I should be in bed; I'm exhausted, but Anne has made it clear that I'm to sleep in tomorrow, to take it easy, so I'll catch up here before calling it a night.

First: snow removal. We'll be at that for days but we do have the outhouse path clear as well as most of the path to the horse barn. I wonder why we bother - the wind just fills in the pathways it seems, as quickly as we can clear them. Thank God we're into March. From here on in, I hope we get more melt than snowfall. The boys managed to clear most of the snow from the wood piles & we covered them with some old tarps. If it snows again, we can hopefully simply drag off the tarps, let the snow fall off those, then re-cover the wood with the tarps. Talk about old; they're canvas for heavens sakes!

Sam & Andy, Maxine, myself & Anne shovelled... and shovelled & shovelled. What we wouldn't have done for gas for Drew's snowblower. Paths seem to triple in length & the amount of snow which has fallen, double, when you're stuck on the working end of a shovel. Shortly before supper, we decided to pack it in for the day; the paths are clean enough to at least get to where we have to go without too many problems. Anne headed off to the barn partway through the afternoon, before she lost what daylight we had & the men headedd for the cattle barn to make sure the stock had food, water & were alright. The cattle are fine, but we need to spend a few days shovelling it out. I can't believe how fast the manure piles up.

Anne came back satisfied with Drew & Annette's health, physically anyway. Drew couldn't get back to the house fast enough, but Annette was another matter. Anne came back & spent some time speaking with Sam & Maxine. The upshot of it is, Annette is still very upset about the shooting - understandable, but she doesn't want to come 'home' yet. Anne suspects she doesn't know how to deal with it, what to say or do when it comes to the rest of the family. Annette wants to stay by herself in the prepared sick room, but Sam & Max are having none of that. Neither are the rest of us. We all agree with Anne; what that child needs is normalcy. She can't hide out & if she finds it awkward to be back among us; well it won't get any less awkward if she avoids us.

Sam went out to speak with her & they struck a deal. She can spend ONE night in the sickroom; we'll bring an old tin tub up there & water for her to heat for a bath. Max will bring her her supper & clean clothes & we'll leave her in peace until just before lunch tomorrow. But then, she must rejoin us. We've spoken to the boys & explained, as best we could;how Annette feels. The boys have sworn not to bring up the shooting; to leave that up to Annete. Inasmuch as they can, they'll act normally towards her. The women have put their heads together & have come up with a list of chores for both Annette & the boys. Keeping busy may ease the awkwardness for all of them.

Sad, it really is & don't we all wish we could turn back the clock & undo what's been done? But we can't; we can only cope as best we can & try to move on. I doubt this will be the last piece of awkwardness, of nastiness, we have to deal with. It's simply unfortunate it had to happen to one of the children. We are entering, or about to enter, a very busy time however & it's to be hoped work will take care of some of the stress we're all, especially Annette;feeling.

The foal was born just before our afternoon hot chocolate break & what a little darling! It's a little colt, black; with a white snip on it's head & one tiny white patch just over its tail. Annette is absolutely entranced & we promised the boys we'd bring them to see mom & baby tomorrow after their morning chores are done. Everything went perfectly smoothly & we all feel cheerier for the event. Something to celebrate! Drew recommends we leave mom & baby basically alone for a few days, other than mucking out the stall, feeding & watering the mare & making sure they have no problems. After that, it won't hurt to spend time in the barn. The foal will get used to people being part of its daily routine & Drew says he'll put a halter on it as quickly as possible.

Drew tells me we can start expecting calves within a month. He likes to breed his cows so that brith coincides with the start of warmer weather. That way, he can get the stock out as quickly as possible which he says, is healthier for both cows & calves. Whatever - he's the farmer! Shortly after that, it will be time for us to begin preparing the land for seeding.

Drew & Noreen, (MT's idea), were given their supper in their room & everyone is under strict instructions to leave them be as much as possible over the next few days. They've both gone through agonies of worry & have missed each other desperately. They need time together; especially before we all get very busy. Drew has promised the boys that as soon as it warms up, he'll take them out to tap some sugar maples & as the sap comes in, they'll boil it down for maple syrup. That will be a new experience for all of us.

