It’s been mighty chilly here this past week. The girls stay in the coop all day, with quick dashes outside to eat and drink. I feel sorry for poor Scruffy, who is in the middle of a terrible molt. I don’t know how she is staying warm. Thankfully, today it has warmed up, and the forecast is for milder temperatures this week.

Speaking of the girls, they are now truly a flock. I snapped this pic of them all eating together, and no one got pecked in the face! It made my heart glad to see them all getting along. It took about three weeks to re-establish the pecking order. Not bad.

Will went hunting last weekend, and the group of them got two deers. Look what he brought home for me!

I did some online research on the best way to cook deer heart, sharpened my knife, and set to work on butchering it. Not bad, I think, for a first go. Maybe I should have been a butcher.

I had no problem eating it, and actually quite enjoyed it, but Will took a couple bites and then couldn’t eat anymore. I don’t blame him. He’s the one who shot and killed the animal, and helped with the field dressing. I just had to cook the heart, not remove it from an animal. He’s making deer sausage the first weekend of December – yummy. Can’t wait for that.

I’ve got a real nesting feeling going on lately. I think it’s because of the extreme cold we’ve had. I just want to be inside, where it’s warm and safe, and bake comforting food. Like this pumpkin loaf and muffins I made a couple days ago. Awesome recipe. I made one slight adjustment. Instead of one cup of oil, I used half a cup of oil and half a cup of apple butter (since I have a gazillion jars of the stuff in the cold storage). Also, I’ve been eating the pumpkin loaf with apple butter spread on top instead of butter. I heart apple butter.

And now back to rehearsaling. We open this week. Can’t wait to show you a picture of my wig and costume. It’s fantastic. Best wig I’ve ever had. Have a great week!