The animals are still unaffected by the cold but we will have to keep a close eye on them when it gets even colder tonight and tomorrow. The straw in the chickens' pen is about a foot deep and I've noticed that the chickens are wallowing out little nests in the straw. I'm not really sure whether they are using those as dust baths or to keep them warm but they seem pretty happy. I hate to watch the horses walk because the ground is so hard and icy, that I wonder if it's not hurting their feet. Sam, our dog, has tons of straw in his house and Hubby keeps him well fed and watered. We may baby our animals but in this kind of weather I feel like they need a little extra babying. I'm all for letting them handle what they can handle but extreme temperatures require giving just a little more assistance. Bottom line is we have animals and we are going to take care of them. To not care for your livestock is an obscene lack of responsibility and cruelty.
Today I'm meeting a friend at a restaurant that burned down several years ago and has just recently reopened in another location. It's a soup and sandwich joint and I'm really looking forward to trying it out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Talk to you later.
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It was such a wonderful place to lunch!! They had terrific service, tasty food and the company was, as usual, such a joy. In February I am going to assist my friend in preparing some appetizers for her card club and it was exciting getting together our ideas and is going to be great fun to do too.
While I was gone hubby ate what I left him in the refrigerator and I was very pleased. He acts a little better and I'm hoping by tomorrow he'll be human again.
I've been soaking a big pot of Great Northern Beans and now have them on to cook. I've got a 7-pound semi-boneless ham and intend to put a little ham and onion in the beans and prepare about half of them for a meal and freeze the rest of the ham and beans for another time. I'm going to cut several slices off the ham for fried ham and eggs, then put about a quarter of it in the crockpot for another meal sometime this week and a quarter of it into the freezer for a meal sometime in the future. I should be able to get at least 4 meals out of this half-ham. Maybe more - but at the very least - 4 meals.