Posting today is not the Lovely Mama of the Beorningstead, but me, Breakable Bryn!


Your guide through our ice storm, ready to battle wind and snow in my face, to bring you the beauty of ICE.

I was standing in the kitchen this morning helping the beautiful Mama and the obnoxious, but helpful Boy fill jugs with water in case of power outages, when the Mama went outside to check on the Brave Beorn himself, who had been doing chores in the barn for a very long time.

Upon her return the Mama announced that the Daddy was about done but that it was beautiful and scary outside and someone should go take some pictures. and so I promptly finished my toaster strudel (courtesy of the Meemo), and bundled up to brave the wind and ice for a nature photo shoot.

If there is one thing I noticed in my adventure today it was this: if you look out your window in the winter and it looks bright, but not blinding, it is probably just the snow playing tricks on your eyes...

this is what it actually looks like.













Winds were high.
Temperatures were low.
And the ice and snow were so think and heavy that every 3 minutes I heard a crack and then the sound of falling branches. But BOY was it BEAUTIFUL.

When everything is covered in a layer if ice and snow THIS thick:



the world turns into Narnia.



In my adventure I went to great lengths to get some of my pictures, going as far as laying down in the snow just to get a shot of the old hay elevator, and actually walking under a few trees, just to get shots of sow covered branches.


My adventure was truly fruitful, and the ice storm is proving to be a fascinating experience for everyone. Maxx is getting very involved in helping prepare, and he gets all excited about the power going out... You see, the Mama is a worrier and so the last few days have been one big conversation about "When do you think the power will go out?" "We should do this while we still have power." "You're not having school today, come downstairs and help me get ready for the power outage."

Mom knows about Ice Storms. I was 3, almost 4 during the Ice Storm of '98 and we were living in my grandparents' trailer. When the power went out we used a generator that my grandparents had loaned us. But... now I'm not perfectly clear on this point I remember absolutely nothing about this particular event... it seems that the generator did something akin to blowing up...

All I remember about the ice storm is this: we stayed in Gramma + Grampa's house for most of it, and I wore my footie-Pajamas and we used candles for light, and the wood stove to keep warm. And then we didn't get to go back to the trailer for a long time while people cleaned the soot out of all of the walls, and the furniture, and the brown, med.shaggy carpeting, and my stuffed animals.

So far, this time is not half so bad... but it's getting there. There are pictures from the ice storm of '98 of my Uncle (Jonathan, who must have been about 15 during that ice storm) standing on top of rose bushes and briar patches, because they were so frozen solid.

Things aren't quite that frozen, but they're close.


NOW back to the present and my little adventure in the snow today. After rolling around in the snow trying to get that perfect shot of that old elevator, I then stood up and snapped the picture of the grey sky and the tree line
(look back at that second picture of the snow for me, the one where it's all gray, ok?)

And decided to tromp out into the pasture and take a look at everything. I got a couple of panorama shots and a video depicting the absolute intense, beautiful, scary-ness of the world around me.

That venture being successful, I decided to walk about a bit more and take some pictures a little closer to the barn, at which point Svenya and Ruby decided to join me on my expedition, after which I got absolutely no more pictures of anything but cows...


..... Well, we'll keep you posted on how our little ice storm goes, and maybe we'll post the video of me being chased by the girls sometime soon, and hey, if it gets bad enough, maybe we'll start selling "I lived through the Ice Storm Of 2012" Tee-shirts. ;) Happy Ice storm everybody!

We get good sky around here.

Double rainbow around a full moon last night.

Insomnia, too.

How did we get here???

Life has been so busy (and I have been so incompetent) that I haven't posted much here.

Here's a short rundown of events:

Spitfire was adopted by one of Molly's friend's roommates.  I was happy to give him a good home but his mother is still depressed about his absence.  It makes me feel very guilty.  (But not as guilty as I would feel about having him get smucked in the road or freezing to death in the barn or getting an infection in  some cat-fight wound that I can't afford to treat - so it's all good.)

2nd grade is gong as well as can be hoped.  Issues with working memory are making themselves known and ADHD is looking like a potential problem.  Maxx's teachers and special needs coordinators are Awesome, though.  I could not ask for a better team.

 Molly had her pins and plate removed just after Thanksgiving.  Her ankle is doing MUCH better, much less swelling, greater range of motion, no more hobbling, no more sobbing.  Just in time for the musical.  She will be playing Ruth in Pirates of Penzance.  She was hoping for Mabel but her teachers felt that she was the best possible Ruth because she can do comedy and her strong voice has a great range so she can carry Ruth's music off beautifully.  She hopes to be able to sing with the Pirates in the "With Cat-like Tread " number.


