Here's the Mail

With the road plowed, the mail came today!  I don't at all mind being snowed in for awhile, but for some reason, the thought of no mail for several days at a stretch makes me feel lonely.  I was so happy to see our mailman's truck pull into the end of the drive, retrieve our outgoing letters, and fill our box with several days' worth of mail before making his "U" turn and heading back to town.  (We're the last place on his route.)

So...did we get anything wonderful?  Yes!  Among the bills and junk mail, we got the local town's paper, which usually comes on Thursdays.  We received the Nebraska Dairy Goat Association newsletter, which is always a very fun read.  And...we got a package I ordered.  There were a few fun things for our daughter's upcoming birthday, and there was a little treat for me:    So many songs that I enjoy!  I listened to it the rest of the afternoon and made the kids dance with me.  Even though I didn't spend too much time outside today (it was -17F when we did morning chores!), I still got in my 10,000+ steps, so thank you very much, Sara!

For dinner this evening, I helped the kids make individual pizzas.  We forgot to prick the dough before baking it, though, and we ended up making the most perfect pocket breat ever!  It turned out much nicer than my usual pita bread recipe.  If only I followed a recipe for making pizza dough, I'd know what to do the next time I want pita bread.

Enough snow already!

The plow made it through today, so we can go somewhere tomorrow if we'd like.  I don't think we'll actually go anywhere until Sunday Mass, but it's nice to know the option is there!

Just how much snow do we have around here?  Well...here's the goat pen:

You can see where the goats walked right out of the pen.  I don't blame them!  Their little goat hut is completely buried.

Behind this drift is the pen where the Jacob rams used to stay:

The rams have a new pen.  The goats could have a new pen, too, but they're very particular about which pens they'll actually stay in.  The little Pygmy goat, Mary, is extremely clever about opening latches.  The two Saanens, Diamond and Ruby, are much better about staying where they're supposed to stay.  They will, however, follow their friend Mary right out a gate because -- after all -- it's not their fault if it was opened for them, right?  They currently have decided to hang out by the hay bale next to the new ram pen and share water with the Jersey heifer we're milking.

It's been a bit challenging to keep everyone warm and fed and watered with the cold temps and all this snow, but I'm so proud of my boys for doing an amazing job with their chores.  I'm thankful we have plenty of hay and feed and were able to get to everything when we needed it.  I'm also very happy my husband was snowed in with us instead of away at work.  He got to help milk the cow a little more often than he'd like, but he's the fastest milker on the place, and it sure was appreciated on these cold days!

I'm going to go make a cup of tea, grab a few of the gardening catalogs that have been stacking up, curl up in some blankets, and dream of spring.