Snow & Wintry Pursuits

view from our driveway

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been safe and comfortable this past week.  Like much of the nation, we've had wintry weather.  We received a little over 6" of snow on Saturday, which is not much by some standards, but more than we've seen in a number of years.  My sister and brother got closer to 11", a little north of here. I'm not sure if it's because lots of ice hadn't melted from last weekend, and then snow on top, but there were 750 collisions on NC roads yesterday, and a portion of I-85 was shut down, due to 100 stranded motorists, including 30 tractor-trailers.  We're more than happy to just stay put at home.  

In anticipation of the weather, we finished up the new compost system, aka chicken tractor on steroids, or CTOS for short.  J gathered composted chicken bedding in his tractor's bucket, to place on the compost scraps, and I emptied one of the 5 gallon buckets of biochar that had been inoculating.  The permaculture consultant said snow is helpful for the beneficial microbes to grow, giving them a pretty steady environment underneath, so we were happy to get it done.  Our chickens haven't figured out that they need to work yet, lol.  Hopefully, they'll get the hang of it before long.  I spent a little time several days, working on gathering tax paperwork.  We've worked on a jigsaw puzzle, the hardest one we've attempted yet, due to it's non-square "special shape".  I grabbed some of the pears I froze last summer, and made a pie.  Knowing wintry precipitation was on it's way, I caught up on the laundry.  I will say that my hands hurt from the cold, when hanging and gathering it on the line.  Using the clothesline is not for the faint of heart, mid-winter. 

out our front door

I've been fascinated with a new to me subject, which deals with autism, particularly non-verbal or minimally verbal autistics, and the prevalence of telepathy in their community.  It goes much deeper than this, and has been so interesting to learn about.  Resources are The Telepathy Tapes podcast and Spellers documentary, both accessed on YouTube.  There may be other ways to hear and view these as well.  It may be helpful to listen to the first few podcasts, to get an understanding of Spelling as communication, before watching the documentary.  I've spent time with those with mild Asperger's, but have not been around the world of non-verbal autistics.  Their brilliance is something to witness.  I'm so thankful the world has finally figured out a way to communicate with these wise souls.  We've wrongly assumed cognitive disabilities, when it's instead issues with motor skills.  This development has set thousands of these souls free, from bodies that won't cooperate in "normal" ways.  Well friends, I hope you too are finding things that feed your soul, during these slow days of winter.