Conserving

November 28th and we have not yet had to turn on the furnace, excellent!  Our little wood stove easily deals with the mild November we have had.  Last year we made it through the winter with one tank of oil, granted it was a mild winter, but, I am hopeful of a repeat. 
This is the morning ritual of praying to the wood stove god, a being of immense power and pleasure to Daisy.  Daisy sets up her vigil in the same spot each morning, silently staring in an almost hypnotic trance at the great black bringer of warmth.

Frosty frosty morning

Yesterday was our first snowfall, didn't do anymore then a light sprinkling on the grass, gone within minutes.  We have had lots of cold mornings this month, this was our first really frosty one that actually stuck to schnauzer beards.

November rose hip

Gorgeous autumnal coloured rose hip peeking out beside the gate, so lovely, even the branches and thorns are beautiful on this climbing rose.

A determined chicken

It's pretty much impossible to change the mind of a determined chicken

Hugo

An old photo of Hugo, one of our first Standard Schnauzers.  I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this guy, he could be such a jerk at times, I say that with love...I think.  Hugo came to live with us just before he turned two years old, he was litter brother to my first dog, Kodie.   Unlike his sister who loved me from the moment I took her home we had to work hard to form an attachment with Hugo.   I don't think it was us, just a result of his first formative months, maybe being raised in the shadow of his sire who was a formidable dog.  He taught me a lot about this breed.  In the end he bonded much more strongly to Mick then myself, but that was OK.

I bred Jewels to Hugo when he was 12 years old, he gave me a wonderful gift, his daughter, Gussy.

He's a cool dude

Yep, that's our guy Cy, a casual sort of guy.  Of course as I type this he is doing major zoomies around the room. The boys got style.

Sketchy

I haven't picked up a pencil for years, the chickens have inspired me to put pencil to paper and attempt to reclaim what small skill I still have, Blanch is my first pencil sketch in progress.  The chickens are very graphic and a nice introduction back to drawing.

First offerings

Almost every morning when I let the chickens out of the coop and I check the nest box there is one beautiful morning egg left for me.  It is warm and heats up my cold hands.  The remaining hens lay a little latter in the morning, usually by 11:30am there are another 5-7 eggs nestled in little hollows formed in the shavings.  Our twelve ladies are providing us with close to a dozen eggs daily, my favorite is always that first beautiful warm offering.

Sunbathing schnauzer

Daisy is a lover of heat be it the southern sun, or, the woodstove

Morning patrol of the yard

Gorgeous bright, crisp Fall morning

My little guardian

I try to take puppy Cyrus everywhere with me, it's so important to socialize Standard Schnauzer pups.  Sometimes, if I am preoccupied working out in the garden it's best I not take Cyrus along if I can't keep an eye on him...Cyrus doesn't really approve of this.

"Seriously, Lori, think of all the things that could happen to you if I am not there to oversee you?"

Wet dogs

Really suck!  After almost a straight week of rain I am an authority on wet dogs.  I take back everything I said about the lousy drought this summer, at least the dogs were dry!!!!!!!!
Today is the first morning in what seems like forever that it isn't raining outside, thank you weather gods, my dogs thank you, most definitely my chickens thank you!

Cyrus says thank you too, although he doesn't mind going out in the rain, his owner does.