Tomorrow as I mentioned, is more or less a rest day for all of us. We cleaned out the chamber pots, so if the outhouse path decides to fill in again, so be it. We can manage to get to the barns as needed & we're all desperately tired. I'd love a hot bath, but no one has the energy left to haul water, heat it, fill & empty the tubs! Tomorrow, maybe. The day after, we'll try & finish spring cleaning, then the following day, everybody gets cleaned up & we'll celebrate Andy's birthday & the fact that Drew & Annette are safe & well.

I'm turning my mind lately to finding reasons to celebrate. Funny, most of the old national holidays suddenly seem meaningless. I think we'd be best off celebrating events which are personally meaningful to the family; the group. Births & birthdays seem a good start. The end of winter, harvest... these things will all take on a new import in our lives. Of course we simply can't discard old traditions willy nilly. Look at Thnaksgiving. No more football games for a time I imagine, but a good harvest will be especially important. We can't abandon Christmas; who in their right mind would do so?We need to keep our sense of solemn wonder, our appreciation for He who has helped us so much through this time.

And, in spite of the hardships The Ouytbreak has brought, we have plenty of reasons to be grateful, as a family. Most of us are together & we pray daily, individually & as a family, for the safe return of Jake, Joe & Drew's sons. We have shelter, heat, clothing, water & good food. We have each other, we have love & we have hope. We know, oh how we know, that many are far less blessed, but while there are any survivors, hope remains strong.

The radio station is transmitting again - they did have transmission tower problems which They'vexed & news is once again beginning to trickle in. The outbreak does seem to be slowing down considerably. I suspect it's running out of people to infect. Many have already contracted it & have either died or survived, hopefully with a full set of immune factors. The winter weather across much of the country is limiting peoples' movements, be it voluntarily or no. How can you go anywhere when roads are blocked by snow, when it's too cold to contemplate a search for others or for food?

Unfortunately, that same bad weather is making it extremely hard for people in need of food to get out there & find it. In many parts of the nation, especially cities I imagine, that search would be fruitless. The radio news anchor reports that he shares the opinion of many that right now, in the US anyway, the plague is becoming less of a problem than are other causes of death. People ARE now starving to death in increasing numbers. Disease of other types is beginning to increase. Bad water is causing intestinal problems & with people already weakened by starvation, the death toll is rising.

Naturally, much of this sort of information is fairly local, within this state & others nearby. The radio station reports it's still very difficult to get much news from other parts of the nation. The federal government is attempting to put together short bulletins from all the regions across the nation. That will at least give us some of the big picture, although it will necessarily be limited. Something is better than nothing, I guess.

Andy also has found three shortwave frequencies where people are transmitting. He can't seem to transmit himself however & tomorrow, he wants to get up on the roof & see what he can do about strengthening both recpetion & transmission capabilities. Still, it's heartening to hear SOMEONE else out there. He's listened to one family group, similar to ours,who he feels isn't more than a few miles away. The group consists of what remains of three families... seven adults & olders teens and three children under the age of twelve. A veterinarian & his wife have also been transmitting & a lawyer who's alone with four children under the age of eight. Not sure where she's getting the time to broadcast!Both these groups seem to be fine for supplies & other essentials & they've both hinted that they know of others nearby. It's a start.

Next to no information is available from other nations. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. Perhaps we'll soon hear from some Canadians - they're certainly used to this weather, although their winter will probably last longer. I have no doubt that to our south, many more have survived, at least initially. Their ability to contact us is in doubt - at least in my mind, for right now at least.

The radio has promised to get more information for us tomorrow. They're working hard to put together as comprehensive a report as possible from the local area. They'll try to see what they can get from Washington about the rest of the country. At this point, any guidance from 'official' Washington would be nice, even if it's just encouragement to hang in there...

Well, my eyes feel like sand & I have a headache - too much time squinting in the sun. Time for bed & I hope nothing wakes me early. Sleeping in would be awfully nice.