Winter Takes Hold ~ All Is Well ( Thursday Update )

 Time to pull the Christmas dishes out of the pantry. This chickadee teapot is not strictly for Christmas but I use it especially this season. The teapot reflects the sights around Cedar Pond this time of the year. We have so many chickadees helping themselves to the sunflower seeds filling our bird feeders. The chickadees don't seem greedy either. They grab one seed and fly to a nearby branch to crack it open and eat the seed meat inside before flitting back to the feeder for another seed. The chickadees are with us all year and although easy to overlook for the more dramatic birds , they make me happy. Chick-a-dee-dee-dee !

 Ella and Fella my Sebastopol Geese hang out under the bird feeders eating any seeds the birds fling over the feeders. It is good to know the expensive black oil sunflower seeds don't go to waste around here.

 The bees are snug in their hives during the very cold weather. My husband makes his honeybees sugar boards to eat during the winter.

 Deciduous trees have shed their leaves . Our cedar and fir trees seem even more beautiful to me in winter with their deep green showing against the stark bare trunks and branches of the aspen, oak, alder, and maple trees.

 The last few days were very cold, below 30 degrees. We kept a fire in the wood stove the whole time. Nothing warms a body up as well as hauling several loads of firewood into the house. Now the temperatures have risen sharply and according to the weather man we're in for a very big wind and rain storm. It is good to be prepared for these storms because we frequently lose electric power when the high wind gusts knock trees down onto the power lines. I've already filled containers with water , have the candles and matches near, firewood stacked and ready to burn, a battery powered radio , and books to read. Especially books to read !

 Our pond was almost bone dry the end of September and two weeks into October we had big rains . More rain in November helped fill Cedar Pond and the water overflows the banks of the island in the middle of our pond.

 Our creek ran dry in June ( very early for this to happen ) and is now flowing rapidly adding more water to the pond.

 My sheep don't suffer the cold or wet because their wool coats keep them very comfortable. ( This is Tovah , one of my 4 horned sheep.)

 I found some dishes for our Christmas table settings. The green goblets and cream cloth napkins I bought at the dollar store go very well with the dishes. My winter teapot also looks pretty nice with these dishes.

I could easily use these dishes all winter because this is a common winter sight for me, wild bunnies bouncing across our lawns, gardens, and under the firs and cedars. Winter has taken hold and all is well here at Cedar Pond. God is so good to me and I am thankful.

Don't forget, any time you enter a comment ( limit 1 comment per post ) you're entered to win a pair of Wee Little Sheep * .

Cozy at Home ~ Stormy Day Crafting

Tuesday tea time in November is usually a quietly busy time . It is raining ferociously outside so I am sipping hot tea as I craft indoors. Listening to the high wind gusts and knowing the huge trees surrounding Cedar Pond  are rooted in very soggy soil and prone to topple over bringing down power lines gives me cause to consider my preparation for power outages , frequent events for us during the fall and winter season.

I have water for drinking , candles, flash-light, battery powered radio, plenty of food, and crafting to keep me busy indoors. Yes, we're ready . The lights have already flickered a few times and finishing this post today is even in question if the power goes out .

I am working on a different type of Wee Little Sheep . I decided after many years of making at least a thousand little sheep I would have some fun changing things a bit and experimenting. I am giving some of them horns , spots, and different facial markings . More like my real flock of Jacob Sheep.

I have been doing a lot of spinning wool too, especially when I watch television with my husband. When I am spinning wool I can justify just sitting around because I am still getting something productive done .

The winds have picked up , I can hear them outside as I work and blog. I am going to make another pot of black tea now and shut down the computer before the power goes out. I hope you're having a cozy tea time indoors and I will catch up with my tea-time friends after the storm passes by, hopefully tonight ! I am so blessed and thankful to be cozy at home while the storms rage by. Please check out the links below as you sip your tea , cozy at home.

 Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage. *

Bernideen ' Tea time Cottage and Garden Blog Party. *

Fickle Spring

 It's a fickle spring we're having here in the Pacific Northwest. Days so warm we forget it is April and I begin to wear summer clothes and buy bedding plants that thrive in warm temperatures. I got the patio umbrella out for the herb garden table so I could enjoy lunch there in between spats of gardening.

