Freezing Rain

We woke this morning to a coating of ice over everything. Early this morning the horse, Jack and the donkey, Pedro were walking ever so gingerly down the slope from their shed to find any leftover hay from yesterday's feeding. On days like these, you bring the feed to the animals so they don't have to slip around to get anywhere unless they want to do that. One of the pigs is limping today which was likely to have been a slip down the slope in their pasture. They have been venturing out in the snow to dig even in the frozen ground looking for who knows what? Sleeping grubs? Springs below the surface? Minerals in the soil? Their poor little cold noses let them know when to stop I guess.

Yesterday we gave the pigs the last of the tomatoes that were ripening in the greenhouse and they ate up most of the red ones. In late September or early October when the first chances of frost seem near, we harvest all the green tomatoes from the garden and put them in trays in the greenhouse windows. We have fairly tasty tomato sandwiches until Thanksgiving and then they begin to lose their flavor. Some were still green and would likely never ripen, but many were nice and red or yellow.

Alan's news has been good concerning his recovery from the heart valve replacement. He was very chipper the first week of his release from the hospital and even went on the two December deliveries. But the medications to slow him down and rest and heal have caught up with him. The lowering of his blood pressure has made him feel very apathetic. I guess it is a building in his bloodstream of the medications and thus keeps you from doing too much soon. Hopefully this week when he visits the doctors involved, changes may be made to rid us of the daily medicine ritual. Luckily, we are a very healthy bunch up here and rarely are sick, so we are really hoping that we do not have to think about medicine daily! We would much rather eat well, eat our own foods and take our nourishment from normal meals. I know we are very fortunate in this regard. So Alan and his brother Bill will be making the next delivery to NYC - and hopefully be on the road to a full and energetic recovery.