A Walk in the Snow

February vacation for the public schools was this past week, though that doesn't usually affect us. However this particular week we had a snowstorm drop another 10 inches of snow or so, and a nasty virus went through our house with a slightly more debilitating effect. While I wouldn't exactly call it school vacation, TBear wound up spending a few days either in bed or on the couch. However, we had a hockey tournament to go to in Bangor on Friday evening, so on Friday morning, after determining that TBear no longer had a fever, I decided we needed to get out of the house, breathe some fresh air, and see whether or not TBear was going to feel up to playing hockey that evening.

We set off down the road with our dog, Jagger. Shortly one of our black-and-white cats joined us. Usually both of them walk with us, but the other one was in the house, I remembered after we left. He missed out this time, poor guy. The day after the snowstorm was bright and sunny and beautiful. The temperatures were in the 30's so the snow was heavy on the trees.

After we walked down the road and back, we wandered around the farm to see what was up with all our creatures. Our sheep and the horses all prefer to be outside, either eating the hay or lounging on it, and catching some rays.
I walked back behind the big barn to see how Loon and Dimi were faring in their field. They came running for chin scratches. Or maybe they thought I had grain...
Whit was working in the barn behind me as I took this picture. The goats didn't care about what I was doing; they were all curious as to the noise he was making. Notice where they are...inside. They prefer to lounge in the doorway of the barn rather than out in the sunshine.
I broke down and started feeding the birds after the last snowstorm. I always feel so sorry for them when it snows. This marvelous spruce tree in my dooryard is very, very tall. It houses all kinds of birds, and I like to leave the feeders protected under its branches. Those branches also afford an excellent place for the birds to quickly hop into if the cats lurk too closely under the feeder. We have black-capped chickadees, titmice, juncos, sparrows, blue jays and woodpeckers. I saw some finches on the feeder in the front yard under the maple trees. Shhh... don't tell the cats.
After our refreshing walk, TBear decided he was feeling better enough to play hockey, so we packed our overnight bags and prepared to head to Orono.