Greatest invention. Ever.

The worst thing about winter is that the various animals outside end up with frozen water. It is terrible. You wake up and stare at the ceiling and know that you have to go out into freezing weather and and either break ice or defrost a gigantic metal container that the chickens drink out of.

Or maybe not.

Because we got one of THESE:

It may look like an upside-down baking pan with a cord, but do not be deceived. It is a chicken water defroster (actually Southern States calls it a "heated base poultry fountain," but that seems like a bit Much). It is GENIUS and I love it.

Randy cozy on tree clippings.

Lovely tree lot.

That's some cat.

While Jane and Randy were across the street at the tree lot, Grayson and I had every single one of our animals, save the chickens and horses, making themselves at home in the kitchen.

Including Lily, who fell asleep:

As Josh put it: "She is a bold new voice in the field of sleeping."

Unprecedented sharing.

Last night Precious and Pigeon put their differences aside and shared the dog bed. Kind of.

If her expression is anything to go by, Pigeon knows that she got the raw end of the deal.

Still, though, this is real progress.

Lily does not realize this is not for sleeping.

Today I got kind of panicky when I couldn't find Lily. But Alan knew where she was, fast asleep in the broadcast spreader:

Good thing I had the camera. After all it is pretty much inevitable that wherever Lily is, she will be cute about it.

Christmas trees is dangerous business.

In case you wondering, and I'm sure you were, this is how the trees get to us from Smokey Holler Tree Farm, which is in Laurel Springs, NC.

First, they arrive on a gigantic truck, which does its level best to gum up traffic on High Rock Road:

But it's not really a big deal because High Road is not exactly the most congested place in the world.

Then the most adventurous folks in the unloading team hoist themselves onto the truck and climb up to the top of the pile of trees. In this case, those people include my mother. Evidence:

Then people who carry them to where they will live until they are sold (hey Randy!):

Since you asked: my job is to count the trees. This year I was off by ten!

Sometimes we use the tractor, which is terrifying for both observers and the tree itself:

Sometimes we employ tiny children.

THE END.

A goose helps with the laundry.

Once upon a time I used a fake goose to prop up the center of our clothesline. This is how it worked out:

If this picture makes you miss warm weather and green leaves, then maybe you should come buy a Christmas tree to cheer you up.

By the way, the goose's name is Nancy and she is proud to be a part of our new marketing campaign, "Christmas Trees Make the Cold Go Away."

Elephant encourages you to come buy a Christmas tree.

As of yesterday, the lot is officially open for business!

Elephant is ready for Christmas. Are you?

Christmas Tree Caroling No. 2

Grayson has picked today's carol, Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime":

Christmas Tree Caroling No. 1

We kick off our Caroling Countdown to Christmas Trees with one of Detgen's favorites (which will also probably be the best thing you've seen all day):

Preparing for a merry little Christmas.

Christmas tree sales start Friday, November 26th!

Ruby says, "Hi."

Chicken at church.

Grayson took this picture of Fraulein paying a visit--or maybe praying--to our St. Francis statue:

Meet Gandalf.

Here is a picture of our cat Gandalf, who is cross-eyed and best friends with Precious:

Dog bed.

Meet Pigeon.

Although she's been featured in previous entries, I don't believe Pigeon has been formally introduced. But no longer will she languish in obscurity.

Lily continues to revel in the spotlight.

Meet Precious.

Precious has exactly one facial expression, and this is it:

A charming animal photograph.

Obviously this is a pretty unremarkable photo, but look at Baxter's tongue:

More pictures of Lily.

Lily, a stalker Halloween cat:

Despite being offered water in more size-appropriate containers, Lily continues to risk drowning:

Pictures taken by Randy's magic camera.

Randy has a camera with a motion detector that he sets up in the woods so that it will take pictures of animals for him. Normally all we get are landscapes, but this time we actually got some DEER:

Awesome.

Lily the rescue cat.

Lily, like Barbie, is always eager to try new careers. Here she perches atop Randy's rescue equipment and imagines the life of an Emergency Response Team member.

A wet hen.

This chicken doesn't have a name because she is yet to distinguish herself (sorry, chicken). But maybe after today--she escaped for the sole purpose, apparently, of standing in the torrential rain--we'll give her a title.

Here's Randy retrieving her from the field, where she was waltzing around in the pouring rain:

And here she is looking rather irritated (either with herself for mussing or feathers or Randy for forcing her to suffer the indignities of retrieval):

Chicken-y doorstop.

A neighbor gave this to my mom a few days ago upon discovering that we have chickens and eggs:

I love it.

A Halloween potato.

Here's a potato that we dug up a few days ago that looks like, well, a finger:

Certain members of the family are totally grossed out by this potato, but I appreciate that nature has given me a Halloween decoration. (It is currently hanging out by a plastic cauldron in the kitchen.)

Meet Allegra.

This is a picture of Allegra being awesome:

Lily the pumpkin cat.

Today's eggs.

Sixteen eggs today!

Meet Lily.

This is Lily, our young adult cat. (We recently realized that she' really too big to be a kitten anymore.) And that's Alan.

Further proof that we have more than chickens.

I walked around with the camera today (it's really a surprisingly fun thing to do) and took a bunch of pictures.

Here's one of our horses, Alex, staring at me through a window into the stall, probably wondering why I'm wandering around and spooking everyone with my crazy flash. I am not skilled enough with photo magicks to fix her eyes, so she is just going to have to keep on looking like a freak. (Sorry, Alex.)

This is the front of the pack house, which we've turned into kind of a workshop (saws, storage, etc.). Like most of the buildings around here it's having an identity crisis because we're re-doing everything at once.

I think this sign is from an old laundromat:

Here's an old print that has somehow found its way into the pack house/workshop. It's hanging out on the ladder that's built in to the inside wall:

This is our mule, Ruby, and her ears. Ruby is actually a championship mule; she won some kind of endurance race that's held out west where horses and mules compete to see who is the best at being a survivor.

(Those trashcans are not normally there.)

Baxter and Pigeon.

A couple of pictures of Baxter and Pigeon (our Border Collie mix) being rascals.

Our dog Baxter.

This is Baxter, our Australian shepherd:

He is an exceptionally excellent dog, and his eye makeup is always perfect.

Chicken pictures.

I took the camera with me while I was gathering eggs.

The look a chicken gives you when you are invading her privacy:

One lonely egg:

EGGERS

Here is a lovely picture I took of the six million eggs we got out of the chicken coop the other day. We have a dozen chickens, and all of them are very enterprising.

Perpetually escaping chicken.

Pretty much every time we look out the kitchen window, this chicken--today I named her "Fraulein"--has escaped, and is happily eating every grub in our backyard. Now, it's just fine with me (and everyone else) that she's eating the grubs--but unfortunately there are also some dogs and cats that probably wouldn't say no to eating her. So you see, Fraulein, it is for your own good that we keep throwing you right back in the enclosure every time you get loose.

For the record, said "enclosure" is of a perfectly respectable and humane size. I suspect Fraulein just has a problem with authority.