THE NORTH POLE...

Just how cold was it? For starters, the windows on the kitchen door were all iced over.

Phoebe would not go out to the barn, and my hands were so frozen I had to go in and get some mittens. They are so much warmer than gloves.

Put the hay in the sun (where possible) but it would be awhile before the temperature would go up enough to make a difference.

I turned on the heater for the water trough...took the cover off and broke the ice (very thick this morning), removed the chunks with a pasta picker upper. Dumped in two gallons of hot water and moved on to the barn. Gary helped but it still took awhile to get everything done.

Had a 1:00 pm appointment to get a haircut. It hit a high of 20 degrees as I was driving through Brockport.

Picked up a couple of things at Wegmans and got home a little before 3.

Turned off the heater in the water trough...the horses did not leave the front paddock today.
The wind was a killer.



Spoke to Jenny and offered to take the kids tonight so she and Kevin could attend a party.

Went out to do chores at 4:45. The ponies were definitely ready to go in.

So what is going on in the photo below? I tried to get a shot of Gucci and the only thing that showed up was the reflectors on her coat.

Got in the house and started on dinner.

A salad with pears and crumbly blue....

And my first shot at making Chicken French. I can't believe this was not part of my dinner menus before this.

First I pounded two small chicken breasts that I placed on a cutting board between some parchment paper. My weapon of choice was a small iron frying pan. Worked great. First I dredged them in flour (with salt and pepper)...then I dipped them in eggs and put them in a medium hot frying pan that had 1/4 cup of olive oil in it. About three minutes per side and they looked perfect. Took them out and set them aside....

Squeezed the juice of one lemon, then sliced it and threw it in the pan. Added 1/2 cup of white wine, 1 cup chicken stock, and the lemon juice. Let it reduce and decided to throw in some mushrooms. After about 5 minutes I added two tablespoons of butter (rolled in flour) and it thickened right up. Set the chicken back in to warm it up....made some fettucini...then put it all together.

Garnished with parsley from our garden (it was covered with snow) and some romano cheese.
OOOOhhhhhlaaalaaa! Magnifique!!!

Finn and Coop arrived at 6:30.

Coop was his busy self!

Gucci would not leave Finn alone.

Whenever they come to the farm, they bring a big bag of toys....cars and action figures....books, a game or two.

The dogs tried to remove themselves.

At 8 they watched "Virginia" ... it was very well done.

I thought they were getting tired...

Now it is 9:15 and they are ready for round 2.

I'm hoping for a heat wave. What are the chances of that? If you don't have on long underwear it is mighty drafty around here.

Night all.