Not that snow isn't to be expected in February, but generally we get a bit more warning than we did with this one. The rain/snow mix that started mid-morning turned into a full-on snow storm by evening. Nothing too terrible, but the north winds brought the temperature down to the low 20's rather quickly, and we spent the evening making sure all our critters were warm & cozy.
Speaking of warm & cozy, Magnus has the newspaper basket staked out for his naps. Somehow he convinced a human to make a privacy screen, since he's constantly hassled by photographers.The picture below is a preview from this weekend's upcoming blog post about beer as food & medicine. I came across some amazing and hilarious advertisements from Rainier Brewery from the early 1900's. Further research uncovered a lot of information about how important beer has been in terms of health & comfort over the years, and how motivated modern breweries were to find loopholes in the Prohibition laws.
On the gardening front, we just ate the last of our onions, garlic, Reddale potatoes, and buttercup squash from last year's harvest. This year we should be able to grow and store a lot more, though we still have plenty of Island Sunshine potatoes, canned green beans, pickled beets, pears, dill pickles, dried apples & pears and applesauce to tide us over. ................................................................
I'm sure most folks have been following the recent economic headlines with all the failing banks, bailouts, TARP plans and so on. With so much information coming at us so fast, it's easy to tune it out, even when we need all the help we can get to make decisions for our households.
One blog has made a world of difference for us at Seven Trees. If not for the explanations and analyses I have read at Calculated Risk over the past few years, we would have never been able to do what we needed in time to finance the new garage (and get a better loan) before lending rules were tightened. Those rules have changed many times since, as have a lot of other economic factors, and I highly recommend giving Calculated Risk some of your time. And don't forget to check out the comments with each post. The people there manage to have a good time while contributing even more worthwhile information about the nitty gritty of what is happening to our money.
Gemini is just outside the window above. He likes to trim the weedy area where the garage site scrapings were piled. Someday we'll try digging a root cellar into the little hill piled up, off the picture to the right.
Look at this stressed out kitty! He can't seem to lie down without losing all muscle tone. We call him Boneless Chicken.
The obligatory porch-pony shot. Gem is learning to come to the front door for a treat when we ring the bell, but the back porch is the place to go for chicken scratch and muck boots. We went for a 1.5 mile drive yesterday and he almost broke a sweat. I think we'll be heading to Everson for a latte in no time! The vet gave him a clean bill of health today, but not without being sedated and having his 
Crichton and Magnus are getting along better. They played (and fought) in the hay bales yesterday while we painted siding.
Maggie scored the high ground, much to Crichton's annoyance. We still find "leftovers" from when they bring varmints behind the bales for snacks. 