November Hill farm journal, 25

We had predictions for 5-7 inches of snow this past weekend, along with 3 days of temperatures well below freezing and 3 nights of temperatures in the single digits, and, last night -6, so I spent Friday preparing. We of course stocked up on Timothy balance cubes and the pellets I give Keil Bay with his meals now. With our hay stall well stocked in the barn, that was taken care of, but I added extra bags of shavings so we could top off stalls as needed until their night-time turn out can resume.

Normally these extremely cold days aren't paired with precipitation here, so I decided with all of us recuperating from colds, and with both snow AND extreme cold, I would do something I've never done before. I bought two stock tank heaters and set up water tanks in the barn aisle and under the shelter so that both sides had water with no worries of freezing up. Typically we go out and remove the ice on these cold mornings and tote out buckets of lukewarm water as well, but that gets dicey when the ground is slippery! 

It has worked so well I have a new idea to implement after the barn roof work and additional side shelter are completed. My next barn project was going to be getting the barn re-wired, and now I'll have that done but will add a dedicated outlet on each side, under each shelter. I'm thinking I'll put slightly smaller stock tanks beneath each shelter, with the capacity to use the heaters during winter months as needed. If I do this I can do away with the water buckets in the barn aisles and the individual stalls since we rarely close anyone in anyway. 

I'll keep the stock tanks in each field, obviously, but I think in the long run this will be easier on us and better for the horses as well.

We ended up getting about an inch of mixed sleet and snow and then a little more snow on top of that, which hasn't been too difficult to navigate. The big issue has been the extreme cold and we are all looking forward to tonight being the last of this cold spell. One more night, 13 degrees, and then we start to warm up so that by this weekend we'll be at 70 degrees! 

This is the crazy roller coaster weather we get in North Carolina. The blessing, I suppose, is that we get breaks from the extremes pretty regularly so nothing goes on for too long a time.

I enjoyed the snowy landscape on Saturday and on Sunday until the sun came out - for some reason the sun on snow isn't pretty to me, and the blinding whiteness makes me want to cover my head and not come out until the snow melts away. 

Inside, I'm putting down towels to catch the snow on all the cats and Corgi paws, not to mention boots, and sweeping up firewood debris around the wood stove several times a day. It's a messy kind of weather all around. 

As is usual in North Carolina when it snows like this, we all have snow days today. The university canceled the first day of spring semester classes, my beekeeping school first class is canceled, and husband is home from work. There are a lot of joke memes about this going around on Facebook but I actually love this about our state. We don't get this weather frequently enough to invest in heavy duty equipment to clear the roads and keep things going through the snow, so everything shuts down for a few days until it melts enough to drive. 

These snow days are good times for enjoying family time, making good food, and creating memories. And it impresses me that for those of you living with horses in this kind of weather for months on end you are able to keep things going! 

And finally, the twelfth day of Christmas, December

We have snow approaching so today I had a list of things to get done in the event we get the high end of the range of inches predicted, which is 9. A huge amount for us here in North Carolina, enough to bring things to a standstill here.

This morning before leaving to run some errands, though, I was sitting on the sofa reading when I saw a red-headed woodpecker on our shagbark hickory tree, pecking away. He was big and very handsome and I watched him searching for food wishing I could hear the knocking of his beak against the wood. I always think of knocking when I hear woodpeckers, like someone is building something or else the sound of someone at the door, so symbolically that's what comes to mind when I think about what might be showing up next December.

Later in the day I saw a cardinal, probably the same one I've been seeing all last week and this one, and again, felt his brilliance and cheer.

I spent the afternoon getting the barn set up for horses and snow, but also for a couple of nights of very cold temperatures, 9 tomorrow night, 0 on Sunday. 

Before coming inside I was startled by the coyotes shrieking and yipping in the 11-acre field just next to the barnyard. The horses, pony, and donkeys all flew out of the barn, into the rain, on high alert. I was so annoyed that the coyotes were this close, that they had drawn my herd out of their dry clean stalls with hay into the cold rain. I went out and shrieked and howled and yapped back at them and they stopped. Whether they moved on or just went silent I don't know, but I coaxed Keil Bay back into his stall and the rest followed suit except for Little Man, who stayed out until I got a lead rope and led him into the dry barn.

We've been talking about getting a Great Pyrenees as a herd guardian. I'm not sure how serious we are, as I would want to enclose the property with woven wire if we were going to have a dog living out there, and I can't quite imagine us owning a dog who stayed outside 24/7. But tonight I announced we should get two of them and let them deal with the coyotes.

All of this makes me wonder what the coyotes mean for next December! A lot to think about with these omen days and the year to come. 

Eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh days of Christmas: August, September, October, November

August through October are going to be mystery months as I lost track of this journey in the throes of rain, a cold, and trying to get organized after the new year! 

Today I am readying for the forthcoming snowfall due to arrive this weekend. There's a sense of waiting in the herd, and I'm sure they know it's coming. For the humans here, we are looking at snow with lows the next few nights in single digits and highs below freezing, which is not usual for us and we have to prepare. 

I don't know what this bodes for November 2017! Outside it is gray and the temperature is dropping. The most prominent thing in nature to me today are the evergreens, all of whom seem to be standing tall and steady and I enjoyed feeling that sense of "ever" in them as I worked outside.

Stocking up on food and have many good books piled in multiple stacks and on my Kindle so I'm happy and ready for the weekend. 

Sixth and seventh days of Christmas: June and July

Yesterday ended up being an indoor day. It was chilly and some of us have colds and we ended up watching TV on Netflix and I made a big pot of chicken soup for dinner, bought good bakery brownies and egg nog ice cream for dessert, and rang in the new year with a gin and tonic. 

On my way out of the market I ran into (literally) three beagles on very tangled leashes and their human. I talked to him about beagles and rescues and am not sure what this foretells for June but I think anything to do with those sweet beagles has to be good.

Today, New Year's Day, we got RAIN. But a cardinal came to the tree by the living room window and perched for awhile and the rain has been steady but not hard, so I'm calling it a win for July. Water and seeing bright red birds, who can go wrong with that?

Fourth and fifth days of Christmas: April and May

Yesterday I looked up while doing my late-day chores in the field and saw a spectacular winter sunset from the top of November Hill. The sky was filled with gray clouds that, lit from behind by the sun, appeared to be tipped with flames. I take this to mean April is going to be an amazing month.

Today I was on the front porch looking at the winter landscape. A stunning red Cardinal appeared in a tree close to the house. Everything in sight was the muted colors of winter except for this brilliant red bird. Bold and beautiful - looks like a terrific May.