Let It . . . Sleet, Snow, Rain?

In my last post we had a completely unpredicted ice storm instead of the predicted snow storm. I spent time sliding around on my butt instead of walking, couldn't get to my can of ice melter because it was in the truck which was iced shut, and couldn't open any of the snaps on the gates. 

So what has changed in the last 48 hours?  Well, the snaps on the gate are functioning normally again so no more mouth to mouth resuscitation required. It snowed a little bit, still not enough for Carter to build his snowman but we did make a couple of snowballs. We had 30mph winds yesterday, that was particularly wonderful. Jason's comment was that if he put a string on me he could fly me like a kite. I'm still not sure it that was a compliment or an insult.  

We are setting all kinds of records for cold temperatures which means very little of the ice has melted. I also feel the need to mention that I am an involuntary participant in this record setting weather. The low last night was 5 degrees. Five. And we were the warmest spot in middle Tennessee. This is late February in the south. Or at least I was in the south the last time I checked. I'm supposed to be looking at my blooming daffodils this time of year, not dealing with ice and snow. Last week the daffodils were just about to bloom. I imagine this week they are just about to die, I haven't actually had the heart to look.

I've pretty much stopped looking at the weather forecast because it just makes me cry. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow, sleet, freeze rain and rain all within a 24 hour period. Isn't that wonderful? "They" are saying we will have very little accumulation. However after "they" failed spectacularly with our snow storm that was actually an ice storm on Monday I'm not sure I trust this. Then on Saturday is supposed to be 48 degrees and rain all day. I'm just not seeing anything to be enthusiastic about in that forecast.

Really I shouldn't complain. So far nothing has frozen, I don't have to deal with hoses thanks to our frost free waterers (which have lived up to their frost free claim) and everyone is healthy and happy. Heck the horses are having fun. Me, well, not so much. Cheers to our "wintry mix" we are supposed to get tomorrow. At least it makes for nice pictures! 

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Trigger and Ritchie

Fabrizzio and Duesy

Lily

Oskar and Stormy

Donovan, Rubrico and River (Largo in the background at the water trough)

The reasonings behind shed usage escape me. When it is raining, sleeting or snowing they are all empty. When it is sunny, not windy and no precipitation of any type? Full.  Grand, Elfin, Trigger, Leo and Levendi

Oskar and Toledo

Norman

Taco and Mick

Rocky, River, Rubrico and Donovan

Alex, Dutch, Murphy, Renny and Taco

Lighty and Mick

Tony and Chance

Mouth to Mouth Resuscitation

The best way to describe the last two days would be to call them an exercise in frustration. We started hearing about the snow storm we were going to get over the weekend. As each hour passed the chatter amongst the weather forecasters reached a feverish pitch. They kept changing the amount of snow we were going to ultimately get, but they said over and over and over that IT WAS GOING TO SNOW. There was going to be decent snowfall accumulation, we should get several inches. 

Carter was absolutely beside himself with excitement. He was finally going to get to build a snowman. Even I was looking forward to a little snow. It has been 3 or 4 years since we had measurable snowfall at the farm so we were all ready for some fun in the snow. 

As it happens all too often the weather forecasters were wrong. Very, very wrong. We didn't get any snow. Not a single, solitary snowflake. Instead we got ice. Lots of ice. Somehow no one had ever mentioned an ice storm as they hyped up our snow storm.

dreary skies, icy roofs

one of the cupolas in happier weather

Still, Jason and I had done a few things to prepare. Like good southerners we had stocked up on groceries. We put plastic baggies over the handles of all our water hydrants to make sure they didn't get frozen. The horses were blanketed and weatherized. They hay feeders were overflowing with hay. The tractor battery was happily tucked away in our house in its home away from home.  We even thought to purchase a can of ice melter in case any of the snaps on the gates were frozen. We were ready for snow. Instead we got ice.

