Staying inside

My niece and nephew stayed over last night and because we didn’t get much time last night to do some projects, we tried to hurry and do some fun things this morning before church.

The one thing that was on our plans was to do some clay projects. Well, I thought that I had some clay up in the craft room, only to find out that I was wrong. So my niece went on YouTube and found one that would work. The only thing about the recipe that worried me was the huge amount of salt that was needed. I don’t know about your kitchen, but you either have a bunch of something.. or only a small amount to get you by. Well, luck was on our side and I had a brand new container of salt in the cupboard. We had to hurry and eat breakfast and then we started mixing the clay mixture up. The recipe is simple: 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water. You mix the flour and the salt and then dump the water in. I told you that it was simple! The kids had fun making bowls, a football field, and even some snowman,  but we didn’t have enough time to bake them in the oven to dry before church. The directions were to bake it around 225 degrees for about 20 minutes. But I would guess the thicker the object, the longer it would take to get done. They took the pan home to bake them at their house and I heard that once they got home they needed even more clay to work with. I guess it was a hit!

As the wind started to blow this afternoon, Daryl and I were trying to figure out just how we were going to get Sassy into the barn. The temperatures were supposed to get unbearable and if she has her calf outside, we’re worried that it’ll be too cold for a newborn. So Daryl intentionally waited on feeding them tonight and the plan was to put corn in the barn and see if Sassy would go in to eat. Sounds good right? Yea… The first one in the barn was Tango and we were amazed. He was probably the last one that I would expect. Then big Ed came in and took over. Once Ed was in the barn no one else could come in until he was done. (Daryl is always so worried that I get so close to the bull, so he’d probably freak if he knew that Ed eats apples out of my hands) Once Ed had enough, here comes No Ears. She’s the tamest of them all. But you think we could get Sassy to come in and stay? No way! The wind tonight was so bitter cold than when we were trying to coax her in, it felt like someone was putting burning hot wash cloths on your face. I’ve lived on this farm now for over 30 years and I have never seen a storm like this before! It looked like one of those movies when they say it was a ‘Perfect Storm’. But it was the furthest from being perfect if you ask me. I had my overalls on with two shirts, sweat shirt,insulated underwear, pants,  insulated coat, gloves, and hat, it was still cold. As for Sassy? Well, we couldn’t get her into the barn for nothing, so Daryl put some hay in the shed and we’ll try again tomorrow night. As long as she stays inside the shed, she should be OK.

And for Reno and Little Kitty? They both camped out in the house for most of the night and because neither one of them are house trained, they both had to sleep outside.  Now Little Kitty isn’t a problem. He knows though when he’s supposed to go out and the only trouble that you have with him is to catch him. But now Reno.. that’s another story. Kyle tried to get her to go back outside and once he got her to the door, she just looked out and walked backwards away from the door. After a couple of times doing this, we left her in until the very last minute when we wanted to go to bed. Daryl got her to finally come outside and into the barn she went for the night.

The wind is still blowing so much, I sure hope that it stops and we can get out for work tomorrow. I tried to take a picture to show you how much it’s blowing and I don’t think this does it justice. The first one is with the flash off and the second one is with the flash on. I laughed when I looked at the second one. Now maybe that DOES show just what it felt like!