Jan 31st & Feb 1
January 31st was a Friday night and we had an untoward “visitor” again… stop by unannounced. Based on the previous visits my husband decided to install surveillance cameras to assist us on finding out who these perpetrators were. So Friday night these people stopped by, unannounced. My husband was quite a ways away at an event for work and I knew he would not be home until late. I felt upset and could not pinpoint the reason why. I wasn’t sure if it was just the fact that my husband was not there, I can not say why, but based on the feeling I requested prayer on facebook.“Prayer Warriors - Please lift me and my family up in prayer tonight. Unspoken request. Thank you!”
So while my daughter and I quietly sat at home in our usual evening routine minus one (hubbs) we had someone stop by. That night when my husband arrived home he reviewed the video from the day. We were shocked to find this footage. When my husband showed me I was in disbelief. He watched it over and over to pick the video apart and try to get more evidence.
It was evident that our camera was in a poor location to fully capture the man’s face or to get any credentials from his vehicle. We did not know if he was alone or accompanied by somebody else, and we don’t know what their purpose was for stopping by. I mean, maybe he was selling Girl Scout cookies? Our analysis of the video is as follows: You can not see as clearly as I can on my computer (quality is not as good here) but he has a hoodie on and walks up to the gate to open it but is unsuccessful due to the lock, he walks back to the drivers seat and just before the film ends he pops back up, so he didn't leave right away. The video time was 6:58 PM and the next video reads 7:02 PM so we don't know how long he was there and what transpired after. Pretty scary! Since this “visit” we have not had any other visits that we are aware of. Although we have seen what we feel might be a clue in the way of a “stray” husky dog. We have seen two people walking the dog. A female and a male. My husband saw the female walking the dog and said she was pretty bundled up to tell features, but I saw the male. When he was walking by he was acting strangely. At first when I saw him I wanted to throw on my boots and run down and talk to him because his dog was loose on our property back in January (you can read the story in the January post) and I wanted to talk to him just to find out where they lived so ‘if’ the dog were to return I would know where they were and/or how to contact them. I felt it was important because we *might* be getting some chickens this Spring and I don’t want a “high-prey-drive” Husky running down and snacking on my chickens. Anyway, back to my boots, well I did not have time to throw them on, he was walking a little too fast for that. Instead I just observed him and observed that he was acting strangely as I said. He was looking really “sharply” all about. Scanning sort of. He was scanning all the properties and their houses very thoroughly. Scanning back and forth as if he were on a mission. I left me a little disconcerted enough to call Jason and ask him what he remembered about the female “husky walker.” He did not offer any further details to help my hunch on the case. I almost wonder if we were to somehow figure out where this husky lives, then me might find the “black Toyota Camry” (mentioned in January post) and find out who these people are or more about what is going on here. Maybe we could ‘break’ this case of robberies, or at least ‘part’ of them?
Sunday, Feb 2nd
The first weekend of the month we had a reprieve in the weather, a balmy 45° in Mass. While everyone was gathered around their television sets to watch “the big game,” The Superbowl, we set out to knock out some chores. One chore we needed to get out of the way was to move a temporary manure pile up to the top of the hill to the GIANT manure pile. The size was so massive that instead of using our little tractor we employed the skills of our trusty old Dodge Ram affectionately named, “Hoss.” I set about loading Hoss up as much as possible with tons of shavings. I shoveled and shoveled and shoveled some more. I was having some trouble because the center of the manure pile was FROZEN nearly solid. We were using snow shovels with blades on the end to chop up the shavings into chunks and then tossing the shavings into the bed of the truck. We finally got Hoss loaded down as much as we could and we all hopped in for the ride UP the hill where we would then need to shovel everything back out.
Monday, Feb 3rd
Well I remember not expecting snow for a few days, but woke up Monday and went out to do chores and it started to SNOW, again! It snowed about 3-4 inches. We had a few things left that we wanted to accomplish in the barn but we were not going to be able to finish if it started snowing again… so, oh well. Se le vie’!
Tuesday, Feb 4
February 4th began 2 new 1sts: (1) Painting Class for me (actually, this was class 2); (2) Father-Daughter Date night for Jason and Alayna. So off we went to class in Webster, MA under the tutelage of a very talented lady, Ms. Dolores Cowden. She is a mural artist, we met on Alayna’s birthday where I ended up doing an impromptu class with the group of girls we had taken to her home. It was fun and she informed me that she had a class for adults on Tuesday evenings. So while I worked on painting my woodpecker….
Jason and Alayna were going pro in a “new” sport, Candle-pin Bowling:
I was told that Alayna is VERY good at this game. Having the tiny ball puts an all new spin on an “old favorite.” Not easy as I was to find out later in the month… (see further down on this post).
Wed, Feb 5
We woke up to a fresh blanket of MORE SNOW! See photo album!! I think by far this has got to be the MOST amount of snow we have seen since moving up to Massachusetts or EVER in my lifetime anyway. Very exciting for us Texas folk. Although there was that one time in Dover, Delaware. We were coming back for my Mom’s wedding and we got snowed in during “The Blizzard of 1996.” I’ll have to blog separately about that. It was really a crazy story and we missed the wedding by 10 days! Whew! That wasn’t the worst part of it… story to come on that!
So what do YOU do when it snows. Here are a few things we do, we go SLEDDING, we went on a snow HIKE and we built a lot of fires! 
I finally built up enough bravery to chalk in my Aussie drawing and I am pleased as to how it has turned out. Nice! I was very pleased. I do believe I am ready to attempt to sketch them on a canvas now.
All of my artistic endeavors has gotten Alayna in the mood to draw too. She is doing really good! Here is one of her drawings:
Mon, Feb 10 – I decided to try my hand, again, at making flour tortillas. My previous attempts have been far from satisfactory by my own personal standards. After talking to a good friend who happens to be a Master Chef …. you know who you are… and she gave me some pointers, so I went to work.
As they say, the proof is in the pudding! Alayna approved, and she’s my toughest critic!
My recipe:
Homemade Flour Tortillas
3/4 C. Warm Milk (I used Water instead)
2 Tbsp of Coconut Oil (not melted)
2 C. All Purpose Flour
Tues, Feb 11 – Painting Class & Father/Daughter Date
As for me I painted some more on my woodpecker and I also took some older work with me to show my instructor. It was a Hebrew Alef-Bet chart I had drawn for my daughter for her school.
Jason and Alayna went at it again bowling. Again, Alayna schooled her Papa. 
Thurs, Feb 13 – Taking to the slopes
The video kind of goes fast at the end, so don’t complain, you’ve been warned. Use your “pause” button, haha. Prepare for a giggle. I was going to “fix” it but it makes me laugh, enjoy! 
Feb 16-22 – Week 3 & 4 During this week I transferred my sketch of my Aussies to a canvas and began painting. This is the beginning, more layers to come.
I also finished my woodpecker painting.
Jason built a snowman, the dogs have turned it into a snow hydrant and have been resculpting it, lol. I made my first-ever Coffee Cake. It was delicious! I also made some homemade Challah bread. I don’t make Challah every weekend for one reason or another, so when I do, it’s a special treat. All the pics are in the album below.
One weekend we got up going to Springfield, MA and ended up going to a Sporting convention and next door they had an animal “petting zoo.” We went to check it out and they had elephant and camel rides. Jason and Alayna got to ride them. Here is the video, it has more details.
Well that’s it for February, it’s already the middle of March, I’ll post what we got up to soon. 
Yah bless!
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