Monday really wasn't that bad. With the exception of a ten minute period mid morning the ice came down very lightly. Nothing was frozen, not even the snaps on the gate chains. The only treacherous part of our farm was the driveway. It was basically a mile long skating rink. You walked on it at your own risk. Since I had a very strong desire to stay upright I walked in the grass.

good thing the horses weren't feeling crowded in their sheds  (/sarcasm)

icy tree; the driveway looks very innocent but it was a sheet of ice

the ice does make things pretty

Thus even though we were absolutely unprepared for an ice storm we got through the day on Monday with no issues. There were lots of frisky and playful horses, they seemed to think it was fun. The majority of the sheds remained empty as the horses chose to carry on as usual. The World's Cutest Fainting Goats on the other hand were highly displeased.

the World's Cutest Fainting goats were not impressed

Just when we were thinking it was all working out ok anyway things began unraveling a bit Monday evening. We had taken showers, eaten dinner, and were just settling in to enjoy a quiet evening inside when the electricity went out. We found ourselves sitting in the dark. Jason immediately proceeded straight to "OMG we're doomed and will never have electricity again" mode. I kept telling him to calm down. He didn't.

We all bundled up in multiple layers of clothes and went to bed early. It was dark, we were all bored, and it seemed like the best option. Happily PES was on the ball and our electricity came back on at about 1am. Thankfully our well insulated house had only lost 10 degrees of heat at that point. Even I was hot in my Michelin Man clothes. We all shed a bunch of layers and went back to bed with our electronics plugged in and the central heat running.

Since I'm the World's Lightest Sleeper I never went back to sleep. Jason and Carter never have this problem.  At 5am I was sick of laying awake in bed so I decided it was time to get up and "git r done." I had no idea what I was in for.

I dressed like the Michelin Man again, dug up the truck keys, and headed outside. When I stepped off the porch I immediately wiped out and only saved myself by grabbing the porch column. I wrapped my arms around it and hung on for dear life. I finally got my feet to stop moving and regained my balance but definitely not my dignity. I sloooowly inched my way along the driveway to the truck.

The truck was encased in about an inch of ice. I spent a few futile minutes beating on the ice hoping I could get a door open but I finally gave up. I proceeded to walk slide my way along the driveway which was even more treacherous than it had been the day before, It took what felt like hours to walk a few feet, barely staying upright. I finally sat down on my butt and slid on the driveway to the bottom of our hill to the main driveway, it was the easiest option. At that point I could walk on the grass without slipping and sliding with every step. I crunched my way through the ice grass to the first pasture.

Of course I couldn't get in to the pasture because the snap on the chain was frozen shut. I mean FROZEN shut. I beat on it. I yelled at it. I beat on it some more. The horses were getting quite concerned. They watched the crazy lady remain on the wrong side of the gate with their feedbags yelling and banging on the gate.  I thought about pouring water on it but I knew that was only a very temporary solution and would make these even worse overall.

Then I remembered "oh wait, we bought that can of ice melter."  My happiness was very short lived when, in a moment of deep irony, I realized where my precious can of ice melter was. In the truck. Which I couldn't get into because it was iced shut. Like I said, a moment of deep irony.

Finally I started breathing on the snap trying to unthaw it. If anyone had walked up then and seen me they would have thought I had lost it as I stood there doing mouth to mouth resuscitation on the gate snap. It finally worked after a minute and I was able to pry the snap open. All morning long, at six more pasture gates, I had to do mouth to mouth resuscitation on the snaps. It was not my finest hour(s).

Thankfully Jason spent part of the day on the tractor using the seed spreader to spread about 15 bags of salt on our driveway.  We can now walk on it like normal people. Jason also spent about thirty minutes beating the ice off the truck and the car so we could actually get in them. The trees and fences are still coated in ice as we are having, by far, our coldest week of the winter this week. It is supposed to get very windy tomorrow evening. Jason is pretty convinced we will have power outage number two since the trees and power lines are all still coated in ice.

It is only Tuesday but I'm ready for this week to end. I've been pretty good about not complaining about winter this year, but I just have to say it once: I loathe winter. I detest cold weather. I cannot put on enough clothes to be warm. I like heat. Thank goodness we only deal with this a week or two out of the year. I could not make it as a Canadian, I was meant to live in the tropics.

