Our highs have been in the 80's and 90's, but on Sunday night our first winter storm blew in and we hit our Monday high of 38° at 1 a.m. The temps dropped from there with wind, rain, sleet, snow, and ice. I know it's not a big deal for a lot of ya'll, but we don't see this very often here in the desert and certainly not from one day to the next in October.
Even the Bird of Paradise blooms in the chicken yard were caught off guard:
It was not a fun day at the sale barn. We do have an old heater mounted on the wall behind us, but we have open alleys on either side of us where the cattle come through the ring. I'm not complaining though because I'm not one of the many folks working outside horseback, but the ice was pretty thick when I headed home that night:
We had planned on working the Corrientes this week, but this storm was forecasted to hang around through Wednesday so we pushed things back a week. I had already made my big grocery run on Saturday so I'll just need to pick up produce later. Weather dictates a lot of what we do around here, but it doesn't keep us shut up in the house. Critters need tending to no matter the weather. Often it's tending to water and it takes a lot of time to keep that up for 1200 hd of cattle on 128,000 acres. It was 20° when DH dusted off his winter duds, bundled up and headed out on Tuesday morning
but not much snow had accumulated:
I headed the other direction to tend to the chickens:
I spent all of Tuesday morning in the kitchen. The first snowy day calls for a double batch of gingersnaps after breakfast because they are DH's favorites:
And a big bowl of green chile stew for dinner:
That left me with leftovers and time to soak up the first snow on Wednesday:
Skeet soaked it all up too:
Such a good reminder to find the joy in each day:
This is the first moisture we've had since Spring:
Time to thaw out, but still on the job and keeping a watchful eye out for rascally intruders:
12 comments:
Oh you lucky girl! We got a cold snap that day, but no moisture to go with it. Ginger snaps are one of my favorites too :) Glad you got some wetness.
It's crazy to have snow in October! Love the Skeet pics! Can't tell from the last picture if he's glad to be in or longing to go back out!
It's a big deal for me! We got the edge of the hurricane here in the Florida panhandle...a lot of wind and not much rain. I would LOVE to wake up to snow on the ground instead of debris. It was 88 degrees here at midnight and 100% humidity. I know...the grass is always greener. I just wish it was white sometimes!
Oh man, it has been COLD here (30 degrees lower than average) but no snow thank heavens!! We were in Amarillo just over a week ago and they were getting snow a few days ago--our timing was good! Our warm up begins tomorrow but then daylight savings ends Sat. night making the nights longer which I don't like! That Skeet is always a cute sight.
We got 4” of snow on Sunday! It came down so peacefully with no wind. It was pretty and we needed moisture. Lot of farmers still have crops in the field but my hubby is finished and everything is clean and put to bed for the winter. We just have a bunch of cats (mousers) to feed. Kind of quiet now with no sons coming to help with the harvest. Happy sewing! Hope your mom is doing well!
We are now at our Arizona home and we got the cold but not any moisture. We've never seen it this dry in southeast Arizona. Twenty five degrees did in my lantana plant for the season--it was so beautiful!
Skeet’s joy is contagious!
“Living life like Skeet.” My new motto!
I love Skeet so much! So dedicated. The cookies look yummy. We had our first snow Monday. Thankfully, it's already gone. I didn't have all my winterizing quite done yet, so I'm hoping for a nice weekend to get that finished up. It looks like it'll be time to put in all the stock tank heaters. We fed our first bale of hay this week, too, altho the cows are still out on pasture. We had to keep the goats happy! You're making me really glad we don't have 128,000 acres!!
Which is worse on the ranch, hot and dry or cold with ice and snow? Your work is never done, is it?!
We had a 40* drop last week but no snow. Glad you made it home safely from the sale barn. Enjoy those cookies!
Snow! In October! I would be envious except I would like snow in November through about mid-March. We sometimes have drastic changes in temperatures here, too, though I don't think we've gone from summer to snow, just summer to winter. But I'm glad you got snow since you haven't had moisture since spring. It's amazing how you and others in the desert have managed to adapt and provide for yourselves and your animals.
I have been thinking of making gingersnaps lately. (And apple crisp.) They are perfect autumn cookies.
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