate, down came white stuff.

Bahhhhh.

And then, it just kept coming down.

Our road gets plowed and sanded and salted, early and often.  But it took three days of plowing
to get ahead of the compact sn*w and ice.

Foxie Loxie is absolutely the only one of us who enjoys sn*w.  

I'm pretty sure I take a similar photo of this dog almost every winter

Roo's attitude is more typical:  

"Bahhhhhh"

We only got two days of actual precipitation.  After that, it was all about short days and low temperatures.

The lowest temp our thermometer recorded was 13*, which is pretty much the coldest it's been
since we moved here. The sensor is on the north side of the unheated shop.
The indoor sensor is in the kitchen, where it's nice and warm!

What do we do in this weather?  Well, I spend a lot of time feeding animals

3-5 meals of hay and/or mash per day, which I say is for the benefit of the elderly goat.

 and making sure the water tanks are open.

Frequent feedings give them something to anticipate, and keep me busy too.

Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, I spent a happy afternoon planning the 2022 garden and ordering seeds.

This garden grew beans and corn last year, so this year it
will mostly house squashes 

This garden borders the pasture, so I always have to plant short crops near the fence,
so the goats won't be tempted to climb in and harvest for themselves.

Of course, there's plenty of time to wander around the yard and scowl at all the frozen stuff.

I finally grabbed my helmet and hopped on the Dragon for a brief tour of the pasture.  Getting on this giant creature is the most challenging part of riding her bareback* -- it's a long way to the top!

*I left her blanket on so her back wasn't actually bare.  The blanket gives my butt a little more traction than her slick winter coat...and besides, it's cold outside.

After everything's fed and glared at, I take a few more photos of dogs in sn*w

It's good that they're cute

...and then, we go inside to warm up and dream of Spring.

There's no such thing as being too warm in winter