I did take a nap for a couple of hours, but got up and suited up to go outside.  The wind is blowing 20-30 mph. and the temp hovers just above zero.  And this is when the sun is shining at the warmest part of the day.  With wind chill factor, it will be well below zero tonight.  So I took that new bale of straw I got, and cut it loose.  I put it in sheafs all around the chicken house, packing it in closely under the tarps.  And some more new straw in her house, too.  She has a good 8" deep layer of straw in there now, but she can play with the extra.  I am giving her water twice a day now, too, besides her feeding.  She looked pretty happy and interested in all my doings.  John said he is going to look for another hen to replace the one that died.  I know he loves the eggs from them. 

For her afternoon meal, today she got:  leftover cooked squash; 1 small tomato, chopped; a handful of oats; some foccacia bread, torn up; some eggshells, minced; sunflower seeds and of course, laying mash.  If it's one thing I'm pretty sure of, the chicken is getting a well-balanced diet.  Should I name her?  Naw, that would be silly.  In all this time, names have not come to me for them.  

My seed catalogs have arrived!  It's not even December yet.  All the ones I usually get have arrived, right after Thanksgiving.  And I'm reading them, cover to cover.  I got through one last night (Pine Tree Seeds) and started on another (Totally Tomatoes).  What with my seed saving, I will again have to make a list of what's on hand, and what I will need.  But surely, there's no hurry.

The fire is keeping this house warm, but John has already turned up the floor heat all the way.  In this cold and wind, I guess it's necessary.  I am wondering if I should plug in the heat tape that keeps my bathroom drains from freezing.  Probably should do that before tonight, yet. 

Yesterday, I got a hotter, brighter lightbulb to place in the chicken house, and it is a lot brighter and warmer in there.  The black hen came roaring out this morning and began eating right away.  I also draped a huge tarp over the house, and some clear plastic sheeting over her yard.  All this, weighted down with garden tools and long sticks.  When I got home yesterday, the hen was just cooing and singing away all by herself.  I wonder if placing a mirror at the end of the outside yard would make her feel like she had company. 

But the weather has remained sharply colder; yesterday it was 8 degrees, though they said it got into the teens.  There's a pretty good breeze going on out there, and my nose was cold all night.  Very annoying.  Today, I'm not doing so good.  I now wish there was someplace I could give my hen to, so she wouldn't be the only one out there.  But she is well set for food for the winter now, so...guess I'll just continue to go out there, dressed warmly, to take care of her, 3 times a day.  With the wind chill tonight, it will be the equivalent of below zero weather.  Glad I beefed up her protection. 

My son did not last long installing Direct TV.  He already landed another job, thank goodness.  They had him working far into the night, after dark, climbing ladders up onto people's roofs, in the cold wind, and even after he got done installing at 9:00 p.m., they still wanted him to go on to another job.  I suppose everybody in the northwoods wanted to get reception for the big Packer/Cowboy game last night, which was blocked out from our local cable companies.  So they would have had him installing things non-stop until the game was on.  No rest at all.  Fortunately, he said no, he was quitting for the night, at least.  The next morning, he got a call for another job and took it.  Starts Monday.  I'm relieved.  The man who trained him had only been working for the company for 3 months, and this blast of winter weather had him up on a ladder too, after dark, and he almost fell.  He told my son he was thinking of quitting...my son told him he already did, and they both laughed. 

I'm not too disappointed about the Pack losing to the Cowboys last evening.  After all, someone has to win and someone has to lose.  I just hope all our injuries heal up in the next 9 days or so.  I really think Donald Driver is heroic in the way he plays, but so many of them this year are very good, including Brett Favre...oh, they're all so good.

And I should start campaigning to have our Presidential elections run for four days, not just one day.  Our population is increasing and there just isn't enough time in one day to allow everyone to vote who wants to.  It's discouraging to voters, and in many cases, impossible for them to get to the polls.  I think we should have a Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to vote in a proper and orderly manner.  And let's not worry about our identity being secret in the election.  We have no secrets anymore.  The only thing we need is to I.D. each and every voter, possibly by Social Security number.  And there has to be more polling places set up for densely populated areas.  We should start working on these changes right now, or we are going to have another fiasco at the polling places on election day next year.  Also, I believe we should allow people to vote even if they have been convicted of a crime.  It would be therapeutic for them to be able to participate in our society in a positive way.  With 20% of the population now in jail, it could have a significant effect on the election. 

