Help is on the Way!

Lenny finally decided he was sick enough to go to the hospital. On Thursday we called the ambulance, which thankfully, had no problems in the ice on the farm road. Hopefully, they'll be able to get him back on his feet soon!

Knowing we might be in this for the long haul, we called in the cavalry today. Lockey came over to help with the horses. She's all trained now and ready to take over for me next weekend when Ed and I go to Duluth!

Ed also came down to the barn and threw bales of hay downstairs for us. It was a big help, but I think he just comes down to see Mr. Genes, his favorite horse. Mr. Ed and Mr. Genes together!

Tin Fashion

In activity day on Wednesday night we had the girls design modest dresses for each other out of tin foil.

That turned out to be a little harder than one might think, but it was very fun.

We capped it off with a little runway walk around the church, which was very fun and giggly. I only regretted that Heather and I were too busy to finish our dresses, as well!

Enough is Enough!

I"m trying to be patient, but I'm fed up with it! It was -2 degrees this morning when I was getting ready to go out and feed the horses. I stalled (horse joke) a bit, but it didn't help much.

It has been windy, as well, and I took this picture of the snow in our front yard yesterday afternoon. It is frozen solid in ripples!

There was a catastrophic failure in Mr. Genes' heated water (ice) bucket. I chipped it open and gave him another bucket, but it won't last till noon. I'll go back and check on him.

On a happy note, I found I can record my German vocabulary words for my Business German class and listen to them on my cell phone while I'm scooping poop. The more you scoop, the smarter you get! Die Pferde lieben Deutsch!

Comfort Food

We've been snowed in, but had plenty to eat to keep us warm. Yesterday I made scones--not the namby-pamby English scones, but the hearty Utah fried-bread scones. We had them with tuna fish, butter and jam and peanut butter and jelly. They make an appetizer, main dish and dessert, all in one!

Today we had taco soup, with fresh rolls made from the leftover scone dough! Mmmm....it's yummy getting snowed in!

A New Day

The sun is not exactly out, but the weather is in the 30's already today. Ed helped with the horses this morning. It is very nice of him, as he is supposed to fly to LA (through Denver) this afternoon. Denver is also having a snowstorm today, so we'll see how that pans out...

We must have gotten about 9 inches of snow. A lot of it has compacted, as it rained last night.

The farm looked so pretty covered in a layer of snow.

The farm lane, unplowed, looked so untouched.

There's a telling trail through the Bush back yard. That's how you know the horses have been fed!

Snowed In at the Farm

I was looking forward to having a day off at the barn yesterday, but Mother Nature had other plans. It snowed all day, and nobody could come down to feed the horses. Fortunately, Ed was home and happy to help, because he gets licks from Mr. Genes (which I never get)!

Coda, as always, is also happy to help.

Although the farm is next door to us, it is a long trudge home in the snow. The good news is, that I'm getting my 10,000 steps every day!

Because the temperature is up in the 20's now, it felt nice to sit outside on the patio swing and enjoy the view when we got home.

In between shoveling snow, mucking the barn and vacuuming the entire house, we had a lot to be tired about!

How Cold Was it?

I waited till 8:30 to feed the horses this morning. It was SO cold that the heated water buckets had a mist coming out of them. At 3 degrees the act of not freezing turns the water to mist!

The horses were appreciative of some hay and attention. I found out that you can crack a plastic shovel when you try to chip a frozen pile of manure off the ground!

I spent some extra time at the barn this morning, sprucing things up a bit. I shoveled some sawdust down the chute from the top of the barn.

Then I threw some bales of hay from the second floor and stacked them up neatly.

Coda didn't like going inside the top floor of the barn. She waited outside by a big tree. You can see the silhouette of the barn's weather vane in the snow!

Fortunately, the sun was shining, which almost offset the light breeze. Coda kept warm with her booties and Raven's jersey. She loves going to the farm so much. I love it, too, but I'm also happy to have the weekend off. Maybe next week if we need to care for the horses, the temperature will break 30 one day!

Heat Wave in the Bush Basement

Yesterday Baltimore hit record low temperatures, with a high of 18 and a low of 1 degrees. It beat the previous record of 19 degrees set in 1903! It might have been freezing outside, but things were heating up in the Bush Basement where the Pearl Strings finished recording the last three songs from our summer program.

