Home on the Hill

From the yard plowing job.  I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat, 'er snow blade.  I am alright on the road plowing stuff but zippity doing around the yard, back and forth - well I get barfy thinking about it.  We've had a little dump of snow and with a big wind behind it, snow drifts are appearing all around the yard. Jo-Ann, tired of my whining decided she was going to do it.  Let's just say she did a better job than the last guy who did it! Our cats really do know how to make the best of the Winter season. Hope your making the best of yours.

I don't know what it is about vehicle repair.  Around here we only try and do it when its cold out, preferable with a gale force wind blowing snow at the parts to be replaced, banged, or sworn at.  Not necessarily in that order. Who would make a thermostat housing out of plastic?  Some one who works for a company that believes consumers only consume, and therfore need to make parts so they will have a very limited lifespan..  On the Garden front, we remembered that we had left some cabbages growing in the tire garden and lifted the lid on them to find, much to our surprise:  They are still soft and pliable but looked like they had been frozen and then thawed in the winter sun.  Non the less, the piggies appreciated the bit of greenery.  One tire was overgrown with Chick Weed , and they chowed down on that with grunts of delight!  The Green house has calmed down.  One of these days I am going to rip out the tomato plants and put in some Brassicas and mixed greens.  Still

I was supposed to be at the Coast today.  The Jeep continues to require new parts.  This time a distributer assembly which is making for hard starts and roug h running.  Parts just came in today so here's hoping the mechanic can get it going.  If he does, and the weather looks like it will improve,  I might make the 1000 kilometer trip tomorrow.  The highways people are telling us to stay off the roads today, if possible.  Probably good advice. The weather has been problematical:  several snow falls requiring plowing in the last couple of days,  freezing rain yesterday evening and this morning now turning to snow.  Cold days can make for some nice pics. Of all the ways the weather can manifest,  the freezing rain crap is the worse.  Invariably it puts a film of water over the compact snow and ice.  We're talking curling rink.  Snow I can always plow,  and to see this stuff turn to the white stuff is a relief. We have been spending days (weeks) cutting meat. Easy

I dispatched six pigs last Saturday and we turned them into chops, hams, bacon and sausage meat on Sunday.  I found Saturday to be very draining emotionally.  As well as a good deal of work.  Here no one scrapes the hide so we ended up skinning them. I thought I was emotionally prepared for it.  I suppose I was in that I managed to dispatch all six.  We left two, from different, herds to breed.  Hope that works out.  I just don't like paying 85 bucks for weaner pigs.  I was as careful as I could be not to become emotionally attached to them.  No names.  Except for Lard Ass - the pig that sat to eat.  And Ms. Piggy the sow we kept. The nice thing about being grown up is that we can eat all the ice-cream we want.  The downside is that responsibility comes with that freedom. We do have an option, taking the pigs in a trailer for a 100 kilometer ride to a processing facility.  That's what most of our neighbors do.  They charge 40 dollars to dispatch them.  I just think