Thursday,

Hello again,

Today it seemed colder than it has been for the last few days. You could see sun dogs around the sun this morning when we were out doing chores. Our chores have gotten a lot faster now that it is winter. The goats slowed down to only a pint of milk so we have quit milking them, we don't have to move the chicken pens, the goats don't need to be moved, and there's more too. Chores used to take about an hour and a half but now only fifteen minutes. Recently we had been getting very few eggs and were only feeding the chickens screenings but one of our white rock hens started getting pecked pretty bad. The next morning it was dead with all of it's insides pecked out. We figured they needed better feed with more protein so we bought a couple of bags of layer feed. Yesterday we got thirteen eggs and no dead chickens! It seems like we learn things the hard way and then never forget what we learned! Now we need to figure out a cheaper mix of feed that doesn't cost $10 a bag.

Now that the lake is frozen over we have cleared a little skating rink in the bay. For the last few days (except today) we went skating for more than an hour. My skates from last year are way too small so I have wear Jonathan's old ones (that are too tight) and he wears dad's when dad isn't skating. We broke off some curved sticks and cut some slices of firewood for pucks and we have our own little hockey teams, two people on each side.

We have had Samson inside at night so he has become a house dog and wants to come in all the time. So far we haven't had any accidents and he has stayed out of our way.

Until next time,

Peter