And what else?  Got all my packages mailed out yesterday, so that's good.  Think I'll go back to bed for a nice long nap.      

Went out to let the chickens out and feed them their breakfast yesterday morning, and just the black hen came out.  I called to the other brown hen to come eat, but there was no response.  Then I "heard" something behind me, breathing close to me.  I knew it couldn't be the dogs, because they were all inside, and I whirled around and looked, but there was nothing there.  I knew then that she was dead, but I was freezing out there in my bathrobe, so I went back in to get more clothes on.  Yes, when I opened up the top of their house, she was lying there.  On top of an egg she had just laid.  I was sad all day, but when John heard about it, he assured me she had a better and longer life than any of her other brood, who were given away to someone who didn't care at all for them, let them run around and never fed them, then slaughtered all of them soon after getting them.  I guess...but it still makes me sad.  I couldn't see any wounds on her, maybe she was just "laid out."  She was the one who laid the big brown eggs.  The black hen lays smaller, bluish-colored eggs. 

The weather has turned sharply colder this week.  It hurts the fingers and toes if you go out there unprotected.  No more.  Today, I'm going to Menards to get a different kind of light bulb fixture, so I can plug in a "hotter" 40 watt lightbulb for the black hen.  I'm also mailing out Christmas presents today to my 2 brothers and sister.  I spent all afternoon yesterday preparing the boxes and packaging and they are ready to go.  I need to send out bills too.  And I am going to lunch with my school chums at a restaurant I've never been to.  Then on to the chiropractor's, who only wants to give me a scan of some sort to see how well I am. 

I called up the bank to see if there will be any problem renewing my mortgage, but they said in my case, the renewal is automatic.  That's a relief, after all the bad news I've been hearing about the mortgage industry on tv. 

Here it is, almost the end of November...winter came in like a lion last night, with a roaring wind that began as suddenly as turning on a faucet.  It roared all night, then this morning, I toddled out in my flip flops and bathrobe to feed and water the chickens.  I nearly froze my behinder off.  My fingers were very cold, my toes were in the snow, and the chickens were reluctant to come out of their house.  From now on, I'll have to wear socks boots coat hat and mittens to go out there.  

I wonder if I should hang a "hotter" lightbulb out in their house, especially at night.  Think I'll give it a try.   I just hate to use up the extra juice, but I'll also have to plug in the heat cable so my bathroom drains don't freeze.  Good news is that my gas bill for the underfloor heating was only $20.00 this past month, so the wood heat is helping to save money. 

I spent Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, making my own version of turkey dinner here at home.  Although I enjoy dinner at my daughter's house very much, I miss having turkey leftovers for days afterwards.  My son and son-in-law do the fried turkey outside the house, but I prefer the traditional roasted turkey with stuffing in the oven, so moist and well-done, it is easy to pull the bones right out of the meat.  I made a stuffing featuring pork sausage with sage, onions, celery, cooked giblets chopped fine, snipped prunes, sweetened dried cranberries, butter, croutons, and all the water from cooking the giblets.  Of course, lots of seasonings and sage.  It turned out golden brown, with lots of extra stuffing in a foil pouch next to the bird.  It was a Butterball turkey and very economically priced.  Even after all this eating, there are still two big bags of turkey meat in the freezer. 

Last night, though, I made chopped ham and scrambled eggs with toast for supper; finally, something different.  I've been writing a little bit on my novel every day, and now will be starting Chap. 17 or 18, I can never remember.  Oddly, I just got a flier in the mail from Vantage Press, asking me to send them my manuscript, any manuscript, for them to review.  They can't possibly know that I'm writing now, and this is the outfit that you have to pay them something, and they will publish your book for you.  Well, maybe I'll send to them, but this time, I'll also send to other publishers that might publish for me without my paying them to do so. 

