Sunshine . . . And Cold!

Woke to our coldest temp so far this winter . . . -4° with a slight wind.  Both Papa Pea and I went out to do morning chores with heavy gloves on, but even those were not sufficient to keep our fingers from getting unpleasantly tingly and then numb.  Choppers should have been the handwear of the morning.

But, lo and behold, we have sunshine!  Took a while for us to figure out what that golden glow was peeking at us through the eastern tree line. 

Back inside with breakfast and dishes done, I was kina shocked to see how appalling different the interior of the house looked with sun streaming in the windows.

Holy moley, will ya look at the dust on all the surfaces.  There must be a quarter cup of crumbs on the counter to the side of the toaster.  Where did that cloudy film on the living room mirror come from?  And the windows!  Granted, we washed the outside of the windows this spring, but somehow (read:  Procrastination) they didn't get done this fall.  Oh, my.  I cannot believe how dirty they look with the sun (making an attempt at) shining through.  Eek, if I could, I'd grab a step ladder and go outside to wash them.

I absolutely had to sweep the kitchen floor before I did anything else.  Usually my preference is to get out the vac and do the whole house, but this morning I opted for a quick swipe with the broom.

WHERE did all that stuff come from?  And what IS it??  Better if I had vacuumed.  Then I wouldn't have known just how much grit and grime we had been traipsing through.

A bit of the debris swept up was pine needles.  I don't know what's with our little tree this year.  I know the gal who has the Christmas tree farm and brings fresh-cut trees into town to sell.  I met her of a morning just as she was unloading trees she had been cut the day before, our tree being one of them.  It's standing in plenty of water since we put it up, but it's shedding needles so fast that any ornament with a little bit of weight to it is sliding off the branch taking all the needles with it.  Sigh.  (How long until I can take this quickly balding tree down?)

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Here are a couple of pictures taken while rounding up the birds late yesterday afternoon.

The geese are the first ones, the ducks second, to come into the "commons" area where they get some food and fresh water to tide them over until morning.  I see by this picture, though, that a couple of brave Muscovies must have pushed ahead in line and wandered in with the geese.  This time of year we go out right about 4 p.m. to put the birds away.  The chickens are never as eager to spend as much time out and about during the day as the ducks and geese.  And they're almost always tucked up on their roosts in their house for the night when we go out.

Nom-nom-nom, good stuff!    

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We have both the wood stove in the kitchen and the one in the living room perking away this morning, the sun is still shining and the outside temp reads 2.8 above zero now at mid-morning.  'Tis a good day for doing some cleaning inside!