Leaving On A Jet Plane

Well.... not exactly.  It's more like:

 

On a train though, not a jet plane ;)  I'm going to visit my sister!!!! And wonderful brother-in-law, too, of course!!!!  (I couldn't forget you, Big Brother ;) )  I've been looking forward to this trip for months now but I still can't believe that I'll actually be in the throws of it in just a few days!  Crazy how time flies, huh?

Anyway, so now I'm to the point in travel preparations where seats are booked, arrangements made, and everything appears pretty well set!  Well, with the exception of that one, tiny little detail, so minor it almost isn't worth mentioning.  Which detail? 

 Packing. Joy.

 Granted, I usually don't have an issue with this.  I am usually a pretty light packer, but I don't know exactly how long I will be staying with my dear family this trip, possibly a month or there abouts, so I kinda feel like this:

Ugh.

Okay, so maybe not quite like that, but still!  

I have this continual back and forth going on in my head that looks something like this:

    "Well, it's supposed to be pretty cold in New York still, I should probably bring some layers so I'm nice and toasty."  

"Oh, but it's Spring now! I might get too warm in long sleeves, better pack a couple t-shirts, just to be safe."  

"Good idea!  Better not forget that ballgown, though, I need something to wear if the Queen invites me to tea!"

Sound accurate?

 

 Regardless of all these little worries and stresses involved in traveling though, they aren't the important things.  Nope.  The destination is well worth the journey, and the journey is just the beginning of the adventure!

I just hope I can convince my animals of that...

Always,

~Emma

The blizzard o' '17

If you are at all in tune with the national news, you may have seen a report of a "huge killer blizzard sweeping across the Northeast" in the last few days.  Well I just so happen to live around that dear lovely part of good old America and amply partook of Winter's vengeful wrath!

Nah, it wasn't all that bad ;)  It was still coming down quite wet and heavy at the time of this photo, but I don't think we got much more than 16" total.  Definitely manageable, I've seen a whole lot more come down a whole lot faster!

 

 And I don't mind the snow too much, which is more than I can say for these poor little girls!  Chickens are generally pretty cold hardy, but the entire time I was out clearing around the coop, I could hear a powerful lot of complaining going on!  Oh well, it is only their first winter, maybe they'll learn to just deal with it.  Oh not... ;)

 Yeah, you saw right, that's a vanilla car freshener. Believe it or not, they're great for keeping away flies in summer! And I was just too lazy to take them inside.

I still can't really see what they have to complain about, though, inside the coop it was a nice toasty 36 degrees!  I mean, who would complain about that?

 The girls were being a bit chicken cowardly about getting their feet wet, however.  Louisa and Elsbeth were taking turns sticking their heads out the guillotine like, "Is it still there? Eww! It's still there!"

 Despite their apparent disapprobation for the unusual weather conditions, they did give me 11 eggs, so I suppose I shouldn't complain!

Did any of you get snow the last few days?  Did your pets/livestock have an opinion of the weather?

~Emma