I hope this finds those of you who have been snowed in and iced over, thawed out and plugged in with heat and water again. As storms go, we fared well. We had snow and ice and wind for 5 days and one morning with rolling power outages, but not a big deal. We have a gas stove, lanterns, and plenty of quilts. 😉 DH's winterizing paid off and we left faucets dripping when the temperatures plunged to 0°. On Wednesday we had a leak at an outside faucet that is set up for the crew to wash their hands:
It was wrapped, but on a ranch, things wear out, storm or no storm, and this faucet had lots of age on it, so we dug:
DH does a lot of fixing around here:
DH fussed because the dirt around the faucet was mixed with rocks -not naturally - someone had filled the hole with rocks at some point. We've been here for 16 years so it was before that and it made for a challenging fix, but we're good to go now:
We'll move the rock pile in a day or two. The storm dumped about 6-7" in a 3 day time frame and we welcomed every flake that fell on this drought ravaged land, Skeet welcomed it too:
We just had a few inches when I took these shots:
I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were pretty busy working, but although Skeet is always on the job, he also reminds us to fit a little playtime into every day:
DH and I made a trip to the farm store on Thursday morning for some feed:
And for plumbing parts:
There are at least a couple hundred miles of pipeline on the ranch and leaks are just part of ranch life in general, but when things thaw out after winter storms, we always know to expect a few more.
Come chore time, my chariot awaits!
Skeet loves it too and everyone needs a sidekick to help with chores:
A few months ago we got this Ranger and it sure is handy to zip around in and out of the pens filling bunks every evening:
My little doggie calf is settling in well and follows me around like a puppy.
I let her out of her pen sometimes to romp and play:
I feed her 3x a day and Skeet is always there as part of the support team - he adores her and after the storm, we're all glad to be spending time in the sun:
12 comments:
Good morning Karin, I'm glad you weathered the storm well. I have a dog too, that just loves the snow, it's so fun to watch them romp and play in it :) Have a great day.
Love all the pictures of Skeet! Your little calf is a cutie! Glad the weather wasn't too harsh on you! We felt so bad for all those who lost power and water!
Yep, it was a tough week but the snow was melting on Thur. and pretty much gone on Fri. (save for a few big piles that the snowplow left). I think we were in the 70's yesterday and should be today--glorious! I've had heat since Tue. and finally did a BIG load of laundry night before last (we were supposed to conserve as we'd had LOTS of water main breaks around here). I love Skeet pix!
Love all the pictures! Fixing plumbing on the farm in bitter cold is not for sissies! I can remember hubby making a tent with a tarp and the Knipco heater blowing into it to warm up the problems to work on it. Ugh! Retirement and just crop farming is easier! Take care!
So relieved to hear you are well. I hope you didn't lose too many calves. And that you got at least a little sleep.
Skeet is a hoot, especially playing in the snow and with the calf. Anticipating and preparing for bad weather issues are things ranchers do well, and your husband reflects that well.
Oh, Skeet, how I love you! And I sure wish I had your attitude about the snow, too.
Sounds like good farm/ranch work. We farmed here in Michigan for 22 years before changing careers.
Good luck with all your water lines, etc when you thaw out.
Never a boring day with a dog like Skeet. I just adore him. Glad to see all is well at the ranch after the storm. ;^)
We could all learn a lot from Skeet: seek joy, appreciate the wonder of nature, show kindness to those who are different from you.
I'm glad you weren't harder hit! And what a delight to see exuberant Skeet romp in the snow! :)
Love your long, newsy post with neat pix. I understand your being thankful for each beautiful, nurturing, inconvenient flake. I groaned as you described the leak repair, knowing how much my DH dislikes repairing them. Hey, your little dogie is really filling out and getting cute. Fun pix of Skeet playing with him and slurping up the drips at bottle time. Amazing how much sewing you get done! And BTW, how could you not use that floral piece for the backing? It is absolutely gorgeous!
Keep well and stay safe. (We are moping thru the after effects of the 2nd covid vaccination. Frustrating, but better this than the real thing!)
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