Winter Retreat

I am on somewhat of a winter retreat this weekend. I'm watching the farm. Keeping me company is an array of animals: The Mules - Merlin and Matilda and the little one, Murdock. The horses - Duke (my fave), Blaze, Faith, and Riley. The goat - Bambie (she's ancient). The big dogs - CJ (the fluffy one), Henry (the obnoxious one), and Casey (the energetic one). The little doggies - Moe Moe and Speedy. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some pictures of all my friends so you all can enjoy them too. Oh - and don't forget a pen full of birds - guinea hens. The are quite chatty. So the weather is just about right for a winter retreat. Cold and snowy. The further out to nowhereville, the less road maintenance I find. The road to the farm was not touched, nor had anyone traveled it in a while. Never the less, my little car did much better than expected and brought me to the top of the hill without a pout. I used to relish the days of driving on snow covered roads when I stomped around in the little old pick-em-up truck. When Grandma would be snowed in for days and unable to get out, I would stomp down through the yard, park in front of her door and insist on taking her for a spin. With a grin from ear to ear, she had one hand on the dash and the other on the handle over the door as we climbed up the hill in the yard and stomped into town for some groceries. It was my special treat to take her out. Then we would have lunch at Eat n' Park and she would order something like "a cup of soup" or "one pancake with one slice of bacon" and I thought "You're wasting away! Go ahead and get the Superburger. I can afford it." But alas she proclaimed that she was pleasantly satisfied with whatever morsel she had consumed. Ah, those were the days. Anyway, my new car is not bad in the snow, but it's not like driving my little 4x4. I have studded tires in the trunk. I know - a lot of good they are doing there! Well, when winter waivered I thought, why trash the roads with these babies if I don't have to. Now I'm thinking... it's February and the Groundhog says we are going to see spring before long. Why bother with them now? At most I could legally run them for 2 months or so. Ya - I think I can just putt around on the skiis I have for that long and save those tires for next winter. When I walked to the barn tonight the snow was dry and the sharp winds have blown drifts in the yard. We don't really have all that much snow, but the drifts can be a couple feet deep. The big dogs ran out ahead of me and almost cleared a path. Once I found myself inside the barn, I thought -- I don't want to go back out!!! I brought warm water for Bambie and the kitties. They seemed pleased. The horses are all tucked into their stalls with generous helpings of hay and water. I closed the doors to keep the wind and snow out. Tomorrow I shall clean the stalls probably twice. Anyway... what else do I have to do tomorrow? So I have the house to myself. TV? Ugh... Ida know... I'm not much of a tv gal. Books? Ah.... I'm not much of a reader. Internet? Maybe a little. I think I'm going to turn in soon and get a nice long nights sleep. I love being here. It is peaceful and I need that sometimes. (although I miss my hubby) I'm not sure why this won't let me make paragraphs. Maybe this is why Wendy always changes colors instead of having paragraphs. It's weird and rather annoying!