Animals

Illusion

If you've ever looked at the sidebar to this blog,

you might have noticed a picture of me in a green linen pinafore,

straw hat, skirt and boots.... picking juicy ripe grapes from our grape arbor...

basket on my arm.

That's the romantic side of farm life...

the illusion (a photo shoot for the apron).

Here is the real side....

I have been up since 5:15, showered, dressed, thrown in a load of laundry,

stripped the bed and bath linens, emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen sink.

It is now 6:30 in the morning...still dark.

I am out doing the AM chores.

The thermometer is reading somewhere in the low teens,

but I am surprisingly warm...

thanks to UnderArmor and a snow suit....a sort of Pillsbury Doughboy look.

Now here comes the best part:

I am on my hands and knees, picking up manure...

because it has frozen solid fast to the ice and snow beneath it.

I have broken the tines of my metal manure fork on the ice,

and the plastic fork won't budge the frozen manure.

So, I am manually picking each "turd" from the ice.

My hair has worked its way out from under my hood and is hanging by my face.

My nose is running.

(Thanks to the cold bestowed upon me as a sort of Christmas gift,

from a certain 2 year old who shall remain nameless....

the kind of gift that keeps on giving!)

Said runny nose has dripped onto the tips of my freshly washed and dried hair...

and has frozen there as "snotcicles"...
thank you very much.

Two and a half hours later, with frozen toes....

I am finished.

My only saving grace?

No one around to take my picture.

So, please forget reality.

Erase this image from your mind.

Think of me each morning...

waltzing around the farm,

basket on arm,

bonnet on head,

beautifully coiffed and frocked!

It may be smoke and mirrors....

but reality bites (frostbites!)!

I am linking up to....

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- A Banner Weekend
As I write this post... it is snowing again. Another 7 or so inches are predicted...time will tell. ( This is Ella Bella-chick...given that name this Super Bowl weekend because of her continual scowl.) Our weekend flew by so very quickly...spent...

- The Pleasures Of Recycling
A damp, gloomy, drizzly day this close to Christmas is definitely just what I needed!And yesterday was just that. Farm chores, taking recyclables to the recycling center, and picking up our weeklypastured milk order from the local coffee shopwere my...

- The Ugly Truth
Each morning, as you read my blog,I would love for you to imagine me like this.... gracefully skipping around the farm,with a handmade basket on my arm,tending to my chickens, goats and horses. Flowing frocks, pinafores, floppy hat...clean-faced, freshly...

- Snow....finally
No, we did not have snow for Christmas.The snow came right on schedule, however, for Farm Show week.Each January, Pennsylvania has its annual Farm Show...a huge exposition of everything related to farming.And each January, Farm Show week has some...

Animals