Around The Farm - Part 1

The first two months of winter weather were blessedly mild, but that doesn't mean that everything went smoothly. For instance, there was the day I detached the tractor bucket and replaced it with the bale spear. When I attempted to reverse the process, I accidentally pushed the bucket too far and knocked the bush hog off its wheeled dolly. It was too heavy to lift, so I had to put the bucket back on the tractor, take it outdoors and set it on the ground. When all that was done, I reattached the bale spear and ever so carefully used it to lift the bush hog. I got off the tractor and positioned the dolly back underneath it:

And on the same day as the bush hog incident, opening the heavy barn door pushed several sections of the roller track apart. A catastrophe was imminent and I could never have lifted the barn door back into place. But I carefully climbed up on the tractor bucket and used a sledge hammer to tap the track back into place. Another disaster averted, at least for the time being:

And then there's the cow manure and frozen urine left by the cows every cold night when they sleep inside the barn. This truly doesn't capture the horror of it on the worst mornings, but you get the idea:

Poopsicles everywhere!

And then one day, winter truly arrived, albeit belatedly:

The apple trees probably needed a good dose of winter. They seem to thrive in this climate. If so, they got their wish with a goodly dose of below zero temperatures, high winds, blowing snow and freezing rain:

Indoors, however, my fall blooming cactus was so warm and happy that it began blooming again. I guess it's a multi-season cactus:

For the first and only time this season, my neighbor had to put the snow plow on his truck. I am blessed with the best neighbors in the world and he came over and plowed my driveway:

I declared a truce with the local Red Squirrels and decided to make friends with my home squirrel instead:

I don't know if it's a male or female, but it's not very afraid of me - or of the Chickadees who share its taste for sunflower seeds:

One last look. Notice the icicle covered lilac in the background:

Buttoning Up For Winter Weather

Yesterday I wrote of winter's arrival with respect to the Red Polls. Today I focus on the rest of the farm, beginning with a winter sunset over my neighbors' barn:

The eastern sky is sometimes glorious in the morning, but the western sky is the wonder of the late afternoons now, as the sun sets:

My usually quiet county road became loud and busy with giant tractors, hauling tankers filled with liquid manure from the big dairy farm up the road:

They drove south, fully loaded, and then north again, empty, for another load. Apparently they were spreading it over someone's fields. All I knew was that a tanker roared past my house every five minutes or so:

I hired a local guy to help me haul 100 small, square bales of hay to the barn and stack them inside. They are to be used as bedding for the cows, though they eat them also:

Then another snow began, slowly at first but gradually increasing:

The dogs and I stayed warm inside the house. The chickens and pigeons were locked in the barn, out of the winds. The cattle had to brave the cold, snow and wind - but I gave them extra grain and a barn to sleep in at night:

The dogs thought it was great fun:

The ramp down into the dog yard became covered with ice and very treacherous. This was no problem for the dogs, except that PeeWee needs to be carried, both in and out. That meant that I had to negotiate that icy slope:

The round bales became snow covered and frozen, making it difficult to cut the string off before feeding them to the cows:

I kept finding apples in the crotches of trees. I have a small Red Squirrel. It's awfully cute, but I worry about how much trouble it may cause. I'll just wait and see how this unfolds:

The Rugosa Roses went dormant long ago, but I found several rose buds and leaves, frozen solid. Yes, indeed, winter has arrived: