Moab & chickens

New Year's Eve and the roads were super quiet. We blasted through Salt Lake after getting diesel and, oddly enough, a PIZZA of all things and headed south. I don't know why we thought taking I70 would be the better option but we figured if we could drive for another hour or so, going south toward Grand Junction would give us more hotel options than going toward Park City, Utah and No-mans-land Wyoming. As it turns out, conditions were good, the road was still quiet (with all the traffic out of Salt Lake going toward Nevada to gamble I assume) and then south of Salt Lake traffic was flowing in. So, we practically had the road to ourselves all the way to Price. On the way, however, I thought it might be kind of fun to take a detour and go SEE something for a change. Not that we don't see a lot while traveling, we see a lot! But, to take a break and head off the beaten path route might be kind of fun. Not to mention doing something with the family would be a great way to start the new year.

So, we high tailed it through price, made it down to I70 and headed to Moab where we'd slide in to town just before midnight to watch the fireworks going off over the city. After a good night's rest, we got up early to hike in Arches National Park. I never would have thought that being there in temperatures below freezing with snow on the ground would be an ideal time to visit, but it really was!

We spent the better part of the morning hiking. "Delicate Arch" was (said) a 1.5 mile hike but given the terrain it was more like 3 Jeremiah said. I only went part of the way. The kids wore jackets, I happily designated myself to take them back when it got to about 40 degrees out and chances are it wouldn't have been too much further that I would have tucked tail and run anyway as Jeremiah said "the height and sheer wall cliffs along the trail" would have finished it for me. I am deathly afraid of them, beautiful view or not. He and the kids went though, I went back to the truck and took an hour snooze in the sunshine.  
   
   

Last fall when we butchered our broiler chickens 6 were spared freezer camp. We wanted to see how they'd do as layers. We got home to find SUPER large eggs from these birds! Three of them made a nice omelet perfect for sharing.

 

It's back to the old grind- laundry, chores and cleaning. We spend a day going through old paperwork. I am organizing, cleaning and finishing long over due to be done sewing projects in the sewing room. The Christmas tree has been taken down and ornaments put away. There's too much snow to bother taking out the tree to the pile so it's sitting on the ground, someone threw it off the porch.

Yesterday the temp was over 40 so there was a lot of melting snow. Friday we're supposed to get rain and freezing rain and this weekend looks like it will be in the 50's which we are really looking forward to!

Our "polar vortex" was experienced, it seemed, a day before anyone elses. Sunday felt so much worse than Monday by far even though the still temp on Monday was below zero degrees. Sunday's wind however was just awful. The animals are just fine, plenty of extra bedding and feed and no one seems worse for the wear. I don't know what the final reading was Monday morning but it was something like -17 to -20 with windchill. It honestly didn't feel that bad but then again, there was hardly any wind.

We need to get on wood splitting this weekend and it should be a dandy time for it...unless everything is covered in ice that is! We're working out way through the wood quick but on that note, Sunday night with the cold temps, the wood stove did well! I didn't set the thermostat or turn on the furnace. I wanted to see how the stove did with as cold a night as it was. We stocked it well before going to bed. The rest of the house was sitting at about 68 in the hall -with the living room being much warmer of course- and by 6 AM it had fallen to 58 (which is about where I have the furnace kick on). So, even with the bitterly cold outside, the stove is a fine job keeping the house reasonably comfortable for sleeping, for us. It took a while to warm it back up Monday but our old stove would have failed pretty miserably unless stocked several times in the night.

Time to get out and do chores. Happy Wednesday.