Chilly Saturday

Take a walk with me as I head out to do my morning chores. Its cold so bundle up !
This morning going out to do chores required a few extra layers of clothing. A nice warm flannel slip under my dress, leggings along with hat, gloves and my big work coat. Thrusday we had hot weather, 85 dergrees. Today it never got out of the 20's. And with that there was a brisk north wind giving us wind chills of about 12. The stairs off our little back porch were tiny skating rinks. Solid ice. I suspected this and hopped of the side, skipping the stairs all together. The grass under my feet crunching as if you could hear each blade brake like a tiny piece of glass. Naturally the water in the bucket for the critters was frozen. The bucket is large enough that I could put my foot in there and break the ice. Certainly beats using a hand to break the ice and then have wet gloves to do chores with. I had brought out a small pail of steaming hot water to give the rabbits to help warm them up a bit. They were as appreciative as rabbits can be. The nesting boxes were filled with warm eggs. I tucked them in my pockets , taking off my gloves and finding some added warmth in the pockets from the eggs. The rest of the chores went quickly. A quick check of the garden showed that most of the hardy vegetables made it fine, even though they had ice all over them. The cabbage and collard greens appear to be sprinkled with sparkling ice diamonds.
It felt real good to walk through the house and find my way to the woodstove and warm my hands up. I love cold weather simply for the contrast it gives us. After being outside one really appreciates the warmth of a cozy home.