The space heater helped take the chill out of the basement as we reviewed our music. We had not forgotten everything, but it took a little work to get up to snuff! It was nice having Barb here before she goes to Florida again next week. Wish we could go with her!

Horsing Around in the Snow

Ed got up bright and early today to shovel the driveway this morning. The good news is--it's light out by 6:30, and it was finished snowing.

I bundled up to help him and went over to feed the horses. It is not as much fun going over to the barn when it is 13 degrees as it is in the summer, but with enough layers you don't really notice the cold!

Miss Carol's niece, Sissy had put a blanket on Bambury to keep her warm. She hasn't got as much body fat as Bali and Mr. Genes to insulate her.

I put Coda's boots on her so she could enjoy playing in the snow. She really loves running around in her boots.

To show you how much Coda loves the snow, I'm posting a video of  her frolicking on our way back to the house. It's fun having a dog!

Burrry Nice Valentine's Day

Ed got me a new, red coat for Valentine's day. And none to soon! It snowed yesterday afternoon.

But that wasn't the worst of it. It is so cold! With no end in sight. We might break 30 degrees this week, but then back into the deep freeze! O, February, go away!

It was so cold, snowy and windy that they cancelled church today. Coda took the opportunity to hop in bed with us and cuddle up for a little warmth. It made it really hard for me to get out of bed this morning!

Taking the Hyundai to Bavaria

Since we didn't get to pick up a car in Germany this year we decided to take our Korean car to Germany. It was my chance to take a nice ride in Ed's new car and have Ed show me all the nice features it has.

Our first stop was at Costco in Frederick, where we had our favorite Costco hot dogs for lunch.

Our next stop was the Bavarian Inn in Shepherd's town, West Virginia. Frank, my guitar teacher recommended it, and he didn't steer us wrong! It was just like being in Germany, except everyone speaks English.

We had a lovely room with a view of the courtyard.

We were a little disappointed that all the rooms with the Potomac view were sold out, until we realized we had a nice view of our new car from our room, as well!

We had a romantic dinner in their dining room--both of us had schnitzel, our favorite German food!

Glücklicher Valentinstag to us!

Cold Day at Cold Saturday

It was 19 degrees this morning when Ed and I went over to Cold Saturday Farm to feed the horses. We even waited till 8:30, hoping, to no avail, that it would warm up!

Coda was happy to go regardless of the weather. She loves the farm so much.

Even the pond was frozen over! That doesn't happen too often.

The water in the water buckets was also frozen, despite the fact that the horses had been left in the barn overnight.

I was so glad Ed had the day off. Scooping poop is so much more fun when you do it with a friend!

They had plenty of frozen mud on their coats, but very little in their hooves. Go figure...

Ed tried to encourage Mr. Genes to take a drink before his water froze over again.

It was fun feeding the horses, as we hadn't done it for a while. The farm went on the market this week. I wonder who the new owners will be. If you would like that to be you, check out the listing at: http://www.cbmove.com/property/details/1482176/MLS-CR8552840/5843-Oakland-Road-Sykesville-MD-21784.aspx?utm_campaign=OLDP-Zillow&utm_source=zillow&utm_medium=oldp&utm_content=listing

Banded Together

It as so nice to have Barb back from her extended stay in Florida. A band without a bass is like a house without a foundation!

We had a good time arranging our new songs. We had some discussion about what kind of band we are and what kind of band we would like to be. We would like to be somewhere between folk and Celtic and down-home music. We just seem to do a little bit of everything. Barb said we like to take the tunes and "folk them up." We had a good laugh about that! We're glad she's back!

Book it Sisters Read Tess

Suzanne hosted the Book it Sisters last night. We read Tess of the D'Urberbilles, by Thomas Hardy. She loves the book, but some of us didn't love it. She had a love it/hate it theme. She had food people loved or didn't love. We loved it all (the food), as the unloved items were like the least popular cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory. There was nothing to hate about that.

This picture was funny because Harper apparently thought she was going to get some cheesecake. She did not!

To read our reviews of the book, go to http://bookitsisters.com/posts/