While It Was Cold

I am so glad we are back to more seasonal weather now.  None of us were happy when it felt like January.

Pretzel in the barn to stay out of the wind

Ostara

Heidi

I wasn’t thrilled with already giving hay to everyone, but they appreciated it.

Athena

Flora

Dolly

Pluto

Even if it was just for napping on.

Astra and Perdita napping on the hay

But, that is done now that it’s warmer again and the snow has melted in pasture.

In the Love Shack

Saturday morning when I went out to see what else was frozen, I decided my little girls were cold.  That sudden change in temperatures was a shock to their delicate systems.

Crystal snuggled against Pretzel for warmth.

Now Jeanie and Barbie could snuggle with their mom and stay warm, but they were lucky.

Jeanie and Barbie snuggled against Zinnia

Crystal and Mini’s moms don’t seem to want anything to do with them after they’ve been weaned for so long.

Mini missing room service.

I decided to put my thin Margarita and the other little girls in the Love Shack, so I could give them extra feed and a heat lamp.

Margarita and Terry huddled against the cold.

I also decided to put Myson in there because he’s really showing his age.  As long as he’s nice to Margarita and the littles, he can get some extra feed and heat too.

Myson (with Casey on the other side of the fence)

I had already put the two little bucks (I couldn’t wether them because my bander was too small) in the greenhouse with Benji and Frodo, so they were warm and happy.

Frodo, Benji and Simon (Howie was inside enjoying room service)

It’s a huge relief that the sale barn has opened back up (I still am in shock at his passing–he was such a nice guy), so I’m going to try to get all the littles left to sell and Freddie down there this weekend.

A Wicked Swing

Let’s start with the good news!  Last week’s rain dropped us out of severe drought and back to moderate drought.  That is really good.

We started this week warm.  I mean too warm for this time of year.  I believe two nights had record high low temperatures.

Last weekend when it felt like early September.

Then we had a front come through and drop our temperatures to way below normal.

I scrambled to get heated water buckets going.  And it’s a good thing I did because all the ones I didn’t get emptied are frozen solid.

frozen water and the hydrant

Did you notice the snow flakes on the ice?  We have flurries this morning.  I suppose I should be grateful it’s not the huge amounts of snow they had out west.

Astra and Antigone are not happy with snow.

But my hydrant is frozen.  I don’t know how.  My well house is heated (it’s 50° in there), but it’s just like last year when I couldn’t use it and had to carry buckets of water for six weeks.

Snow down the lane to pasture.

So far, there’s water in the cattle tank.  We’ll see if it works or not when I know someone has drunk from it. and they have to because all of their other water is frozen.

Wasn’t it just a week ago I was looking forward to winter?  Hopefully, the ground won’t freeze completely for a while and we’ll be able to replace the hydrant yet this fall.  I hope so.