This week I'm setting the alarm at 3:45 for 5 a.m. breakfasts. I take showers at night because I just can't at 3:30 in the morning and because we work outside with cattle and horses and dirt. I'm pretty low maintenance and can be somewhat presentable with teeth brushed, face washed, and clothes on in less than 10 minutes while the oven preheats. So, we're turning out the lights by 9 p.m.at the latest.
Last night, we were watching the weather. Who am I kidding? Around here we are ALWAYS watching the weather. Yesterday it was 92 and today we might hit 52. It dictates everything we do and at midnight the radar looked like this:
So, we were on standby as far as our cow works. A big, loud storm came barreling through. Lots of lightening and thunder. The kind that makes you bolt out of bed. Then the electricity went out. So DH called it in and the co-op came out and got us back up and running:
It was just a fuse up on the transformer here at the house, but by that time, it was after 2 and we were wide awake. We tried to doze a little, but sleep was futile and just after 3, DH called our camp man and cancelled our day. Soon after, he made 6 more calls and shut down the crew. We had 0.7" here at the house. Our neighbor to the east had an inch and we share the road we were needing to travel today. It looked like it rained harder on the SE end where the pens are and there is no way they could run trailers in and out of there today, but rained out is a good problem to have.
And for those of you wondering if we'll get naps, the answer is no. DH made a trip to town and the phone won't stop ringing - crew. co-op, cattle buyers, brand board, truckers, packing plant, oil field, and the fellow who raises bulls we buy - he's been talking to folks all day. He's had me tending to the paperwork and emailing side of ranch work, but there are leftovers and it's still wet and drizzly so it's a good day, but 9 p.m. can't come soon enough.