Weather in conversation

After a phone converstaion with my brother Phil in Denver,I realized when he asked how we are, I talked about the weather. Weather has a huge effect on my day, every day, as I spend at least one and a half hours outside doing farm chores. The weather also effects the thirty mile drive to work in Moscow, Idaho teaching at the Moscow School of Massage. The weather is of great importance to our safety and the welfare of the critters I care for. We heat our house with wood, and the weather has a large impact on our keeping cozy and the plumbing running. Our farm is located on the side of a river canyon, the road in and out is steep and winding. Weather has a huge effect on the safety of our driving.
So if I mention the weather in a conversation, please accept I am not making small talk, but sharing an element of nature I am intimately involved in.

homespun, handknit

Been knitting! The weather has been so frosty and cold, all I want to do in my free time is sit by the woodstove and knit. This is the first glove, I am hoping to keep a better understanding of the pattern for the second glove! With all the tearing out and reknitting of the first glove, I should really have a pair already....
This pattern is "Liidia's Gloves" from Nancy Bush's book Folk Knitting in Estonia. The yarn for these gloves is hand spun wool from my own sheep, which I dyed with cochineal.

Some kind of winter

Returning from a balmy 60 degree week with my family in Denver, the farm is in a wintery deep freeze. There is at least a foot of snow on the ground and huge berms where it has been plowed or slid off the roof. I don't mind the snow at all, it is clean and fun to play in, and so much better than mud! As long as the electricty does not go out so the water tank heaters are operable, chores are realitively easy.

We watched a flock of wild tom turkeys across the pond yesterday.

Helen, a Pyraneese/Akbash sheep loving guard dog, smiles her hello as I greet the sheep in the morning.

A path through the snow berm on my way to the barn.