Ruby Thursday is HUGE.

Just about as big as her mom - who is ready to be bred again but I keep procrastinating about that.  (Stop reminding me of my failings!)

Ruby is not a dairy cow.  We're not sure what she is.  She's big, red and fuzzy.  She has horns but they are still tiny at 3.5 months and we may have them poled.  She's pretty calm and friendly, loves to have her neck scratched and is almost as greedy as Svenya about grain.  She may end up being the first cow in Jonathan's future beef herd.

Time to run.  Molly has her post-op follow up appointment today to make sure those bones are filling in nicely.

All photos are of Ruby in her first experience with snow.  Taken over Thanksgiving break when we actually had snow for a minute or two.

The outdoor cats (I suspect one of Elaine's older kittens) left me a gift this morning.







Molly says it is no gift.






It is ransom for This.
















......

Got in touch with the shelter.

No room - not for months.  Someone dropped off about a gazillion cats there earlier this week in a huge dog carrier and now they have no room in the shelter and no crates to loan out.

I will not have another feral cat about the place.  It is one thing when they wander through but when a feral calls this place home it just increases my stress about things like rabies and my other cats getting in fights with them.  (Not to mention the 3:00 am barking that accompanies a feral fistfight outside on the porch.  No thank you.)

So.  This little fuzz ball is in a bin in our small bathroom with his mother.  He is so soft.

We will tame him and potty train him.  Someone will adopt him and give him a home.

Right???

P.S.  We need a large doggie crate for he and mama to live in until he finds a home or is tame enough to live in the woodshed without being contained.  If you have one, please let me know!

So - remember Elaine?  Turns out that she did have two kittens this spring.  They are growing up nice and wild in my barnyard.  There is one little girl kitty that will now eat while I sit a few feet away from her food but the other one won't come near.

Elaine had another kitten a little while ago.  I had been watching her for signs of pregnancy (she will let me pet her and feel her belly) and she seemed not be reproducing again any time soon - except that a few days ago, Maxx came in and said   "Mom!  I just saw a little black kitten!"

He carried on about it for a while but I didn't think much of it because he is BIG into pretending lately.  But then Bry came in and said  that a little black kitten had run across the yard and hid in some stuff near the barn.  I went to look and sure enough - there was Elaine, nursing this one little kitten.

This morning, I stepped out to feed the feral family and the kitten happened to be on the entry way.  When I stepped out, he/she/it was effectively trapped in a little corner.  After much hissing, spitting, clawing and biting, I managed to catch the little bugger sweetie and put it into a cat carrier.  He/she is terrified and trembling and I'm sooo tempted to just set it free to live its little feral life but . . . .

 I do not want more cats around the barnyard that I can't touch and take in for rabies shots, spay/neutering or other care.  And we really can't justify taking Elaine in to be fixed and keeping her on as part of the crew.  She is mean to Emmeth and Midnight - in fact, she won't allow either of them into the barn where they can stay warm so - she has got to go before winter.

Elaine is a beautiful cat (when she lets me take the burrs out of her tail) and I think she would be very happy as an indoor/outdoor cat in a home with no other cats or where she could be the alpha. She likes attention and she's actually pretty affectionate.  I'm sure that this pretty baby will grow up to be a gorgeous cat - looks like a medium length coat and a very pretty face coming on there.





 . . . . .

So yesterday when I thought Svenya had made another escape, I called Bry at work and left a message about my frustration and to plead for some advice.  My language may have been just a tad bit too rich for a District Relief Society President.

And then I had to call and leave another message to apologize for my grouchy one once I found Svenya and her calf all safe and sound hidden in the sumac.

He called me back after he got out of his meetings.  When I told him how utterly unprepared I was to encounter such a perfectly endearing creature, he laughed at me!

It wasn't a nasty laugh or a teasing laugh.  It was the kind of laugh you have when a friend discovers something wonderful and unexpected that you have known all along and it's good to share that thing with them.


I always thought puppies were the best thing in the universe.  It might just be newborn cows.  ( I don't know - maybe it's a tie.  You can pick up a newborn calf and cuddle it under your chin.)

Photos don't capture it - there's something about the way she curls up, all small and quiet and is hardly even there.  And the way her eyes are SO Big when she opens them up and how she's so wobbly and unexpectedly soft.  And that sweet, soft  little mooing song her mama sings to her doesn't hurt either.














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