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I had to take a picture of one of the sheds in use; Dolly, Silky and MyLight

I would feel sorry for Toledo and Clayton if they hadn't had a perfectly good shed five feet away from them (with one horse in it I might add)

Kennedy and Walon with their faces buried in the hay

Johnny and Rocky decided to use one of the empty sheds during the period of heavy icefall

Who needs a shed when you can stand in the woods? Sparky and Griselle

Merlin, Walden, Fabrizzio, Duesy and Bruno coming for dinner

Bruno and Duesy

Griselle

Donneur, Romeo and Cocomo

George and Asterik

Silver and Lofty were having fun

Taco and Dutch (note Dutch sticking his tongue out, that's what he thought of the weather)

Rip, Grand and Tony were having a 3-horse play session

Sunday Stills

Walon and Johnny playing . . . 

. . . followed with the usual "we weren't doing anything" look

Mick and Johnny playing . .  

. . . also followed by the usual "we weren't doing anything" look

Donneur and Cocomo

Renny, Dutch and Murphy

Bruno and Hesse

Rip and Ritchie

Adventures with Oscar

As I mentioned in my last post I was quite shocked when we actually managed to trap our stray cat Oscar. I never thought he would go in the trap for food but he did. Oscar proceeded to go berserk for awhile in the trap, frantic to find a way out. We covered the trap with towels and that calmed him down a lot. 

The next morning I asked Jason to call the small animal clinic we work with to make an appointment for Oscar while I was holding a couple of horses for the horse vet. When he told me the appointment time I asked him "did you tell them this was a feral cat?" His response was he told them we were bringing an "unnamed barn cat" and shouldn't they know that means he is feral? 

Of course Jason found other things to be busy with when it was time to take Oscar to the clinic so I had to walk in and explain that our "unnamed barn cat" was named Oscar and tell them he was absolutely feral. However I'm pretty sure the fact that I was standing there holding a live trap covered with towels probably gave away the fact that I had a feral cat. But I could be wrong about that. 

We quickly learned that the vet wasn't going to be able to stealthily sedate Oscar via injection through the trap. Oscar had to be gassed in the trap in order to safely remove him so the vet and I came up with a game plan for him. First they would gas him, then they would test him for feline leukemia. If that was negative they would move on to examining and hopefully treating his leg. If that went well they would then run his bloodwork to make sure all was well before neutering him. Last but not least he was to be vaccinated. 

Oscar is in fact a he so he does not need a name change. He weighed in at 13 pounds (5kg). He was negative for feline leukemia. His leg had some deep puncture wounds, probably from fighting with another cat. His bloodwork was all normal. He is now neutered and vaccinated. He was given antibiotics and steroids for his leg. He was then returned to the live trap before he woke up.

A few hours later I picked him up at the clinic and brought him home. We set some food out for him before we opened the trap. Jason had the honors of releasing Oscar who immediately shot off into the woods at warp speed. He did come back a couple of hours later to eat his food. We have not seen him since. He did not come tonight for his evening meal and it remains untouched on our porch. We probably spent a few hundred dollars on our feral stray so we could never see him again. Oh well, at least his leg will hopefully heal and he can no longer father more homeless cats. 

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Oscar waiting for the vet at the clinic

Jason's description of this picture was "trying to find a way to open the trap without looking like he had been playing with razor blades"

George on alert, watching and waiting for breakfast

Lotus and Cocomo playing with Gus watching

Duesy and Merlin playing (Walden in the background)

Homer, Trigger, Ritchie and Levendi coming for breakfast

Rubrico and River

Johnny

Maisie

Yesterday morning was a pretty combination of frost on the ground and fog in the air. In the front are Africa and Johnny, with Dutch, Renny, Taco, Alex, Sam and Sebastian in the back.

a closer look at Alex, Sam and Sebastian

a closer look at Dutch, Renny and Taco

Lightning, Walden and Slinky

Sparky hanging out with one of the pet cows