Thursday, December 12, 2013

That White Stuff

Today was Day Eight of the 2013 Almost'a Ice Storm.  Paul has been working 12 hour shifts so has been taking the dually to work, so he could get to work.  That leaves Rhiannon and I with the red shoebox.  Which is still frozen solid to the icy driveway.  Grandma, however, couldn't go eight days without seeing her only granddaughter so she braved the main roads (which, although greatly improved, were still nothing one would want to go out in if one didn't have to) and parked up the hill from the house, trudged through the ice-crusted snow with the Sloppy Dog at her side, and helped Rhiannon and I put up Christmas decorations.

It has been a pretty easy storm as far as ice storms go.  I had plenty of time to prepare and even if I desperately needed something, Paul could have picked it up on his way home from work the second day when stores were opened again.  There's plenty of food in the house, still enough grain for the animals, and thankfully we didn't lose power.

Rhiannon has been enjoying all the snow and she even went sledding for the first time in her life:
Yes, that's my daughter sliding down the hill on a scoop shovel.
And on to the big hill!
Hold on, little girl!
Hillbilly, we most certainly are.  But YOU try finding a place that sells sleds around here.  Water toys a-plenty, but slim pickings when it comes to winter sports.  Golf can still be played here in the winter; and occasionally while wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

Yesterday was the first day I bothered to wear anything other than sweatpants and a sweatshirt.  It's not like anybody was going to come down here and the goats don't so much care if I'm wearing fifteen year old Hanes sweatpants with holes in unmentionable areas as long as I keep the hay and grain coming.   Today I felt a little more human and actually donned a pair of nice jean and a Christmas'ie sweater and put on some makeup!  I'm sure Mom was relieved.

The snow and ice has melted significantly, but with our daytime temps only in the lower 30's, it's slow going.  And before it can even disappear from the landscape, we're forecast for some more freezing rain tomorrow night.  Which means another weekend will go by with Paul having to work 12 hour shifts.

The critters are all doing fine despite this white hell they're having to live though.  I even went up with Paul in the dually yesterday to see Ms. Melman and Nugget.  Chickens have finally moved out from underneath the barn but are still sticking to the paths made by my shoveling or those made by the passing of numerous goat feet.  I'm still having to chop ice out of the water buckets every morning, but today I refused to bring out more than one bucket of warm water since the stock tanks weren't freezing up during the daylight hours.  Horrible, I know. Call PETA on me.  I'd like to see them careening their butts down the icy hill and crash into a stand of cedars; I need a good laugh.

18 comments:

  1. IS there no electricity to your barn? You got me wondering if they make a battery operated tank heater now... Hmmmm.

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    1. No electricity to the goat/chicken barn. But thankfully there IS electricity (and a stock tank heater) up the road to the Mule barn. I doubt a battery operated tank heater would have enough "umph" to power a tank heater, but if you find one, let me know!

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  2. Ha ha ha! Looks like so much fun! We are to get snow starting tonight.

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    1. It was fun watching....although Paul did make me go down once or twice. Hope you didn't get too much snow. Unless, of course, you WANTED snow.

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  3. Wow, it's amazing how long your snow (which was amazing in the first place) is staying on the ground. What fun for Rhiannon to be able to experience the snow and sledding! I think we should all chip in and send her a real sled. 'Course, by the time it arrived, your snow would be only a memory ne'er to happen again in her childhood! In the meantime, looks like that big shovel is doing the trick!

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    1. I keep meaning to have Christine (my sister) buy one of those cheepie roll up plastic sleds and bring it down here when she visits. Maybe she'll see this and get the hint! :)
      Oh, we get measureable snow here once or twice a year, but this time the temps didn't warm up so it's been sticking around for a lot longer than usual.

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  4. Plastic garbage can lids or inner tubes make good subs for sleds.

    Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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    1. Paul mentioned the garbage can lids, but the scoop shovel seemed to be just the right size for Rhiannon. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you and yours also! :)

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  5. Carolyn,

    Even though snow and cold brings more work for the farm, it also brings fun for the kids when using a homemade sled (i.e. shovel).
    Stay safe and warm!!!

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    1. Yeah, I suppose the snow was worth it so she could have all those fun days outside. I could hardly drag her inside, had to bribe her with hot cocoa, and sometimes that didn't even work!

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  6. Nice sled lol!!!! I went like five days and never took off jammies. I would just add long johns and sweats to the outfit and my hair, oh lawd it got crazy, lol!!! Today was the first morning that the critters waters weren't frozen, it's actually raining, 2/3 of my garden survived and I've been able to leave the house for two days now whoo hoo!!!!!

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    1. Yeah, I was pretty much in "Jammie Mode" for those days....kind'a nice!

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  7. I will admit to sledding on the same sled as R - not that long ago! I hope you are back to normal (whatever normal that is) soon. But, selfishly, I now think that my birthday gift for R will fit right in with your new normal. Clear as mud?

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    1. Sledding....on purpose, right?!
      Clear as my teenage complexion!

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  8. Get set for more winter weather. You may be included in this mess currently on us! Freezing rain......not quite cold enough yet to be real serious but we wore Trax on our boots to do chores this morning.

    Ain't this fun!!!

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    1. We ended getting only a little bit of freezing rain, so it wasn't too bad. Although Paul did get called in for the weekend :(

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  9. Where are you guys? I can't read the dark font on the dark background. We rarely get snow, so it's been fun in the past for our kids to sled. Sheets of cardboard work too. We bought those cheap flat sled things that roll up to store and those lasted for years. Ours is melting now....

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    1. Yeah, have to get one (or two) of those plastic roll up sleds. Are yo having problems reading the body of the text or the side bar? I thought the body was a light mauve with black text, is that what you're having trouble seeing?

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