I got my new insurance bill for my truck, and they have raised the rate by $40.00 a year on an already high-priced policy, so I shopped for insurance and yes, I've changed to another company and saved an incredible $207.00 every six months!  Of course, I cut down coverage, eliminating collision and comprehensive.  My truck is now an old rust bucket (sorry to say), and keeping all that coverage on a vehicle that is worth maybe $1,500 at most is no longer the smart thing to do.  It's too bad about the salt used on the roads in winter.  If it were not for that, my truck would still be like new.  You would think that the intelligent humans would think of another substance that would not rust vehicles and still keep the roads safer.  Or start making vehicles out of something other than unprotected steel.       

I had a rather trying day on Tuesday, struggling with my vacuum cleaner.  It's a Filter Queen, very expensive machine that my mother purchased, and the filter cones cost over $20.00 a package, but they last about a year, maybe.  I replaced the filter cone, smaller round filter, and emptied it.  Thought I would have a free path to cleaning, but it spewed dirt out instead of sucking it in.  I determined there was a clog, and 2 hours later, after a very exasperating time, I finally got the clog out.  It was in a difficult place to get to, requiring a bent wire coat hanger and a lot of jabbing.  Finally, got most of the vacuuming done, only to have another clog develop, this after a two-hour struggle. 

I gave up then, and had to shampoo another spot that my Pepper made by the door.  I think it's these long winter nights, and I try to let her out at least once during the night, but sometimes I sleep right through, even though she may be squeaking to me to go out.  My daughter has brand new carpeting, and doesn't want or need the shampooer back, so I'm going to keep it around until spring.

I did then get a double batch of cranberry sauce made and some other housework done before the end of that day.  Then yesterday, Wednesday, I made cranberry bread with the "pressings" that are left after straining out the cranberry sauce.  I added some sweetened cranberries, called craisins, to make two cups, and used 3 smaller foil breadpans to make 3 loaves.  Then I made chocolate chip cookies.  They disappear so fast, I have to grab them as I get a dozen and get them tucked into an ice cream pail, so they don't get eaten by John or me.  They are meant to be a birthday present for my son.  I managed to get 5 dozen into the ice cream bucket, and still had 3 dozen or so left for us.  I also got him flannel sheets in a woodsy print (he asked for them), and a tube of Gold Bond Ultimate Skin Softening Lotion with Shea Butter.  He spends a lot of time working outdoors, so he'll need some really good lotion for his face and hands. 

I will see him today, as the clan is gathering for Thanksgiving at my daughter's house.  The men will pass the football back and forth as they fry the turkey outside.  My daughter and I will do the rest of the cooking inside.  Of course, the Packers are playing Detroit, and I'm hoping they continue their winning streak.  I'm bringing tubs of strawberry jam to give to the kids, too.  So I have an enormous list of stuff to bring and I better start getting ready to go now.  The Packers are playing already. 

I called my brother earlier and I'm going to send him a box of books.  He's an avid reader, and I'm sending him books (tomes) by Clancy, Grisham, Michener, et al.  This should give him something to read for a month or two.  These are all books my mother had.  I never got into reading big novels.  I struggled in my younger years to read "Hawaii" by Michener and found it exhausting. 

I have much to be thankful for, and it is a beautiful day.  I hope everyone has a great day.    

I had registered for a CD burning class at the local college; but when the time came to go to the class, all my resolve fell apart, and I didn't go.  Now the class is over and I feel relieved.  I called my son and asked him to come over and burn a couple of CDs that I want to share with him.  That oughta do it. 

It's pretty official now - the dogs far and away prefer the liver food I cook for them, but it only lasts for two days.  I get a package of frozen beef liver for $1.52 and thaw it.  I separately cook 1 handful of brown rice, 2 handfuls of white rice and one carrot, peeled and cut into coin-sized pieces; sometimes 1 stalk of celery, chopped, in 2 cups of water.  In a frypan, I brown the liver in 2 tblspns. of canola oil, turning it over in about 2 minutes.  As it is cooking on the other side, I use a sharp knife and fork to cut it up into bite size pieces.  I sprinkle the meat with 1/2 tsp. garlic salt or onion salt, and 1 tsp. of seasoned salt.  When it's quite brown but not sticking, I pour in the rice and water mixture altogether, stir and add 1 big fistful of oatmeal, stir again, turn the heat down low, cover, and let it finish cooking for about 15 minutes.  I turn off the heat, leave it covered, and when it's cooled off, stir it up.  It will congeal and become stiffer.  The dogs just love it.  They beg for it so much, that's why it only lasts for 2 days.  I've actually eaten some of it, and it is quite good for humans, too. 

But in this winter weather, when it's dark out for so much of the time, they get bored just lying around, and they want to be fed 3 times a day now.  Which, of course, I do, but I decrease the amount of food somewhat so they hopefully will not get fat.  Also, this is deer hunting season, and I don't let them out at all now in the daytime.  I don't want them following their noses to a gut pile and getting into trouble or possibly getting shot along the way.

I've been roasting squashes, which I cut in half and lay cut side down in a roasting pan, after removing the seed cavity stuff.  When they are soft and have cooled down, I scrape them out into plastic containers and freeze them, but leave one in the frig to eat right away.  I like my squash with a bit of brown sugar, butter, salt and pepper.  And I've discovered that my Apple Pie Cake recipe tastes better by far using a cooking apple, such as Macintosh or Roma apples, not the sprightly eating apples. 

Another thing that has worked out well for me is that I stopped taking Lipitor, which had been giving me all kinds of side effects that I chose not to live with.  Especially when I had been doing so well keeping my cholesterol levels down with diet (no fried foods), exercize (minimalist, to be sure), and supplements from Swanson Vitamins (such as cinnamon, cardio health oils, garlic, to name a few).  No side effects for me, thank you.  Plus, that Lipitor prescription was enormously expensive.  You know they are making a huge profit on that stuff, and it may not be so good for the human body.  I feel so much better already, and Swanson just sent me a $20 gift certificate for my next order.  How nice is that? 

I wanted barbequed chicken last night, but John offered to make the BBQ sauce, so...  It was so good, I can't believe it.  He never measures anything, so I am going to write down what I observed him doing, and guesstimate amounts.  It was 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tblspns. balsamic vinegar, the juice of one orange, 3 tblspns. of oyster-flavored sauce, and 1/4 cup of store-bought BBQ sauce.  I first browned the chicken pieces in olive oil in a frypan, then he transferred that to a baking pan, added a little water (I think) and let it bake for another 15 minutes before adding the sauce.  Let it bake for 1/2 hour or less, turning the pieces to coat them, turned the oven off, and let it rest in there for awhile.   I don't usually eat a lot of meat, but it was so good, that's all I ate for supper, BBQ chicken.  Lots of water besides. 

I felt pretty good yesterday, so quit writing and got dressed to go outside.  Looked over my project and got a hammer.  Pounded down any lumpy places or nails that had popped up.  Cut milk jugs into 2" wide strips, put them and a small scissors in my right pocket, got a lot of  3" wood screws in my left pocket.  Got the cordless drill, which I keep plugged in next to the tv set, and carried the styrofoam sheets up to the house.  Just two of them for now, please. 

It was cold out there, but I was warmly dressed.  I have earmuffs that wrap around the back of the head and don't come off, plus a home-crocheted beige hat to keep the head warm, plus I put the hood up on my parka.  I even  found an old pair of suede boots that are just perfect for this time of year, keeping feet warm.  It was windy.  There is just enough snow on the ground to let you know winter has finally arrived.  I was hoping for more for the deer hunters, but it's enough. 

