Yesterday we were very pleasantly surprised by several bouts of thick flurry activity. The kids were ecstatic, and we all just wished it would actually snow, rather than just tease us.  Still, we did get a tiny bit of dusting on the deck and the back of the sheep.

See? You can just tell there’s a bit starting to stick on Darby’s back. Barely. Squint, maybe.

It’s there, I swear! Let’s just hope that this isn’t the sum total of our winter experience this year, because for several years after we moved to Virginia, this really WAS all we saw.

When the gate out front is open all the way, the sheep, goats, and dogs have access to the front porch.  It’s not ideal for us humans, because it means poop everywhere, and they’ve broken several porch rails. They like to sit by the door, though, and stare in at us.

Yesterday was also our first day back doing school again. It went well, considering we are all way off our sleep routines and no one wants to do anything other than cuddle kittens and do fun things.  Getting back to reality and regular life and appointments  is hard. Emily is getting braces in a few weeks and our lives are consumed with visits to various dental specialists when we are not working on school or doing farm chores.

I’ve been chugging away on my Chimney Fire.

I hit a few snags early on (once when I needed a bit more clarification and then realized “continue in pattern” simply meant to “knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches”, and once when I had to go back and place extra markers to keep the sleeve pattern and the increases on the sides better delineated.

Since then I’ve been flying along at it and it has been a very enjoyable knit.

And yes, since you asked, it IS covered with cat and dog fur.

In this house, it’s a rare item indeed that isn’t blessed with fur.  From school work……

……to puzzles.