Snow and Spinning

I hope you had fun playing in the snow this week. There was a lot of it! I shoveled the driveway on Monday. It took me 1 1/2 hours! Thankfully Tim helped for the last 45 minutes. It was a wonderful storm. We are so grateful for the winter snow in the mountains that will provide all the water we need during the summer!

There was so much snow that I couldn't drag the wagon to the barn.
I had to shovel a path from the house to the barn!

Scout and JJ love to watch and wait while I'm doing chores.
They keep an eye out for people or other animals that might come while I'm working.

There was so much wind and snow that the snow blew in through the slats in the hay barn.
It was a surprise because we looked at a lot of types of hay barns, and this one was supposed to keep the snow off the hay!

We are always trying new things on the farm. We will change the barn a little bit in the spring to see if it does a better job protecting the hay next winter. It's best when the hay stays dry all winter.

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The little chicks that were born in September are all grown up.
They are both roosters.
We already have a rooster so these two found a new home on Wednesday.

Chuck was an unexpected surprise in the barn this morning.
He doesn't belong on this side of the barn.
He broke through the fence.

Sometimes things happen that we don't expect. Sometimes we have to do extra work that we didn't plan for. It took a while to get all the animals back into the right areas this morning. It took extra time to shovel on Monday. 

When you have extra work to do, what goes through your mind? 

I decided that I could get mad and complain, or I could pet and give the animals some attention while I was herding them back where they belonged. I didn't mind spending the extra time working when I chose to think good things about the extra work.

I didn't mind shoveling the snow on Monday, either! I learned that it's all about my attitude and my thoughts! I learned that I can change my thoughts about what I have to do! I have all the power to make my day a good day no matter what happens!

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I decided that MissE and Chuck want to spend some time together. I think Chuck was tired of hanging out with the Curly and Side Kick.
I let MissE stay out in the pasture!
She is so excited to have a new part of the pasture to explore!

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Can you see the little plants growing?
I'm excited!
My family gave me an AeroGarden for Christmas.
The herbs are starting to sprout and grow!
It won't be long before I can use them when I'm cooking!

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Wow! It's cold outside! It's a nice day to do chores, then work on indoor projects.

I thought you might like to see some spinning so Matt took a few short videos for you to look at.

This video is really short. Can you see my foot pedaling? It's making the wheel on the spinning wheel go around and around. 

The wheel is attached to the pedal by a short cord.

When my foot works the pedal, the pedal pushes the wheel around.

This is what happens to the wool when I'm spinning it into yarn.

You'll have to watch very closely to see how the yarn winds onto the bobbin.
When the bobbin is full, I take it off and start a new bobbin.

Many years at Christmas I spin on a drop spindle at the Alpine Living Nativity. It's a lot of fun to answer people's questions and let them watch me.

Here is a 'fun fact' 

Did you know Mrs. Hahn used to spin, too? She did! She wanted to learn how when she was younger so we both took a class together on spinning wool into yarn.

If you have questions about spinning, I hope you write them down and send them to me. Or if you are reading this online, please ask your question in the comment section. I'd love to answer you!

Have a great 100th Day of School, and have a great week, too!