It's gotten really cold lately up here on our mountain. Today it stayed around freezing all day long. I made the first fire of the season in our wood stove this morning! The hibernating stinkbugs hidden in the crevices of the stove were quite confused, emerging in a daze thinking it was spring already. Little do they know, sitting in their jar, that they'll be fodder for the chicken-folk tomorrow morning... A bleak day for the stinkbug, indeed.
On a brighter note, here's a cheap (but a little time-consuming) winter decorating idea I've been wanting to try for a while now, and finally got around to it while watching Four Weddings and a Funeral for the first time. All you need is oranges (on sale right now!), about 1/2 ounce of whole cloves per orange (cheap if you buy in bulk at your local natural foods store), and a toothpick (which you may or may not end up using). Directions: push cloves into orange peel in a design you like, using the toothpick to pre-poke a hole if necessary. Voila! It smells amazing, and it'll keep for 5-7 days.
And I couldn't resist some cat-in-basket photos. Phineas sure is photogenic.