But I lined up the styrofoam sheet next to the big picture window and got one screw in, then straightened the sheet and put in another screw.  And soon, I had used up all the screws I had, and the drill used up all its power, too.  So I had to quit for awhile until the drill powered up again.  But then I went back out there with more screws, more plastic strips and got those two sheets put up just fine.  Is it my imagination, or is it warmer in here already?  I have increased the insulation by a factor of 5 and plugged up the tiny holes (through which I could see daylight).  I think the woodpeckers had done those little holes.  Of course, now that I've got those up, I'll have to continue and do the whole front of the house.  That's fine, since I can then put siding up over that next year. 

I have 1/2" plywood on the outside of the house, which does not last forever.  I am looking forward (not) to an attempt next summer to make my own siding boards.  I'm inspired by all the many things one can put into cement.  We'll see, we'll see.

Had nightmares all night about George Bush's earmark spending.  The speech he made the other day about how Congress is behaving like a teenager with a new credit card, when he is the one behaving like that himself is really galling.  When it comes to actually having nightmares about him, it truly makes me wonder why no one, or no group of individuals, has the authority to stop him.  Or, like me, do we all just groan and think to ourselves, "oh well, only one more year to go!"  And just put up with it? 

Today, I'll have to cut up the styrofoam sheets, which will require measuring first, then I guess, the steak knife will come into play.  I just heard a shot.  Today is the first day of deer hunting season.  Hope they have a good harvest.  Hope somebody gives me some meat.  I and the dogs love venison.  John may go hunting this year, maybe not.  If my son gets one, he'll surely give me some meat and sausage from it.

We did get an inch or two of snow recently, making everything white, but by the next morning, it was all gone.  This morning again, we have the powdered sugar dusting of snow.  I am hoping for more snow within the next day or two, because deer hunting season starts this Saturday, and it is easier tracking the deer.  Not that I'm going hunting, but my son is going with his buddies out in the western part of the state.  He has just completed his schooling for his new job.  I hope the job makes a decent living for him.  We will see.  He called me this morning.  I love it that both of my kids still tell me that they love me before hanging up.  So do my brothers and sisters, though, and I think it's kind of a family thing that we do among ourselves.  But it is heartwarming. 

I've been writing on my novel, and I've come to a particularly important and dangerous part.  I will have to mull things over in my mind and see what phrases and things come to me.  Wording is so important. 

I've been dusting!  Eeek!  Today, I want to tear apart my bedroom and clean thoroughly behind and underneath the bed.  I just love it when I have finished dusting all the furniture, but can't help noticing that it starts to build up again immediately.  I suppose the wood heat contributes quite a bit.  I have one of those feather dusters somewhere and should run around every day, tickling the knicknacks, etc. 

I've had arthritis in my right hand and elbow again, and had to have it wrapped up, with that icy hot stuff on it.  Took a couple of days, but it seems to be subsiding now.  I've made meatloaf and chicken teriyaki, and today might be a good day to make some chili.  

It is supposed to snow/rain later today, so I'm trying to get things done outside.  Didn't I already do this before?  Ah, but it never ends - right?  I tried to rig an extra shelter for the chickens' yard - they look impressed, though I am not.  It's a sheet of that semi-clear corrugated plastic.  We'll see how well it performs.  Still keeping the home fires burning...and liking it a lot.  Found the ash shovel, but will probably have to buy a metal bucket for the ashes.  For now, I'm using one of those popcorn tins that are so popular at this time of year.  I have a lot of them saved, as they are too pretty  to throw away.  (Another one of my faults.)  Then I spread out all the remaining straw along the path where I will have to walk daily to the chicken coop and the compost heap.  That will help keep my feet clean.

Yesterday, I was invited to an old friend's house for coffee in the morning with another mutual girlfriend.  I had never been to her house before, and it is a showcase of immaculate good taste and...well, words can fail a person.  It is a perfect house and garden, with a perfect view and a wonderful, big driveway, all paved, of course; many decks, etc.  I - wow! - will never live like that, but as I told my friends, I am comfortable and happy, so that is just fine with me. 

After coffee and cake, I went to town (always combining efforts to get the most from my gas mileage), took care of chores, bought a few more groceries, (plus a 20 lb. turkey for our own T-Day) and stopped at the Farmers Feed Store.  The chickens were almost out of laying mash, we needed deer corn, I got another bale of straw and some oats as a special treat for the chickies, and some tiny dog biscuits, especially for Daphne.  