 The pine siskins flock to our feeder in the herb garden, very close to the garden table. We keep the feeder full of black oil sunflower seeds. The siskins aren't shy birds, nor are the chickadees and towhees that feed there.

 The duck that was faithfully tending her eggs on the other side of the Blue Bottle Garden fence finally hatched out ducklings.

 Then fickle spring revealed herself by sending so much rain & hail that Cedar Pond appeared to have re-entered winter. The rain & hail came down accompanied by lightening & thunder. Thunder that shook our house. The hail stayed on the ground  into the next day , looking very much like snow.

 Bedding plants I just bought to plant sit in their hail-covered box.

No worries though, the sun warmed the gardens again. The Cheshire cat I painted for a tea-party a few years ago, is smiling underneath the Hostas in the Blue Bottle Garden. Fickle spring brought more rain today, then bursts of sunshine. Rain is predicted for the entire weekend with thunderstorms. A good weekend to stay home and be cozy. I have a few books to read, a rug to finish weaving, and lots of blogs to catch up on because our computer has been on the fritz and we've been off-line for awhile.

Prayers for those of you enduring the destructive and deadly storms in the mid-west.

Just Another Huge Windstorm

 The weather forecast and local news was warning us of a huge storm coming our way. Yeah, yeah... thus far we had not received any of the strong winds and drenching rains predicted and it was sunny outside. I went out to feed my sheep. To feed my sheep I take the wheelbarrow through the gate shown above to get hay from the hay shed. Just minutes after I went through the gate the winds picked up to a horrifying speed causing this branch to come down where I had been less than 5 minutes before. The branch broke on the roof and was stuck firmly under the sheep shed, and also left debris all over the other side of the shed. Meanwhile, I was in the hay shed and  hearing loud roaring of the wind and seeing huge branches flying horizontally across the sky, and hearing loud noises of large branches hitting the roof of the hay shed. I stayed put under cover until the wind subsided for a moment, then I ran with the wheelbarrow full of hay to the sheep shelter, fed them quickly and ran for the house. Good thing too, things got very dangerous , very quickly.

 We lost electrical power before the 6:00 news. For the next few hours my husband & I listened to raging winds outside, heard large things being blown against the house, saw our porch furniture being blown around the porch, and we were glad to be safe indoors. We read by candlelight, I wrote in and addressed many Christmas cards , and we went to bed knowing we were safe & sound, even without electricity.( Above, a tiny bit of the devastation around our pond... a tree top laying over our fire pit. )

 We had a lot of storm debris and tree tops fall into our pond, and over our fire pit ,

 but the morning after the storm the sun shone bright, the power came back on before noon, and the ducks and geese were swimming & bathing in the pond.

Life goes on. The storms rage , wreaking devastation , but the sun will eventually come out and calm returns. Through so many storms in my life I have finally learned , storms do end... and I need to simply hang in there for the sunshine , it's worth it ! " He sends forth His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow, " Psalm 147:18  ~

"Oh,That I Had Wings Like A Dove"

My Hubby built this dove pen for me. I requested this as a birthday present. He built it specifically for the herb garden which is my garden. I have many doves, but chose to put only two in this pen.

I told Hubby I wanted this feature for my dove pen, and he took the design and made it better.

The herb garden has a table and chairs and sometimes we dine in the garden. I love to have herb tea here while I read my gardening books and think about my plans for the garden. So I named the garden the 'Laughing Dove Cafe', and if you listen to doves you will know why I call it laughing dove.

During troubling times and terrible storms , the doves have had a calming effect on me. I have dove pens on two sides of our home and I can hear the doves gently cooing and 'laughing' all hours of the day. December 2006 brought a round of terribly destructive storms to our place. Two trees came down through our roof, big trees were down all over our property, and only VERY BIG tarps kept us dry throughout the months of waiting to have our home repaired. The storms were unceasing that winter and my former love of storms was replaced by sheer terror and panic attacks when the winds started up......however, the doves cooed loudly throughout the storms, and in the midst of truly roaring winds I could hear the doves even with our windows closed. The cooing calmed and soothed me~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me; and horror has overwhelmed me. And I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove !I would fly away and be at rest. Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest." PSALM 55 : 4 - 8