Brrrr... It's Still Freezing

It is 10:00 in the morning on this lovely sunny blue sky day and it is 22 degrees! Cold! It was around 17 degrees last night. The snow is frozen solid and it is scary walking around outside getting firewood and taking care of the chickens.

I'm not complaining. Really. It's just that this is California and I'm not that used to what is to me is really cold weather. I wonder if this is going to be the norm for a while? Colder winters?

The chickens are doing great. Yesterday, Kristine and I put down around 10 flakes of straw in the chicken coop for the chickens to use as bedding and they all came through the freezing weather just fine. We didn't add any heat lamps or anything else to the coop. The only thing I did other than add the extra straw was to board up part of their pen entrance to cut down on drafts.

The hens snuggle up in the straw in the nest boxes or pile up like a bunch of puppies in a pile on the straw on the ground and manage to keep each other warm. I'm so glad they managed to get through their molt and that their feathers grew out before this freezing weather hit.

I brought the hens a bowl of water this morning; their automatic waterer was a frozen block of ice. The chickens are enjoying the sunshine and also dry feet thanks to the tarp I put up over their pen.

I put the dry feeders back up so the hens had access to feed all the time and because it wasn't safe for me to try and walk around in the ice and snow carrying the water and feed, etc. They have a feeder full of scratch and one of lay pellets. There is also another goat grain feeder full of scratch.

The hens got a head of broccoli and two apples yesterday. Today they got some veggie scraps and some pumpkin. I was worried about them, but they are doing fine. They are going to have to stay penned up until after Thanksgiving and the weather warms up.

It is so cold out that my camera stopped working and I had to put it back in my pocket and warm it up a bit. Didn't know that would happen. That was a new one on me.

I took the photo of the tree tops after I came back inside and warmed the camera up... I opened the slider and took a quick shot.

I had to try four times to get the camera to work to take the other photo of the trees and snow when I was outside.

There was over 7 inches of snow on the railings, 2 inches under the trees and 2 inches on the clothesline when Kristine measured the snowfall one night.

There was a lot of rain and hail along with the snow, so I don't know how much snow we got all together.

Last night it was so cold that I slept on the couch in front of the wood stove. Kristine got up around 3 a.m. to add more wood because it was getting cold in the loft. I didn't feel the cold because I was under an afghan, a quilt and only 5 feet away from the wood stove. I think I will sleep there again tonight. It is supposed to be 22 degrees tonight.

Kristine turned the outside faucets on to drip last night, but some of them froze up anyway. Hope we don't have any broken pipes. I keep going out to check, but it is still freezing out.

This is how I'm keeping my feet warm... Morgan and I share her dog bed while I use the computer. I snuggle my feet under her when I can or I wiggle a foot and give her a foot massage.

I stopped trying to post because I didn't like using the computer when the power kept going off and on. I was worried the computer might get damaged. 

This is a quick post. I will try to get another one in for Thanksgiving.