5YAT: New Year’s Eve Food Day

31 December, 2004 – Grey -18º

[This post is part of the 5 Years Ago Today Series]

Threats of big wind this afternoon, so I’m dragging my heels on attempting to cross. 

0930 Talked to dad and the wind was up in town which means in about 20 minutes it will be up here too. 

I finished up a cinnamon raisin loaf just in time for a late lunch as I was pot roasting. I didn’t do the braid of 3 rolled loaves, I did a coil of one large rolled loaf and it turned out beautifully.

The beef roast is being slowly converted to a pot roast for dinner. Started it early since it was frozen solid and buried in the snow when I went to fetch it.  It will be done by the time I should eat dinner, so I can eat dinner, so I might as well eat dinner. Eating dinner has been uncommon around here lately, but it’s a good way to end the year.

Seems like a weather-watch day for me, by 1330 the temperature raised to 3º, from –18º when I woke up, and the wind is up! Not worth attempting to cross since I’d be at risk of blowing away.

The rest of the day lined up as you might expect… much sitting on my ass, some tea sipping. Wind and rain and hauling of wood. Some fire staring, a bit of knitting, a couple of rounds of ice checking, dog feeding and chicken wrangling. The chickens were all hanging out at the old chicken house so I had to roust them, take them on a chicken drive with a little chicken stampeded and then use my big city negotiation and strategic planning skills to get them inside!

While afternoon ice-checking I caught sight of a little butter cream coloured weasel with a black tipped tail and perky ears. The city girl in me said “oh, how cute”, the country girl in me said “I wonder if this is why there were 0 eggs… hmm, oh, how cute!” It was damned cute bounding over the snow drifts in the orchard. The question is whether it is a ermine/mink crazy run-away from a fur farm or egg-sucking weasel out to terrorize my flock?

Dinner was lovely. In bed around 2100. Woke up between 2330 and 0030 – happy new year – roll, scratch, fluff my pillow, snore.