Well, It Is Winter

We had quite the cold snap around The Acre this week. Temps were around zero with below zero wind chills, and we always get a nice breeze in the winter time. The chickens weathered it well, they kept laying, we lost several eggs to freezing. We have one bird that is going through the molt, so we scooped her up and put her in the "Chicken Hospital" as Cupcake calls it. We have a heat lamp on her and she seems to be doing well. Pretty sure she would have frozen to death without feathers.
The chill in the air motivated Lawman to get working on our solar heater. But before we get to that part, we have photographic proof that "The Girl" will eat peanut butter on a sandwich with fluff.

We got all bundled up and took Mutt for a walk. The cold don't slow her down a bit when it comes time to smelling the neighborhood smells. So while we were all wrapped up like the little brother in "A Christmas Story" Lawman took to his saws to make the box for our solar heater.

The nailgun got use, with strict Cupcake supervision. The new longer nails held until he could get wood screws into it.
After we got the tubing in, he spray painted the inside of the box black to absorb the sun's heat.

We still have a plexiglass cover for the front to add, but we put it up in front of the southern facing slider.

The room temp was 72, but after a few minutes we were getting a ten degree warm up.

We look forward to the finished results. We will be sure to share.
We started the new year off with a good luck meal as we do every new year. Except for collards. The rotten deer mowed the collards down a few days before the big day.
So Cupcake took charge of the kitchen.

Blackeye peas with country ham

Cook down some onions

Salisbury steak

And a new revelation this week, Cupcake asked for fried oysters. Lawman fixed up a batch on steak night. A "surf and turf" twist on Thor's red meat offering day.

We should have probably took the picture before we dug in to them. Maybe we will next week, because she picked up another pint this past weekend.
Our pal "The Beamer" came in to town to visit with his mother, and requested a soon to be world famous Lawman buttermilk pie. We were happy to oblige, and even got to use Lawman's favorite Christmas present, a chicken timer from Denises and Denephew.

"The Beamer" polished it off in under 24 hours so we think it was a hit.
We ended the week with wings.
K&K