Snow, snow and more snow!

[Taffy]

I feel like I've moved back to Colorado!  Two days of a dry snow with another storm due to move in tonight.  It's not good for making snowmen or sledding - the only redeeming things for snow.  I guess I should be happy for our hay fields.  They'll love the full coverage of snow and what moisture and nutrients it holds.

My goats rarely see snow.  This afternoon I took them out for about 45 minutes.

When I opened the gate they came out but weren't sure they wanted to.

   

Joules was my 1st goat.  She's a mini Alpine.  Her belly was dragging in the snow and in some areas she had to plow through like a bulldozer.  The boys are all standard size so had no problem.  She's a trooper.

   

One of their favorite places is the brush pile we have by the burn pit.  Every time we cut down a tree or clear brush we pile it there to burn.  Bourbon can strip a branch in two seconds.  He knows just how to bite and pull.  You can see the light color on the branch where he stripped it today.


  Bourbon stripping bark.jpg (Size: 111.88 KB / Downloads: 62)

   

They put themselves back to their pen when they decided they'd been out long enough.  It's 19* with a 6* wind chill right now.

   

[Taffy]

Well..the snow just kept coming until tonight when it began misting.  It's going to be slicker than the dickens tomorrow!

It's funny how Lex and Leif coming from the Olympic Peninsula where it's more wet are willing to be out in the snow eating Christmas trees and walking around the paddock.  My other goat who were all raised here prefer their shelters.

It's been beautiful to look at and since the temp warmed to 28* today it wasn't bad out at all.  The trees along the edge of one of the hay fields are sagging from the weight of the snow.

   

We feed the Canada geese whole corn every year.  It depends upon the weather how much and for how long.  It's fun to have them right out our picture window not more than 50 yards from our fence.

   

The goats decided to browse on the arborvitae by one of our buildings.  The arborvitae are getting pulled out so I let them eat all they want.  As you can see from Bourbon's face - it's a snowy meal!

   

   

Of course you can't have snow without a snow fight!  Jasper and Noah both thought it was great fun throwing snow at Granny!  Granny got even!  Look at Jasper's devilish grin!

   

[Nanno]

What fun! We didn't get much snow out of this cold snap, but we did lose our water for about 24 hours. The pipe froze where it comes into the house. Luckily our hydrant was still working so we were able to haul water to the animals and into our house. We wrapped heat tape around the pipe where it comes into our crawlspace, and I dragged a hay bale underneath our front deck and jammed it against the wall where the pipe comes into the house. The pipe is underground so I had to take measurements in the crawlspace and under the deck but I apparently placed the hay bale correctly because this morning when we turned on our cistern pump the ice jam broke and we had water. Luckily the pipe was not damaged. We're happy to have running water again!

The critters are happy that it's not -15* too.

[Charlie Horse]

   

   

We got about 4 or 5 inches of snow, and now its a blowing blizzard out there.  The goats wont be fed until it lets up a bit.  No need to have the hay blow away.  We've been nowhere near as cold as Nan-- The edge of the arctic flow never made it this far.

[Nanno]

We only caught the very edge of this arctic blast. I feel bad for all the folks east of us. Even Texas is colder than we are right now! We're back up to around 30* and they're still in sub-zero temperatures. I feel bad for the folks down south. At least those of us in northern climes are generally prepared for cold and snow, but they aren't at all. I can only imagine all the power outages and broken pipes they're dealing with down there!

[Charlie Horse]

I'm more worried about the wildlife. This is going to kill billions of birds and other animals. Its tragic and there's nothing to be done about it.

[seth s]

Awesome photos! Thank you for sharing!

[Taffy]

Today got up to 43* and the snow began to turn to slush.  These 4 boys took advantage of the sun to soak up some rays while the others were feeding.  Bourbon was in one of the tanks.  I'll bet it was toasty!  I cleaned the spools off a couple days ago.  They really like lying on them and when they're feeling frisky they play king of the mountain with them.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 50*!

   

[Taffy]

The beautiful day yesterday was a teaser. Today is overcast and 45* but the snow is melting so fast the goat pen is a soupy mess. They'll enjoy their spools and shelters to get out of it! Even the pastures have puddles with the snow melting so quickly.

[Nanno]

I cut firewood on Friday and Saturday and all went well until yesterday afternoon. By then the snow was so soft and slushy that I got the tractor stuck! I've never gotten it stuck before. Phil came out and between the two of us digging it out with shovels and throwing tree branches under the tires we were able to get it out. The only problem is that I've only brought back about 1/3 of the wood I cut, so I'm hoping for either much colder or much warmer temperatures these next couple of days so I can fetch the rest in before Wednesday. We're supposed to get another 6" or so on Wednesday and if that happens it might be 2-3 weeks before I can get the tractor into that pasture again, and we need the firewood NOW! We ran out this year for the first time. We've never had such sustained cold in this part of Colorado. We haven't had super low temps, but it's consistently stayed below freezing for most of the winter. Usually we have snow and then it melts, and then more snow and then it melts. This year we've rarely seen the ground. It's been nice, but I guess I didn't cut enough firewood for that kind of winter. And here I was thinking all last summer and fall that I was way ahead of the game! I cut and split three dead trees in mid-January and we blew through them in a month. I'm hoping the two I cut this weekend will hold us for the rest of the winter. One of them is really big. The only problem is that most of it is also green. I wish I had time to let it cure!