STRIKE TWO...

At 4:30 this morning Gary woke up and realized that there was no heat in our bedroom, library, living room and dining room. We have three heating zones in our house and that was the only one not working. With the wind last night, the temperature was below zero for hours and hours and he thought the pipes were frozen (we have hot water baseboard heat). So, he put on some warm clothes and was down in the basement trying to figure out what was going on. The hair dryer was going on the pipes...I started a fire in our wood burning stove in the living room...it didn't matter...nothing worked. At 7:30 we called Scott C. who has done a lot of work for us and he was here in about 20 minutes. Fortunately, it was just a valve that was stuck and they got everything going.

I lasted outside for about 15 minutes, and had to go get a second pair of mittens. My hands were frozen (that did the trick). With the windchill, it was -7.

Grey...and way crispy!

The sun was doing that thing again.

Fed the horses in the front paddock for the same reason I did it yesterday. .... more protection.

I've been using a lot more hay lately.

I need to take an afternoon and really groom all the horses.

Dream was feeling intimidated and hid around the corner.

Gary came out to help me after Scott left.

Gucci wanted to be there with us...fortunately it was a little warmer with the front doors closed.

Once we got back in the house, she warmed up in front of the stove.

Phoebe spent the morning on her throne.

I only had a couple people in class today and didn't take any photos. I need to get with the program!

Gary took a 2 1/2 hour nap and I have been up since 4:30.

When the afternoon light was coming into the house I decided to get out my new camera.

Thought it would be fun to put it on the portrait setting and see if I could learn something.

Phoebe was my model.

So coy...

Whenever I take pictures with that camera, Gucci runs away. She is so afraid of it. On Christmas Eve, Tina took some pictures with her camera and she reacted the same way.

Today she went in and jumped on Gary who was taking a nap.


Got the kitchen stove stoked up and tried to get warm before evening chores.

This camera does a much better job with the photos of the fire.

The flowers aren't that different....

But I think the outside shots are a little better....









Gary brought a lot of wood in the house before leaving for Rochester to watch a Johns Hopkins basketball game. He went to SUNY Brockport with the coach and ironically, his grandmother used to own our farm. Small world.

The sun is quite amazing between 4:30 and 4:45. If it's out, that always seems to be the brightest part of the day during the winter.

During evening chores Abbe fell and cut her back leg...I cleaned and wrapped it...hopefully it is not going to be a problem.

It's shower time! I've been up way too long without a nap.
Night all.