When the weather outside is frightful, and it sure has been these last couple of weeks, find yourself a snuggly warm baby to cuddle up with! That's exactly what my friend Kerri and I did last weekend. We headed up to Fredericksburg to have some quality bonding time with little Ruby Denise and her 9-mo-old big brother Logan. It was a whirlwind trip, but well worth it.


Although it is still officially fall for a few more days, the balmy autumn weather is but a distant memory at this point. We're back to the winter puzzle of keeping water available in liquid form for all the various carbon based lifeforms that need it. I carry a pitcher full of near boiling water out to the chickens everyday and combine it with some snow or ice chunks to bring it down to a drinkable temperature. The other day one of the young chickens got a little antsy and tried to drink straight from the pitcher of hot water. That was one shocked chicken! The chickens have taken a total vacation from egg laying and are hardly sticking a toe out of the coop these days. I'm sure the guineas are regretting ever leaving Africa, and the chickens are wishing they could return to their ancestral, jungle fowl roots. Wilson and Foxy, as they snuggle in their blankets by the woodstove, seem pretty content with their ancestors' decision to link up with humans.

Joe and I are headed to the beach for a week come Saturday for some quality, holiday time with the Wareing's et al. This sounds like a delightful escape from the cold, but we're only going to Va Beach, pretty much due east and not much warmer. Oh well, even ten extra degrees will feel luxurious, but we'll probably leave the bathing suits at home.