howling wolf

   Well, jeeze... I haven't posted in a long time.  December was pretty busy.  All my spare time was spent crafting, cleaning, organizing and baking.  What an exciting month though!  We had family visit, finished lots of projects and made lots of cool things.

   On the hot topic of projects worked on, we have been so productive!  Yes!  We have had some unseasonably dry weather here in western Washington lately.  It's been beautiful, cold, sunny and DRY!  Steve and I have been taking full advantage.  We got the kids' trampoline assembled (thanks grandma Linda!), got all the firewood  neatly stacked in the woodshed, tarps dried out, folded and put away, finally cut up the trees that had to be felled to clear space for the woodshed, thinned out our raspberry patches, cleaned up the hoop house, cleared the brambles out of the orchard, and started some new sheet mulching projects.  The wood stacking took a few long days of hard work, but it feels SO good to have many cords split and stacked up off the ground and ready to go... a goal several years in the making.

   Ha!  I just looked out the window and it's snowing!  How wonderfully exciting!  What a crazy winter!  The usual months and months strait of grey, 45 degrees and raining has been frequently and extensively broken up with snow and sunshine.  I love it!  I'll take cold, snowy and sunny over mild, wet and grey any day!

   The November chick, Napali Jr, is settling in with the flock nicely.  She spent a few weeks in the house by the woodstove when the weather got really cold and her true mama was no longer interested in keeping her warm.  She happily adopted the kids as her new mama.  It was adorable.  She would contentedly perch on the side of her box and watch the kids all day as they went about their activities, but would peep loudly for them anytime they left the room.  On occasion, she would even work up the nerve to take flight from her perch and fly clear across the room to land on someone's knee or shoulder. She became so attached I was concerned she might not transition well once she had to move back outside.  Her first night out she peeped and peeped and peeped for the kids.  But then she settled in.  She still loves to be picked up and snuggled, of course, but she seems to enjoy her new place among fellow poultry.

   Well, I need to get going on some lessons with the kids.  But, I will try to get back to posting regularly.  Hope you all are staying warm and cozy and happy!