A Cold, Winter Walk Around the Property

Yesterday Shawn took Sam, Sarah, and Andrew on a walk around the property.  The property is certainly much prettier in Spring, Summer, and Fall, but there's still a calm quietness that's to be appreciated in the Winter months.

They started walking on the trails that Shawn had mowed back in the Fall.  Shawn took this picture before either he or any of the children had stepped foot on the trail.  All of those tracks are made by various animals.

Then they made their way out to the pond, which is still frozen.

This is the spring that we call the "Deep Spring."  Despite everything else being frozen, the Deep Spring still has water flowing out of it.

Then they went out to the back pasture that we call The Forbidden Meadow.  This used to be all grown up, but Shawn was able to mow everything down with his new (to us) tractor recently.

If anyone has kept up with the blog from long ago, they might remember a post I made about The Toilet Tree.  Here's yet another picture of the tree the children have named, The Toilet Tree.  (In case you don't remember, The Toilet Tree got its name because my children like to sit in the circular part of the tree and pretend that it's a toilet.)  Back then the Toilet Tree had no water in the creek below it, but now the creek is very full and very frozen.

This is the other spring on our property.  We call it The Mule Pond.  While our pond is frozen, our two springs are very much not frozen, and also very full.  I love the color of the water in our springs.

Lady the dog went with them on their walk.  She found a deer's leg bone to chew on.  She's a happy farm dog and a great companion to the children.  She's also an awesome mole-catcher!

Here are the children in front of the stream that forms from the runoff of The Mule Pond spring.

When they came back around the back side of the property Shawn had to take a picture of his new (to us) tractor.  We've lived on this farm for four years without a tractor.  This old 8N tractor is turning out to be really handy around here.  My Dad took it fixed it up as Shawn's Christmas present.  Dad got everything running in tip-top shape and also found many attachments for Shawn to use with it.

The children are standing in the carry-all implement that my Dad found for Shawn's tractor.

The children with Shawn's farm truck.

So, after their journey around the property, they all came back inside and I had some hot chocolate chip cookies ready for them.  I hope the children remember these times when they're grown and can pass the stories down to their own children.