Even the Dexters are shivering

[lonecowhand]

Hilarious, Hans! Great tips!

Batten the hatches and stay warm everyone!

[genebo]

I have 3 calves born since Thanksgiving and all 3 are doing well. I just came back from the barn. There was about 4" of snow on the ground. The bull was deepest in the barn, with all 3 calves and their mamas squeezed in. That left Cathy and Cred outside. They were coated with snow. Real, genuine white Dexters, not the White Park crosses.

They did appreciate some fresh hay. You couldn't see where I had put out 2 square bales this morning before it started snowing, so I put out 2 more on top of the snow. I noticed that the goats were mingling in with the cattle to get a bite of hay, so I put out another one next to the goat house so they wouldn't have to duck big cattle feet.

So far, it's going smoothly. We made a big pot of Dexter chili this morning. That should help keep us warm (from the inside).

Dave, my daughter brought us a fancy table for doing jigsaw puzzles. It is a soft surface with a lid that closes and holds the pieces in place, so you can stanf it in a corner until you're ready to work again. We're ready in case we lose the TV.

I'm enjoying watching the TV weathermen trying to outdo each other in predicting a disaster. This morning, before it started snowing, they were showing clips of stranded motorists in deep snow.

[wvdexters]

It's coming down here now too. All of the preps are done, the fire is going, and we should be warm and toasty. Don't laugh, but I made a turkey last night. Figured if we are going to be snowed in for a few days, I'd have plenty of food done up. Turkey sandwiches are so much better than peanut butter. LOL.

Hubby has to work last shift tonight, so he's most likely going to get stuck in town for a day or two.

Looking out the window, it is BEAUTIFUL!! The mountains in the snow.

[lakeportfarms]

Most of my employees have snowmobiles. They have no excuse...lol Sadly they haven't been getting a lot of use so far this winter. Tomorrow, we're going to have a rare "mostly sunny" forecast.  Have fun, I bet it will be beautiful, and it always seems to be so quiet after a heavy snow in the country. Take some photos and post them on Facebook!

[Blessings Farms]

Hope you folks in the east are fairing OK. We actually have a heat wave 21 and
sunshine feels like spring . Even the animals came out and are suning .

[wvdexters]

We're good!! Found the cars!

It looks to be moving out now. We ended up with a little over 2ft I think. A little more than they called for, but we didn't get the wind like those East of us are getting.

The Dexters are handling it just fine. They look like the pictures Hans takes. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to make it all the way down the hill to get some good pictures.

[lakeportfarms]

Happy to see you still have power and internet Karrie!

Definitely get some good photos, I bet it's beautiful.

[jamshundred]

To.....HEDoubleL with beautiful!  

[rilie]

Oh come on Judy, it's only a little over 30 inches! Well, at least a few miles to your west. Rilie the calf was really not sure what to make of it all.

[genebo]

I'm not sure how much snow we got, but once the wind started blowing it around, the drifts got quite deep.

My heat pump got drifted under. I had to dig it out. I kept running the Mule out to the mailbox to keep the road open, but as the drifts got deeper, it wouldn't make it any more. That's OK. We have everything we need here. We'll just stay home until the thaw.

I had a lot of fun this afternoon. All 3 calves were in the barn, so I closed the gate and tried to feed then some bread. Murtagh wanted to eat it, but would only lick it. Punkin and Cujo rejected it. I settled for a petting party. I petted them for about 15 minutes before I remembered that my bride had told me not to be out too long.

I packed up and headed for home. I met her coming to look for me. She was on the tractor and had gotten it stuck in a drift. She didn't know where the handle was to put it into 4-wheel drive. She wouldn't ride home with me, she was so mad at me for worrying her. She got over it, though.

Right at dark, a neighbor came here with his lifted, knobby tired truck and made a couple of passes up and down the drive, to break trail for me. It didn't help, because his ruts were so far apart I could only put the wheels on one side in the rut. The other side was in the deep stuff and the Mule didn't have enough power to pull through that much snow.

Cathy continues to stay outside. She won't go into the barn. Her little short legs don't hold her belly out of the snow. She flounders as she moves. meanwhile the barn is full of long legged Dexters, Dunder, Eve and Bambi.

[Blessings Farms]

Be safe out there . I was on the fire and rescue in 1978 when our blizzerd hit
and it was two weeks of nobody moving except us and army coppers bringing supplies.
We lost more people to carbon monixide and fire trying to heat than anything .
So be carefull and God Bless .

