A Fun Day Today and Waiting for the Cold

I hate it when you have to decide whether or not to cancel due to weather.  This morning, church was canceled due to icy roads.  That was easy with the roads around here and the timing of the ice.  Our spinning for St. Distaff Day, however, was scheduled for 1:00 P.M. and it was suppose to get to 40 degrees today (I don't think it ever did) so we decided to go for it.  It did get above freezing but some roads in the county still presented problems.  Unfortunately, 3 spinners were not able to join in the spinning but if we postponed it a day or two it could have been worse.

We did have 8 spinning and we had a great time but only 4 people came out to watch.

 It is always fun to see who has a new wheel and who is doing what kind of technique.  I wish we all got together more often.

The next couple of days are suppose to be really cold, good to sit by the fire and spin but it will be just me.  

Meanwhile, in the animals world, we have a new supply of hay, minerals, grain, and other nutrients, so we are ready for the cold.  When the wind comes I will close the doors of the barn part way.  The other night, when it was windy, I went down to the barn, just before bed, to close the doors but the sheep and Cher weren't even in the barn. 

I think the thing I hate most about the cold is the hard uneven ground by the gate.  The sheep generally meet me at the gate when I have hay.  When it is super muddy, there are hoof imprints everywhere, and then when the ground freezes, it is so hard to walk in that area.  I wish I had one of those big roller things to even out the ruts when it gets above freezing.

I worry about the chickens when it gets cold but I guess they know how to keep warm enough.  They usually roost up in the rafters of the barn but I think I will put some clean hay on top of the closet where Black sometimes likes to sleep.  I should also plug in a bucket of water for the chickens.  Cold is extra work but not like the first couple of winters when I was hauling buckets of hot water down from the house.  I wish we would get snow instead of bitter cold but I guess I should be careful what I wish for.