And today, I have cooked chicken legs for the dogs in the crockpot, 2 big legs, 6 cups of water, 3 fistfuls of rice, 1 big carrot, chopped and 1 stalk of celery, chopped, 2 fistfuls of oatmeal, and enough seasonings, (a pinch of thyme, 1/2 tsp. onion salt, 1-1/2 tsp. seasoned salt) to make it all taste pretty darn good.  I also took a big plastic bag around the property and picked up anything that didn't belong, as I want to get things cleaned up before big snow hits.  This might happen sooner than later.

Today was the first day in a long time that I felt completely well - like my old self, and had enough energy to get the chores done.  Now I can relax with my doggies and enjoy the warmth of the wood heat.  The weather outside looks like it's going to get nasty any time now. 

What with the snow on the ground, and temperature in the house hovering around 60 deg., it seemed like a good time to fire up the stove and try out the wood heat again.  John took all the innards out from the gas connection and little by little, we found just about everything needed to get going.  The grate I found proved to be too big, but we can fix that later.  In a jiffy, the fire was started and soon the house was heating up like the good old days.

I still had the underfloor gas heat going, but in a couple of hours, it was so warm in here, that I turned that down to "warm" and that is where it has remained since.  The wood needs to be replenished every three hours, but since I wake at 3:00 a.m. lately, that is just about the right time.  Then I stayed up until 6:00 doing housework, and again replenished the wood.  Then I slept until 9:00 and again it was time to replenish the wood.  Hey, this isn't so bad.  The fumes are a bit much, but I'll get used to it.  I put a wide flat pan on top of the stove, filled it with water, and I've already replenished that water several times, which is a good thing (getting moisture in the air). 

My daughter doesn't approve.  She says that wood throws off more carbon dioxide than burning natural gas, and she may be right about that.  But it doesn't throw off more carbon dioxide than burning coal, right?  Which the power company uses and loves.  But it is more about saving money this year on heating bills and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and the power company.  Until I can go really green, I'll have to take what I can get just to survive on my meager income. 

Now if I could just get off the grid completely!  On the news the other day, we have been informed that Public (Dis)Service had a lightning strike at their power plant and will have to purchase electricity elsewhere for their customers.  $26,000,000 worth, to be exact, plus $8,000,000 for the repairs to the plant.  Guess who gets to pay for it?  The customers, of course!  So we've been told that electric rates are also going up this winter.

Let's see if I understand how this works.  If I got struck by lightning, survived with injuries, and couldn't work and pay my bills for 6 months or so, would Public Service still provide me with electricity and keep me as a customer?  You can bet that disconnect notice would be in the mail pronto.  But this is an example of how our government favors corporations and allows them to do business at the expense of individuals.  One of my gripes is, of course, when the Supreme Court decided that corporations deserved the same rights (and more!) as individuals.  Ah, but it's useless to complain.  Just let me get off the grid, please! 

What else?  Yes, I'm getting another cold, but that is hardly news.  I have finished Chap. 13 and now have started on Chap. 14.  I love this story.  I hope I can sell it, be like J. D. Rowling, go from being a struggling poor woman to being a rich one - HA!  But you never know.    

It's Tuesday already, and the wind howled around the house all through the night.  This morning we awoke to a white world, and the dogs just love to go outside and look around.  They seem to be at peace out there, with snow on the ground.

So far, we still haven't made a fire in the fireplace, and John has been bringing firewood home.  He's been getting it for free from a man who had cut down dead trees and just wanted the wood to be gone.  So John took his chainsaw over there, cut the wood up, and threw it in the back of his van.  After three trips, he got all that there was, and there is now a pretty good pile of firewood outside with a tarp over it, just waiting.  Now all he has to do is cut off the gas pipeline to the fireplace, inspect the chimney, take the gas mechanism out of the fireplace, and we are set to go.  Hope this helps to keep the gas heating bill down for the winter.  But I do still have the gas hot water heater, circulating the anti-freeze/water stuff through the floor, still keeping this house reasonably warm for now. 

