A Snow Storm, Chickens, & the Hawk!

For a while now we have had very cold weather. But we have finally started getting snow. But I really shouldn't say finally because we haven't gotten this much snow before Christmas since I was little. We even had a snow storm the other day.

John & I went out to finish up Christmas shopping and get some groceries. We ended up being out all day. We were trying hard to get home before the snow storm hit but it caught us at our last stop about 30 minutes from our house. So we left about 10 minutes after it started snowing for our drive home. It was a very eventful trip. I was on edge the whole way home. Lets face it. I live in WV and what is in WV.. Hills... Mountains... Luckily no mountains on my way home from were I was. But there is 3 large hills/ inclines.. that were awful. First we leave Walmart and our first turn we slide around. So after that we went very slow. John handled the slide very well and countered it. Did I mention he drives for a living.... Then we make it about half ways home and start coming off a pretty good hill and all the cars in front of us are spaced out nice. But the jackass behind us was right up on our bumper. So we pulled off on the 2nd pull off going down the hill. Well he sped up and while everyone else had gone maybe 10 down the hill he pretty much flew. Then the car behind him also sped up and we watched that car end up right in the ditch. Nose first and there was no coming back from that. So we called 911 and I talked to the cops. Then we sat there for another 30 minutes. No cops ever showed up while we where still sitting there. But finally John talked me into going down the hill. We didn't go over 3 or 5 the whole way down... There was 2 more hills the one went smooth. the last one which is 5 minutes from our house didn't go that well. We made it about half was down when we started sliding. We slid a good distance. It slid long enough for my digital camera to be turned on and for me to catch the end of our sliding on camera... It was a very frightening experience. But again John came through and we made it without kitting the ditch. I don't know how he did it but luckily we were fine. Although I was a little shaken up..

The roads were bad for the rest of that night and the next 2 days. John did leave for work when the roads were still awful on Sunday. But they had be treated in other places. So they were not as bad. We live in a small town and there is no good way in or out. Because there are hills * mountains all around us. And we are the last people to be treated if there isn't any school. and of course there was only one day of school schedule for the week because of Christmas vacation. so they never treated out road. But John made it hope safe thankfully.

The night that we slid down the hill it snowed all night and all day Sat & Part of Sunday. But Friday night at 3am going into Saturday we decided to let the dogs out. They loved the snow! They ran and played. And even Chloe played. And she doesn't play very often with the other dogs. She even played with our new dog, Roxie. Which was unheard of... :) So that we a good night. John, the 3 dogs and I spent about 20 minutes out there that night and it was so quite and there was no cars. It was really nice. The neighbors probably didn't enjoy all the noise from the dogs and us talking though.. oops...

One group that really doesn't like the snow would be the chickens. In fact they really hate the snow. They don't want anything to do with it. They hide under the chicken coop all day. Although Lil Banti has decided to actually take up a corner in the chicken coop and lay on eggs. So who knows. we may end up with winter chicks.... and that I am not looking forward to. I don't even know how many eggs she is laying on. Lets hope its one and that its a hen not another rooster. Either way we are going to keep them but. I don't need to any more. I am going to have to enlarge the coop.

All summer I have felt bad and really wanted to move so the chickens would not have to stay in an enclose. Our chickens do live in a good sized enclosure attached to their coop. Under some trees with tree limbs to climb on and sit. They love sitting on there tree branches. But I have been telling John that I wanted to move to a bigger piece of land so they could be totally free. Then the other day after it had snowed. There was still snow all over the ground in there enclosure so they were still staying under there coop and under the roofed part of the enclosure. All of a sudden I heard a lot of noise and I seen them out the window landing in the snow having a cow...! so I put my boots on run outside expecting to find a dog. I walk out and I don't see anything and then out of nowhere a Hawk dives and runs straight into the side of the enclosure... Right under the coop. Just diving at the mesh like nothing was there. He did it three times and then landed on the top of the enclosure and stared at me like he was coming after me next. My parents live beside us so I ran next door not sure what to do about this hawk. By the time my dad and I walked back the hawk had left.!!! So right now at this point my chickens could have all been killed by this hawk... wow... Now I am rethinking taking them out of their enclosure... This hawk could have had everyone of them and the sheer speed this bird had was totally amazing! So now they probably really beyound hate the snow... Today they stayed int the coop most of the day.

Well the roads have finally cleared about 4 days after the snow. I love the snow but at the same time. It is crazy what a little snow can do. We only got about 8 to 10 inches. So we were the lucky part of the state. There was over 90,000 in WV w/o electric and some are still without electric today. 4 days later....Some of my family live in Beckley WV and they received over 2 feet. So... As much as I love to take pictures and watch the dogs play. I hope we don't get to much more winter. But we still have a few more months. So we will see.

O' yeah.. and all this cold weather brought on comfort food and 5 pounds.... Evil.... I tell you... Evil !