Happy Lunar New Year!

Of course around here, it is always the Year of the Sheep!

Merry Christmas

from the hills of West Virginia, where we are still wishing for a White Christmas... or at least a little less rain, fog and ice.  Wishing you and yours a day full of love, peace and sparkle... all the things that make wonderful memories! 

Sunday Muse ~ Happy Winter Solstice

If you have seen the snow
under the lamppost
piled up like a white beaver hat on the picnic table
or somewhere slowly falling
into the brook
to be swallowed by water,
then you have seen beauty
and know it for its transience.
And if you have gone out in the snow
for only the pleasure
of walking barely protected
from the galaxies,
the flakes settling on your parka
like the dust from just-born stars,
the cold waking you
as if from long sleeping,
then you can understand
how, more often than not,
truth is found in silence,
how the natural world comes to you
if you go out to meet it,
its icy ditches filled with dead weeds,
its vacant birdhouses, and dens
full of the sleeping.
But this is the slowed-down season
held fast by darkness
and if no one comes to keep you company
then keep watch over your own solitude.
In that stillness, you will learn
with your whole body
the significance of cold
and the night,
which is otherwise always eluding you.

"Winter Grace' by Patricia Fargnoli

Freezing Fog

Another common occurrence this winter has been freezing fog, and while it has made chores wet and somewhat difficult, it has also covered everything it touches with beautiful frosty crystals.
Winter wonders... everywhere you look.

More

What a winter it has been.  Much like everywhere else we've had more snow, more wind, more sub-zero temperatures.  The girls... well they pretty much take everything in stride... as long as the hay arrives in a timely manner.  And the snow, well it does make for pretty picture taking.

Scenes From the Pasture

Sub-zero temperatures, mounting snow pack and strong winds have all made winter chores much more difficult.
We've tried to take a few moments here and there and capture the beauty of these days of 'snow globe weather'.
Here are just a few scenes from the pasture...

Sunday Muse

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." 
~ Albert Camus

Ram Tough

As we mentioned earlier this week, all the breeding groups are broken up and the bred ewes are back in the barn pasture along with Liam and Fury, two of the rams.
Poseidon and Aragorn, the other two rams are now in the back pasture, where after a bit of a 'discussion' they have pretty much settled in.  Their job is done, and they will spend the next months putting weight back on that they lost during breeding season.  They are content, except for the time they spend walking the fence line looking for 'lost love'.

Sheep Drifts

We're Here

Saturday afternoon was spent breaking up the breeding groups and moving all the ewes back to the barn paddock.  Despite the snow and the bitterly cold wind, it went much better than we expected.  Usually we put up a moving lane to facilitate the moving process, but we didn't this time because of the weather.  Instead we opened the paddocks one at a time and led each ram back to the barn.  All the ladies followed their guy... success!  We kept our old guy, Liam, and young Fury at the barn with the ewes.  Hopefully that will work out as well as it did last year with Strider.
And so, with a hearty round of the song "We're all together again... We're here... We're here" everyone is settling in nicely.

Dog Tales

The severe cold snap in the weather proved a challenge in making sure all were sheltered from the life threatening wind chills. All had good access to shelter but for the always - on - the - job guardian dogs....Sampson and Belladonna. Sam uses his doghouse frequently but Bella frankly refuses shelter, preferring to, at best, bed down in the downslope trees.

Thus, we decided to build a windbreak for Bella which was quickly claimed by Sam..and progressed into a two chamber shelter. ..then a tarped 2 chamber.

Finally as night fell and double digit temperatures kept falling with the wind gusts rising...and noone was using the architectural masterpiece..we decided to attempt bringing them in the barn for the night. Sam made himself right at home. Bella definitely did not appreciate being in, paced the floor, and escaped thru the gate to play 'catch me if you can' for a bit but both the barn and the dogs survived the adventurous night.

Sunny

Such a beautiful sunrise on Saturday!  Our unofficial weather forcast for the day was ~ Sunny with a 100% chance of Sparkle, and as you can see we were not disappointed.  Hope your weekend was equally as beautiful.

Sunday Muse

Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.
~Hugh Macmillan, "Rejuvenescence," The Ministry of Nature, 1871

Weekly Top Shot

Our girl, Bertha, has received a lot of Flickr love this week.  She has been described almost perfectly by one of our Flickr friends ~  "like a rough and tumble child with bits of the wild in her hair".  This is another shot just moments after her pasture greeting.  She is a beauty and looks even more beautiful in a winter landscape.  We're hoping she's growing one or two equally beautiful lambs :)

joining Madge at The View From Right Here for Weekly Top Shot

Weekly Top Shot

Approaching the big turn at Bellview, it was such a treat to catch the sunshine breaking through for a moment.  The way it illuminated the side of the mountain and the frosted pines made our hearts swell.  This county road twists and turns, up and down, and in just a few minutes we were travelling a few yards below those frosted pine trees... following the road as it winds towards home.

joining Madge at The View From Right Here for Weekly Top Shot

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.

A single photo - no words - capturing a single moment from the week

A simple, special extraordinary moment.

A moment to pause, savor and remember.

Participating with the SouleMama blog

Sunday Muse

"In the sheltered heart of the clumps
last year's foliage still clings to the lower branches,
tatters of orange that mutter with the passage of the wind,
the talk of old women warning the green generation of what they, too,
must come to when the sap runs back."

- Jacquetta Hawkes

Friday's Fences

Happy Fence Friday!

joining Life According to Jan and Jer for Friday's Fences

Winter Sunrise

The snow and wind paused just long enough to grant us a couple days of sunshine.  Sunday arived in a most glorious manner.  Let us share with you a winter sunrise as it comes to the pasture and makes its way into the mountains.



Sunday Muse

As a child, my father helped me dig

a square of dense red clay, mark off rows

where zinnias would grow,

and radishes and tender spinach leaves.

He'd stand with me each night

as daylight drained away

to talk about our crops leaning on his hoe

as I would practice leaning so on mine.

Years later now in my big garden plot,

the soggy remnant stems of plants

flopped over several months ago,

the ground is cold, the berries gone,

the stakes like hungry sentries

stand guarding empty graves. And still

I hear his voice asking what I think

would best be planted once the weather warms.

"Lonely Harvest" from Family Constellation by Margaret S. Mullins