On Wednesday, our boy and I took a harrowing drive to Amarillo to get my Mom on a plane.
Actually, it was only the first 15 miles that were sketchy, but my poor Mom probably aged 10 years in that 15 miles. She was a good sport, but I am worried that she really will never come visit again for Christmas. We left at 10 in the morning and sledded our way back to the ranch after 10:30 that night. It was 4° when we got home.
It's a 4 hour drive one way on good roads and as we drove, the snow lessened considerably. In fact, I think we were ground zero for this storm.
About halfway home, traffic was backed up and stopped...and we sat for an hour outside of Friona, Texas
before we began to crawl once again. It looked like someone plowed their truck into a snowbank that hadn't been completely cleared. Sure prayed that no one was hurt.
Yesterday was DH's birthday and I jumped in with him to make his morning feed run. Or to at least attempt to make his morning feed run. Any normal person would think we were nuts to be out in 2' of snow plowing our way over dirt roads and through pastures. DH said it wouldn't be a big deal if we had proper equipment to combat the snow. The wind was just awful and it drifted into many of the roads that sit below the pasture. Poor fella had to spend most of his day breaking ice and shoveling snow
You can't drive slow in this stuff or you'll just get stuck so you end up fishtailing and sliding and plowing your way through it. The road is about 2' beneath this:
DH is a good steward of this land
And if cattle can be grateful, then surely these are some very thankful bovines
We only got stuck once when we tried to turn around:
He loaded hay for the bulls:
Happy boys:
We still couldn't get to everything, but we fed what we could and prayed for a little sun. DH said that the fog never lifted on Wednesday and yesterday, it stayed cloudy and overcast. Hello fella! Bet you're hoping for a little sunshine too!
We had to put up some panels across the cattle guard at headquarters as it was snowed in and the bulls just sauntered over it and headed for the hay. We herded them out the first time and set up panels to keep them out.
Everyone gets equal time at the working end of a shovel around here
Walking through deep snow sure does wear a desert rat out. We're just not used to this much, but even with all of the trouble it brings, there's no denying that it is beautiful!
We've got a friend who told me that they lost 7 hd that got into a dirt tank and froze. That just breaks my heart. I hope there are no more losses. It'll be a while before we can even get to all of our country. I've got to take our boy to El Paso Saturday and presently, we are getting...yep..more snow!
Did someone say, MORE snow?
13 comments:
I can't believe all the snow you're having! Wow! It always makes things so much more difficult. I'm thankful we haven't had more than we have so far. I'm really hoping this winter continues to be mild for us. We could use one . . . or ten in a row!
Happy snowy New Year to you, Karin!!! We got over 7 inches of rain the two days after Christmas!!! One inch of rain equals ten inches of snow!! I'm thankful it was warm enough to be only rain!!
Loved your snowy photos!! Keep those fingers and toes warm!!!
Egads! I just shudder at the thought of doing all the work you guys do in the winter time. It is so cold, and there is so much snow. You must be very hardy people. We got about 7" of wet snow a few days ago, and that was hard to shovel!
Ranch life is not for wimps, that's for sure!
What a challenge you face with this weather. I will keep you in my prayers.
You and your DH are hearty souls. That is a lot of snow and lots of ground to cover with all your cattle. We got over 9 inches of rain, and I am so very thankful it was not snow!
Saying a prayer for your and your livestock. Much too warm in IN.
I sure do love your blog!! I grew up living on a cattle farm my grandparents owned. I sure do miss it. And I love the pic of the calf posted above!
Becky from Indiana
That deep stuff is really tough isn't it! Ihope it melts off for you soon - we haven't hit a day over 25 in two weeks ... gets a little old eh? Glad you were safe on your trip to the airport! And your new header - LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
Hi Becky - I didn't have a way to reach you so I thought I'd post my reply here.Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and for your very kind comment. I'm sure you have fond memories of your time on your grandparents' farm. It's a good life!
I just read through this and several previous posts, all about snow. I'm not sure I would be strong enough to deal with the snow you've had if I had to be outside working. It just looks cold, cold, cold. Thank goodness everyone is safe and I hope you don't lose any cattle like your friends did. Awful for the cattle, awful for the owners, too. It looks beautiful and I suppose this will mean more moisture come spring? What a sweet calf. Love the eye contact.
On the good side - snow is a great fertilizer! :-) Hopefully it will do good things for your pasture lands this spring and summer. Farmers in Michigan always hoped or prayed for snow because it was so good for their fields.
Wow, sounds like quite an adventure. The snow is not an easy element to drive in and when ice is involved it can get pretty dangerous. But the snow sure does look beautiful out at your place. It was crazy how this came through. I would say it was the biggest snow storm that we have had in 20 years.
Wilbert Bowers @ Mirr Ranch Group
Post a Comment