F-F-F-F-F-F-F-Frozen F-F-F-F-F-Farm

As I wrote yesterday, our winter has been rugged thus far, both frigid and snowy. The animals seem to handle it well, or at least better than I do:

I snapped this picture through my window one brutally cold day, showing the view outside and across the county road. I didn't want to go out there:

Doing the morning chores, I saw these fox tracks leading from the barn. I've also seen fox tracks inside the barn. I'm not happy about that but haven't been able to stop it. I've tried live traps but they are not fooled by them:

The fantail pigeons are well and protected from the worst of winter:

The same is true for the bantam hens, though their room is smaller and is building up a lot of poop:

One of these two brown Easter Egger bantams is laying a pinkish egg every few days, just right for my needs:


But one day our temperatures dropped to nearly -20 and we received 2 to 3 feet of snow:

I'd intended to stop feeding the birds, but they were obviously so hungry that I relented. The small birds cluster in the nearby Lilac bush and wait for a moment when the bully birds, Cowbirds and Bluejays, are not at the feeders. In this picture are a Chickadee (top right), a Chipping Sparrow (bottom right) and an unknown bird (left), most likely a House Sparrow. I finally got a pair of Cardinals, but they are afraid of the Bluejays so I don't see them often:


The apple grove during the blizzard:

About 30" of snow atop the trash bins:

My car, with snow piled to within about 8" of the door handles. Our last few winters have been relatively mild and I came to expect that. This winter has been a trial, and I often wonder why I'm not sipping a mint julep in Florida somewhere like so many retired people:

The Blizzard Of March 2017

Note: Four new photos added to this post today (at the bottom)

I wasn't worried about the predicted blizzard yesterday because we were north of the heavy snowfall areas. It began snowing here at 5:00 AM but I still wasn't worried. The cows were covered with snow when they came in for morning grain, but I still wasn't worried:

With the morning chores done, I came inside to spend the day. The dogs got out every couple of hours to play in the snow. Seamus is particularly fond of the snow:

Daphne and Clover weren't fond of the snow, but they were brave:

But most of their time was spent in the farm house kitchen, safe and warm:

Clover and Daphne curled up on a floor pillow with Rocky and Bugsy:

Just before noon, however, the blizzard began. This was the view to the northwest, with almost whiteout conditions:

And the view to southwest. Not much was visible:

Toward evening, I put Remy and Blue into their stall for the night. They seemed happy to go there:

The cows, all covered with snow, were standing outside the barn door and begging to come inside:

They looked so pathetic that I quickly let them into the barn:

I'd already thrown down hay and placed piles of it in each stall. They wasted no time, diving right into it:

And speaking of snowstorms, my sister sent me this photo, forwarded to her by a friend, of our childhood street on December 17, 1950. The houses were newly built and I was two years old. My sister was only four months old. Our house was the darker colored one about midway on the left. I guess we should be used to heavy snowfalls by now, shouldn't we?:

Added this morning:

I did the morning chores, but they were difficult because the snow is so deep. In most places, it is over my knees, which means that we got more than two feet so far. It's still snowing heavily, but it's no longer a blizzard. The winds are now from the west instead of the north. The wild birds were unable to get to the snow covered seed, so I had to clean off the feeders:

I kept seeing birds trying to get seed, but I took a couple of photos before I cleaned off the feeders:

The cows spent Tuesday night in the barn but were outside, trying to find hay beneath the snow when I got out there. I called them back into the barn for grain, then sent them back out, where they too found the snow up over their knees:

Blue and Remy spent the night in their stall, but were anxious to get outside and play in the snow. They seemed to think it was fun. I'll have a day of snow shoveling and plowing ahead of me:

The Red Poll Girls Make The Winter Adjustment

It is often said that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but the opposite could be said for November. It came in like a lamb, or maybe I should say like sweet Jasmine, lounging in the grass and chewing her cud:

 There was lots of hay to eat and a bit of grass for those adventurous souls willing to work for it:

 Little Tabitha had never seen any cold weather, but she grew a thick winter's coat:

 There was a feeling of expectancy, as if the animals and I all knew things were about to change:

 But life continued as normal:

 The girls were on a diet as several of them had become obese. They weren't happy about that but in all other respects, everything was quiet and peaceful:

 One Saturday our temperature went up to 70 F and the skies were clear and sunny:

 The following day, Sunday, saw plunging temperatures, heavy snow and continuous high velocity west winds. The cows sheltered on the east side of the barn to protect themselves from the cold wind:

 When it stopped snowing and blowing two days later, a few patches of green grass began to show, though in other places there were snow piles three and four feet deep:

 But the temperatures gradually moderated and life returned to normal. The Red Poll girls seemed to be at home in any kind of weather:

 The blizzard had knocked down some yellow apples so I fed them to the horses and cattle:

 And winter is now here to stay. January and February are usually the harshest months, but Red Polls are hardy cattle and seem to do just fine. I'm not sure the same could be said for me:

Big Snow And Happy, Happy Dogs

It had been a pretty darn easy winter so far, but on December 27th I awoke to find we'd been buried in snow:

I first realized how much snow we'd received when I let the dogs out the back door and discovered that the snow was piled so high against the door that I had to push hard to move it. Then I went out front to shovel:

The snow on my front sidewalk was about two feet deep and more was falling rapidly. I stuck a broom in the snow to illustrate how deep it was:

Inside, I could see snow piled up so high that it covered the bottom part of a window. That's Georgette on top of the water heater. She was keeping a vigil on the accumulating snow:

From the relative safety of my front porch I could see the snow blowing and accumulating. The winds reached 80 miles an hour that day, at times blowing all the snow sideways and feeling like a sandblasting on my face:

But I got the front walkway clean as well as that of my neighbors on either side. Then I went out back to shovel for the dogs. This resulted in their great joy. They don't often get the twin blessings of fresh snow and Dad's presence at the same time. Fergus and Seamus began to play while I snapped photos of their silliness. Wally just had to get out of the way:

A great, joyful wrestling match had begun:

"I'll get you, you big lug!":

"Ha ha! Not so fast there, little buddy!":

But eventually the great play fest ended and we all went indoors to rest and to warm up: