Snow in April

This is ridiculous.  Snow in April.  We woke up to the white stuff this morning and it snowed a bit during morning chores.  The rest of the morning alternated between snow flurries, sun (not much of that), sleet and hail.  Lovely, don't you agree?   I'm sure my basil is toast.  Apricots - kiss any fruit goodbye.  But, it is pretty and the animals were all very wound which was entertaining.

Brett and Kersey doing their morning greeting ritual.

Tell me, does this look like an old gimpy dog?  She was running around like a youngster.  She LOVES snow!

I guess Kalvin couldn't be bothered to shake the snow off his blanket.

Flash thought licking snow of the pipe corrals was a good idea.

Jackson agreed.  They licked the rails clean.

And why is this bottle of shampoo at the bottom of the slope?

Instead of in the bath bucket?  Kersey!!  Thief dog... gloves, shampoo, sweat scrapers, dust bins, brushes of all kinds...

The afternoon was mostly sunshine with a few scattered showers.  The snow was quickly gone.  But it remained cold, in the upper 30s, so we stayed close to the wood stove.  I made stew for dinner - it seemed like that kind of day.  I tried a recipe from a cookbook Brett gave me for Christmas - so it's a French stew (daube).

 Here's all my prep.  Beef, veggies, wine, brandy... This is gonna be good!

Brown the bacon.

Remove the bacon and brown the beef in the bacon fat.

Remove the meat, add onions and shallots.  Cook until soft.

Add carrots, parsnips and garlic. Stir.  Deglaze with the  brandy.

Add an entire bottle of red fruity wine.

Throw in the bouquet garni, cover and put in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.  Now I'm trying to control my stomach which is growling because the house smells wonderful!!