[lakeportfarms]

I love lots of snow as long as I'm prepared. Until I have to deal with the consequences of melting. I'd mostly be worried about your roofs with the snow load, and eaves with ice dams, although if it melts fast enough you may not have the ice dam problem. The houses in your area may not be equipped for this type of snow. Even here from time to time there will be roof collapses from the weight of the snow. And it's the #1 cause of barn collapses. If you have some areas where it's really built up, see if you can find some way to clear it off. In your areas, it wouldn't be unusual to have the next storm bring rain, which would really add a lot of weight.

I wish I could help you out a bit more, our snow equipment has been getting rusty compared to normal.

[wvdexters]

Yes! We are really surprised. The power stayed on the whole time (so far) and Knock on Wood. Not even a flicker. We were so lucky that it wasn't a heavy snow and didn't really stick and bring a lot of branches down.

Jeff somehow made it home yesterday afternoon. It took him a couple hrs and both he and the truck looked pretty beat when they got home. He's supposed to go out again tonight, but the roads are terrible. I haven't heard a car all day. We spent the day digging out again. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get down to the pasture. I can see them, so I know they are fine. I just enjoy going down and checking on them and visiting with them every day. I actually brought Vera up to the little pasture with the barn before this all hit. Just in case. She's such a petite heifer, and with her so close to calving I wanted her where we could check on her.

Judy, LOL!! Good to hear from you and Gene.  We were worried about you all and that wind. 

Hans, Yes, They're already calling for ice in a few days. We've had close to 4ft on it before, steep pitch, so we should be good. 

I took these this afternoon.   This is at the end of our driveway.  You can see the mountains in the distance, and the road.

I had to take this high zoom but you can see Macklynn in the snow.

     

[jamshundred]

Rilie,
i was worrying about the little ones at your place.  Especially over at the farm Bobby rents because he has some small young calves over there that he cannot get to yet to yet.  The snow is so high and so heavy the smaller animals need a broken path.  No problems with electricity here thank heavens.  I do not kniw how someone with no wood stove could cope without electricity to keep pipes from freezing.  I almost have my road completely cleared enough to go out if there was a need, but only the emergency routes have been cleared so the average person is not moving likely for a few days yet.  There won't be much open tomorrow.  Government is closed.  Trying to walk through this stuff is an endurance event.

I think I have found  a new toy to add to my "when I win the lottery" list.  I went out and cleared a couple other driveways and saw a guy with a big snowblower rolling along clearing his road in record time.  

There is a lot of snow out there to melt......

I am happy to hear those of you in the areas hit hardest have everything under control and no problems.  

I am pooped!

[rilie]

Our daughter and the cows made the best of the sun and snow today.

[rilie]

Judy,
This one of your neighbors?

www.washingtonpost.com/local/cattle-killed-after-barn-collapses-at-ijamsville-farm/2016/01/24/e4eca7aa-c2aa-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html

[lakeportfarms]

You all need one of these!  It's just sitting on a pallet on the rack right now.

[wvdexters]

Rilie, I didn't realize you're in MD. You were in the thick of it too. That's a cute picture of your daughter. Glad to see you all made it through. Scary about that barn coming down. Hopefully the ice they're calling for a few days from now won't be too thick. That's not what we need right now.

Judy, You are right about the "endurance event". I went too far yesterday trying to get down to the pasture and it was all I could do to get back up the hill. Even with the fence line to pull on. Had to take a few steps then rest, then go again. To beat to even try today.

Hans, YES please. That is at the top of my someday list.

[genebo]

I could have used that today.

My neighbor left last night and I hadn't heard from him since. This morning I went out and saw his tracks. He had gone into the ditch for about 100 feet. Quite a mess! Up at the front of my lane his tracks disappeared under the drifts that formed last night. They were deep!

I used the bucket to push some snow off the road until I got to the front section. That's where I got the tractor stuck in a drift that was up to my waist. I called my bride to bring me a shovel. She made it up by following the path I'd pushed the snow off of. It only took a few minutes to dig the tractor loose. Babe went home. She called me a little later to tell me she didn't make it home and the Mule was stuck.

I spent the day working in the snow. I finally made a path to the road, but it ain't pretty, like yours, Karrie. I did a lot of slipping and sliding.

Finally I settled in to watch the football game. I was struck with a cramp that told me I had overdone it today. I think I'll let the sun finish the job. I have a path to the barn, and that is good enough.

If only I'd had Hans's snow blower.

[wvdexters]

Thankfully Jeff decided not to go out tonight. The road is just too bad.

It doesn't look like they are going to be working on it for a while either. A friend called to let us know the big plow went off the road and down the hill a few miles out the road. When they sent the Grader, it got stuck trying to pull the plow out. They finally ended up having to call Mountain Enterprise to come and get them pulled out. It will probably be a while before they try to get through again.

