Let It Snow.........

Although it took a long time for the snowing to start, it didn't take long for it to resume it's winter cycle: freeze, warm up, snow, plow, freeze, and on and on. When it's really cold (like below zero) there's little chance of snow. When the temps go above 20*F and the weather pattern comes across the Aleutian Islands, it can snow many inches.

Thanksgiving Day was nice with just a dusting of snow to make everything look nice. I have a friend who cooked for us as her husband was working on the Slope and she had no one to share dinner with. We supplied the turkey and the dessert and she cooked everything else. Oh my goodness what an awesome turkey we had. I ate lots of turkey and mashed potatoes.

On the way home it started snowing. First it was just little flakes then they got bigger. When it finally quit snowing there was over a foot of snow in Anchorage and over 100 accidents. Here at my house we had 9" but in Wasilla there was anywhere from 2" to 5". We started plowing when the snow quit. At least this time Fritz was here to do his plow route. Even so we plowed until 2 am Saturday then again until 1 am on Sunday. We have several churches with large parking lots that we plow before services on Sunday. I had two schools and a commercial parking lot to plow today. Tomorrow (Monday) I have to plow three apartment complexes because the tenants don't move their cars for me so I have to wait until they go to work.

I have a sick sheep and the vet was out on Saturday also. Turns out the sheep has bottle jaw and has edema in her left ear and lower jaw. We pulled blood and took a fecal to see what is going on. The vet thinks maybe some pneumonia so I get to do sub q injections for the next few days. The rest of the sheep look good and the vet is pleased.

Saturday night we went to the fireworks show in Palmer. Briar took a good video and I'll see if she can post it for me.

Not much else going on now. This time of year we live by the weather forecast. I'm getting pretty good at reading the radar. I really want to ride.........

What A Difference A Week Makes

Monday at noon in the shade the temp was 33*F. The forecast is for more of the same this week.

Not much goes on here when the temps are as cold as they have been. Mostly we worry about the everyday things: keeping the water flowing and the fire going.

My office is 100 feet from the house and they are on the same water line. We drip water in the house and office but sometimes the line freezes somewhere between the two. So Fritz has to get the welder hooked up and thaw the pipes. The water is dripped into 5 gallon buckets and hauled to the stock tanks. Pretty labor intensive but at least we have running water.

The wood box on the porch was filled and refilled by wheelbarrow several times during the last week. Yesterday Briar and a friend spent several hours splitting more wood. It's almost impossible to split the amount of wood we need before winter is here. So we have a good stash in the wood shed but more is always needed.

The critters all survived this cold snap. The horses are so fuzzy and fat. I never did blanket them, even at -20*F but the dent in the hay barn is substantial. The little goats will come in the barn next time but the buck and doe will stay where they are. The sheep all have really nice wool coats on and the cold doesn't bother them.

The poor dogs though are real "house" dogs. The puppies crates are by the wood stove so they don't get a real good winter coat. Momma dog sleeps on the waterbed or the couch. They don't go out for very long.

If the weather holds and the wind stops blowing I am going to ride. Now I just need to find someone to ride with me. Any takers?

Wordless Wednesday

Now THIS is Winter

Sheep stock tank.
It now has a sheet of foam covering most of the water so that
all that heat doesn't get lost in the air. At these temps ice forms no matter what.

The view down my driveway

The barn.
You can just see the horses in their side of the barn. These pictures were taken just before noon. The sun hardly gets above the trees this time of year.

Wordless Wednesday