Baby it’s cold outside! Goodness, January has taken Northwest Arkansas by storm. I believe we are a point where our children have missed more days of school than they have gone since returning from Christmas break. We have several make up days soon.
Our family has been doing all the usual things during winter weather – bundling up to feed hay and break water. The livestock and chickens are happy to see us when we arrive with fresh bales of hay and range cubes.
New Year’s healthier diet resolutions are officially out the window. We have been making comfort foods and baking cookies, for the sake of keeping the house warm, of course. No one seems to be complaining about the food service.
Our farm dog is posted in front of the fireplace standing guard and staying warm. During the earliest days of wintry weather, delivery vehicles could still make it down our long driveway. We won’t see anyone down here for a few more days unless they are in a 4-wheel-drive or an RTV.
Winter weather is a great way to force our family to stay home and get busy with things we may have been putting off. So far, I have cleaned out some closets and organized 2023 tax paperwork for our family businesses. We are blessed to be able to pass down some outgrown winter clothes this year, all four of our children have grown a few inches since last January.
Our oldest daughter intends to go to college in the fall. I forced myself to sit in front of the computer and help her finish up the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA). This must be completed to assess scholarships for most institutions. Nothing that involves the government is ever simple, but thankfully after a snowy day at home, it is completed.
We have stayed glued to the local news to anticipate what weather lies ahead. Our oldest daughter had gone out of town with some of her friends last weekend. I may have been a little bit antsy waiting for her to make the drive from town back home when the snowfall started.
During the first round of windy winter weather, a dead tree fell across our driveway down by our creek. Being home was the perfect excuse to cut the trunk apart and add it to the firewood stack. We have all taken turns going out to do chores and check on livestock.
Our boys are still young enough to enjoy sliding around on sleds. I’m thankful for the nice clean snow, the icy sludge that we started out with created more than the usual amount of laundry. They have created some contraptions in the shop to sling one another over the river and through the woods across the snow. Our youngest son was hoping to get in on some ice fishing near the bank of our pond, but it is frozen solid. Our youngest daughter has been busy putting together an elaborate scrapbook filled with a year’s worth of high school teenage memories to stay busy.
It is nice having everybody home together for a change of pace. As our children grow up, I know snow days at home will start to look a lot different than they do today. I am sure in a few more days when cabin fever sets in, I will feel differently. Until then, I am going to catch up on reading a few new books and enjoying my family, neighbor.
Jody Harris is a freelance communications specialist, gardener, ranch wife and mother of four. She and her family raise Angus beef cattle and other critters on their northwest Arkansas ranch. She is a graduate of Missouri State University. To contact Jody, go to ozarksfn.com and click on ‘Contact Us.’