When he called off, they told him that over 200 employees have called off. That's about 1/3 and a lot when you consider that many of the workers live in town and in walking distance; and that most of the rest drive 4wd. I am glad we are well stocked here and won't be needing to go anywhere for a while.

Hans, I forgot to tell you that we are short a tractor here if you are looking to "lend" yours out. LOL The blue Ford is in the shop getting "something" rebuilt. And it's too deep for the 8N to move, even with the chains. Dad's going to be in for a while. Luckily our driveway is not as long and we got a new much nicer snow blower this yr. It's first day(s) out and works great.

[lakeportfarms]

I usually can't move in the deep snow without having it in 4 wheel drive or blowing a path or using the loader and dumping it, so I'm sure you're having a difficult time with it. Your photos are beautiful Karrie, with the blue skies and mountains in the background. It is a rare day around here to have a blue sky during the winter, especially following a heavy snowfall because the lakes continue to keep it cloudy and probably flurries as well. That's probably why I took and saved the photo of the snow and tractor

Don't be mad, but I'm sort of enjoying hearing about your stories. Usually I'm the one (Shaun too of course) dealing with too much snow around here, but no doubt it's more of a challenge without the equipment, both your own and also the road crews. We usually have this grader with a huge 8 foot or so high plow blast down the road and the snow is history. The last couple of years they've had to bring in front end loaders at some of the open areas to knock down the snow banks, but there is an open field next to it, so they have a place to put the snow. It's also fortunate that the weather forecasters actually called this one correctly and you had a chance to prepare or it would have really been bad.   Make sure when the plow does finally get down the road that you get that 6' high snow pile cleared (sorry to remind you).

I wonder if the stores, especially in the large metropolitan areas, not having much experience with so much snow, had the good sense to make sure all their shopping carts were collected and safely stored before it really started up. If not, there may be a shopping cart shortage when everybody gets back out to re-stock...lol. They will be in mass graves buried in the snow piles from plowing the parking lots. Worse yet, if they have to truck the snow away, they will be buried in a mass grave on a "snow farm" 10 miles away.

Gene, take it easy and don't overdo it, I'm sure there's somebody around there that can help you out and return one of the many favors you've done for them over the years if you need a hand.

[Blessings Farms]

Glad to hear from everyone . Gene take it easy please you are still needed .
As for the rest of you I forgot the third thing we had to make runs for in our
blizzard HEART ATTACKS please be carful .
Those are great pictures thanks .

[Deleted]

We rarely get single snow events here with totals like that. I have not even plowed snow this year. Just keep driving over it and now have some good size frozen snow ruts in the driveway. You dont even have to steer its like the rails on a train.

[genebo]

Mike, the first time I drove over the snow I was guessing where the road was. I hope I got it right, because just like you say, it's awfully hard to steer out of the ruts!

[genebo]

I think this has been the most snow I've ever experienced at one time. It finally started melting. Two days of 50+ degree weather has made a swamp of everything. All that snow is now slush. I'm still trapped here. I tried to get the truck out today, but only got it about 75 feet. It took twice as long to get it back into the equipment shed. I'll have to sit out another day or two before trying again.

We finally saw some grass in the pasture. Under some pine trees, where not so much snow fell. The goats uncovered it first, then the cattle took it away from them. Life ain't fair, is it?

[Blessings Farms]

Just relaxe and enjoy Gene there will be plenty to do after the melt .
Nancy gets aggravated at the dexters all the time for taking the goats
feed . I would imagine your area does not have the equipment to handle
much snow not .

[lakeportfarms]

I hope you all got more photos than that! It can't be that often that you had so much snow on the ground, and combined with the Dexters it makes for some pretty photos.

I was still a youngster when the huge blizzard hit the Great Lakes in 1978, but from what I understand as it passed over just about where I sit today it was the third lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the United States, ever, including most hurricanes. There were 100 mph winds, and over 5 feet of snow in the areas where there was lake enhancement. I don't think they even considered it "lake effect" because the storm was so intense and covered such a large area. There were 30 and 40 foot plus deep snowdrifts in some of the open areas. A few of my employees said the snowdrifts around here were at the height of the electric wires on the poles, many of them were snapped like toothpicks from the wind, and there were some areas without power for over 6 weeks, not to mention school being called off nearly that long. During and after the blizzard, the temperatures were below zero, and it never got above freezing for over a month after the storm, so the snow didn't melt. People entered their houses through second floor windows. Some of the snowbanks were still around in July.

Of course that's just an average winter in the Upper Peninsula  

As you can imagine, you are pretty fortunate to have some warm weather to start to melt off that snow!

[Deleted]

50s and all that snow better bolt some pontoons on to those sleds.