Went to town yesterday, went to four different places, and did half of my town chores.  Shopping - good.  Got some stuff.  Lots of dogfood primarily.  Still cooking for my dogs and feeding them home-made meals, along with their regular dogfood, biscuits, etc.  They seem to be doing very well on the home-cooked food; it saves a lot of money, and they don't have allergies anymore from corn, wheat, and who knows what.  The chickens are happy in their winter quarters, too. 

I've been buying little presents for gifts for Christmas.  Soon, two of my kids will be having birthdays.  My son has found a job installing Direct TV and will be using a ladder for his work.  I'm giving him ladder jacks for a present, so he will be more stable on his ladder and won't leave marks on people's houses, either.  He's away in another town for a week, going to school to learn his new trade.  I'm so happy he found something that he likes to do.  He's very enthused. 

Day before yesterday, it was beautiful, breezy, and still warm enough to just wear a sweatshirt outside.  I had made a list the day before (I love lists) and had already assembled most of the items on it.  I got out a sheet of 1" styrofoam and took the tarp and all things off the top of the chicken house.  I measured - it was 2 feet tall by 4 feet wide on the sides and and 4 feet long.  After putting these measurements on the sheet of styrofoam, which was easy with a drywall t-square, I was going to use a utility knife to cut the foam.  But the knife just bounced along on top of the foam.  I went in the house and got the usual steak knife, which worked very well, and quickly cut the foam sheet to the proper size pieces.

There are 1" boards on the outside of the chicken house, giving me a good place to screw the foam right on.  But I was concerned that my wood screws would eventually (or quickly) pull through the foam, so I cut up a milk carton to get plastic strips.  After placing the plastic strip on the foam, I used my electric drill to put the wood screws right through the milk jug plastic to act as a kind of backing or washer, so that the screw wouldn't pull right through.  Applying two-handed pressure on the drill put it all right into the wood, not coming through into the chickens' house.  Then I snipped off the rest of the strip and moved on to the next screwy place.  The whole project took less time than it takes to wash a load of dishes in the dishwasher. 

The foam is 1" away from the sides of the house, giving air a chance to get in, but not the strong wind.  So the top and sides are all covered with 1" foam.  Their door closes on the front by sliding into grooves.  The door slides open in the morning and closes at night.  Also, I have a tarp that lies over the whole house and part of their yard, held in place by a brick and several long garden implements.  Their watering jug is right in a corner, easy to get at, and doesn't get dirt or straw in it, because its opening is just big enough to get their heads in.  Plenty of deep straw, a nice yard to run around in and eat in, a nest right under the indoor light, which is contained within a wire cage shaped like a chicken, of course.

And yesterday, it became very cold and windy.  I'm so glad I got that done for them before the bad weather started.  Yesterday, I went to visit my daughter (who is the author of "The Shackhappy Story by Lori Marie) and visited with her for awhile.  I brought her a walker and a cane and many other things besides.  Those had belonged to my mother, and with her MS, she needs them when she is having a bad time of it.  She is better now that the moon is waning.  How strange is that? 

John made a lamb shank, browning it on a fire first, then finishing it on the stove, like a pot roast, with veggies and potatoes in the pan.  I haven't had lamb since I was privileged to visit the Sahara Club in Chicago many, many years ago.  It was delicious, and the dogs got some fat and the shank bone to gnaw on.  They were impressed.  And John also went into the garden and dug up the potatoes for me.  I have a nice big bucketful, and he even found two more squashes out there, small but beautiful.   

Today is a beautiful day, the wind has finally calmed down, though all through the night, it howled around the house.  I love to take the dogs out in the morning, seeing the sun just peeking over the horizon.  I live on a wooded hilltop, primarily an oak forest, with a small lake at the foot of it.  Seeing the sun, moon and stars, and sometimes the northern lights, is wonderful now that the leaves are down.  As much as I love the forest, I love to look at the sky, and really miss it in the summer months.