Snow days are still here

The snow is piling up in the garden and the chickens are really not too sure about it all - they are happy that they are getting hot mash each morning, but then they are taking refuge under the verandah for much of the rest of the day, basking in what sun there is, and pooping on my freezer, which is a definite downside. The bunnies are OK - the hutches get covered up in the late afternoons so that the bunnies can preserve whatever body heat they have got in there!

We have only been out of the village on necessary journeys since Christmas - taking books back to the depot on Monday this week, we had a lucky find of a load of pallets in their yard so we came back with a trailer load of those, which the FH has been cutting up and adding to his stockpile of wood. He cuts the pallets and then leaves the bits for a couple of days in the workshop, then he or I spend half an hour picking the bits all up and storing them in feed bags ready to be brought up under the verandah for ease of lifting them in to the house as required: we are burning three or four bags' worth each day if I light the fire in the morning. The EFG has not yet returned to school as she has been suffering with her cough, so we have been lighting the fire for warmth.