FOs and moving on

In this case, FO stand for both Finished Object and Frozen Objects. We survived the Arctic Blast that brought snow, cold, wind, and freezing rain with nary a broken pipe, tree damage, or a sustained power outage, and for that we are thankful. In fact, the only weather-related mishap was my slipping on ice-disguised-as-snow outside the post office Tuesday. My right hip was the point of impact and is still very tender, but that's it. Good thing, too, as someone had to make frequent trips to the henhouse and barn to swap out frozen founts and buckets, bust ice in the horses' tank, fuel everyone's internal combustion engines with food, carry wood from the woodshed to keep the fire stoked, and eventually shovel all the heavy slush off the concrete walkways. (Even thought both males were home most of the week due to holiday and weather, Brian mostly holed up in his room and Rick is doing little because of a very painful shoulder.)

initial snow

keeping the overwintering hummers alive

I also fed the seed-eaters (while freezing rain accumulated)

had to borrow Rick's Snowtrax to stay upright on this!

minimizing skin exposure during the bitter cold

The horses enjoyed their snowy turnout in different ways:

eating it

rolling in it

playing on it

The dogs, on the other hand, did their outdoor business quickly and came back in to warm up, play, watch "Birdfeeder TV," and nap:

In the Finished Object category, I present my third weaving project:

I sat down Friday night and wove this in one sitting. It took me several days more to brave the cold bonus room to hemstitch and cut it off the loom, and it still needs to be fulled. But I've forged ahead with winding another full-width warp using some coarse, natural wool yarn I've had for years to weave another rug, and this time I might even venture beyond plain tabby!

That's it for now from . . .