Ice and snow and ice and snow

Kris was calling.

"Where were you on that?" he said, laughing.

"Where was I when?" I asked.

"The heifers just got out right by the house!  They managed to open a gate," he said.  

"Ah!" I yelled.  I was running on the treadmill, doing the first couple of miles inside so I could finish up outside.  Kris knows how much I love the excitement of the heifers being out ... but mostly I could have seen and helped get them back in!

"Our neighbor said that he saw one go toward the pasture, but I didn't see any tracks.  So keep an eye out for her!" he said.

I ran outside with my camera - like I was planning - because it is the most beautiful morning.  After our second 12-inch snow, this morning everything is covered in ice leftover from the fog.

 

The heifers were all back in, I didn't see any in the pasture, and I couldn't even see a stray hoofprint. They'd run nicely in the scraped road.

Enjoy your beautiful winter day, wherever you are!  Hopefully today you're around for whatever excitement your cattle, pets, children, friends - or whatever you're responsible for - provide.

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Covered in ice

When we woke up this morning, it was 1 degree.  By noon, it was 27 degrees.

 

It's so funny when it goes from really cold to not really cold around here.  I had to go pick up some parts at the lumber mill for Kris - and not one guy coming in or out was wearing a coat!  Same with the grocery store and gas station ... once it goes above 20 degrees, it doesn't seem that bad.

 

And it looks so inviting ... 

 

 

 

As for the farm, repairs and modifications are going on as usual.  A gate broke in the parlor, and that's now fixed.  We took sliding metal sheets (sort of like sliding doors) from one barn and are moving them to modify the old calf barn. 

 

When we wanted more ventilation in the old barn for the calves, we took opened it up as much as we could.  Now that we want it closed up for hay storage, we're putting the sliders back on. 

 

Not surprisingly, it never works as easily as that sounds.  It takes a lot of time and labor in the cold - of course, coats are optional.