How To Get Warm On A Chilly Morning

A bowl of warm oatmeal works well, especially when you stand in it.

Warm feet

I  made oatmeal and served it to the girls with a few marigold petals sprinkled on top. They did their usual viewing and discussion of who was going to go in and test it first.  Julie was the first one in ...literally. After they took turns pecking and checking they all went in...again literally.

Another warm treat they love is cabbage. I slice it in half and loosen some of the layers. I put it in a bowl and fill halfway with water and WARM in the microwave.  I cook it till it's a bit more tender than raw, but not mushy (if it's warm, but still holding it's cabbage-head shape then it's just right). A  few minutes is all it takes. Serve it to them with the water that's left from cooking. Safety Warning: Since some microwaves cook very unevenly check for hot-spots! You can go ahead and slice it for them if you like but mine like to attack it whole!

Our summers are miserably hot. Even though it's officially Fall we haven't had that many chilly days yet. The weather alternates with more hot/warm days and a few cooler ones thrown in. There are a lot of false alarms for our season changes. The don't go gently from one into the other.  Leaving for work in the morning you might have a coat on and car heater turned on. Heading home you have the air conditioning blasting and have removed every layer of clothing you can legally can.  We go through this yoyo-ing for quite a while before we can finally say 'Hey I think Fall is here, finally'. This morning the wind is blowing strong and the leaves are falling like crazy but a high of 83 is predicted.  We'll have a few weeks of true Fall weather then Winter gets dumped on us like a bomb.

Looking it over

Standing over it

I think it's okay...

Let's eat!

For now, we are enjoying the 'cooler' days and not having to stress the triple-digit temps of summer.The chickens love free-ranging on the nice days- unless the wind is blowing. That's a whole 'nother post!

Liz-