Decorations, Mad River, Family Farm, & First Snow

We finally got all of our Christmas decorations up in the house.  We kept delaying because we were afraid Summer would tear down the tree and we ended up putting a gate up in front of the tree for now.  She is wanting to climb and we were very afraid she would topple the tree down.

Friday morning I was up at Mad River Mountain doing the weather and reporting on their first snow making of the season.  They have 130 snow makers and it takes about 30 hours for them to drain their spring-fed pond.  Then 6-8 hours for the pond to fill back up.

The wind chill at the top of the hill was 1.6°F.  YIKES!  Friday afternoon was a fairly relaxing day around the house with some cleaning and errands before Dawn's mom came to town.  They went out for Dawn's birthday, so I went home to the family farm with Summer. 

We went out to Indiana to an Amish cheese sale.  The cheeses were DELICIOUS.

Then we went up to see Grandma Jean, or Great Grandma Jean for Summer.  I always get her word search books for Christmas.  She loves them and it keeps her entertained for most of the year.  Summer played pass the wrapping paper with her. 

Then back to the homestead.  My parents got rid of their cows so they could travel with all of the 5 kids out of the house.  Our neighbors were out of town so my parents milked for them and Summer LOVED seeing the cows.  We have been working with her on animal sounds and when we walked into the barn she heard one of the calves moo and her eyes lit up!  It was adorable.

Sunday morning I went for a run... Not a long one, but I needed to run a mile to keep my holiday run streak going.  I am running at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years, so 39 days total.  There is nothing to block the wind out in the country and BOY was it cold! It was nice being back home for the weekend.

Clouds stick around this morning and some afternoon clearing with a few peaks of sun.  Temps stay above freezing most of the day until this evening.  Partly cloudy tonight with freezing temps.  Increasing clouds Tuesday with a light wintry mix, mainly south for the afternoon/evening Tuesday.  A few flurries and mostly cloudy Wednesday then a blast of frigid air for the end of the week. Have a good one!

Best,

Andrew Buck Michael