White Wind

The weather has been rough this winter. I know we aren't alone with the cold and snow but this is our little part of it. Since it has been so cold the snow is dry and drifts easily in the wind. We had 30-40 mph gusts today.

  Lisa heading out to do the bunnies while I was getting ready to go down the hill to do the sheep water.

 The wind blows the snow everywhere. The bunny port is no exception.

 Drifter is getting drifts in the barn. She likes getting her hair brushed. Michael came over Thursday to do her hooves. She was well behaved for him but got fidgety when she had to poop.

 Drifts on the frozen pond.

 Drifts on the driveway. I walked down to do the sheep water. Our 4-wheeler is in the shop and we couldn't get Andy's started.

 Snowy creek.

 Kathy could have made her snow angels in this drift.








 Paris.

 Luna.

 Paige.

 Kathy.

What 6 Below Looks Like in Kentucky

We're feeling the cold along with most of the country. It might be cold but it can be beautiful.

 This was Monday evening, before it got really cold. It was only about 25 and hadn't snowed yet.

 The sheep came up to enjoy the sunset.

 Drifter is doing well. She likes the pasture and has been out every day grazing on the frozen grass.

 It was six below zero this morning when I took these pictures.

 Our snow drift by the weeping willow tree.

 Steam rising from the pond behind the house.

 Paige.

Horse Guest

Heather's rescue horse, Drifter,  came over to stay with us. She was chasing the other horse away from the food and neither of them can afford to miss any meals. We have room and were happy to take her. She loaded and unloaded well and walked easy on the lead.

 She didn't seem to mind riding in the trailer even though it was cold.

 She stepped right off.

 She walked easy across the back yard.

 She's a little muddy which isn't surprising this time of year.

 Heather has done a great job with her. You can still see her ribs but she has come a long way since she got to Heather's.

 She'll be in the barnyard tonight. Lisa will turn her out in the pond pasture tomorrow.

 She'll have her own stall if she needs it.

 The chickens didn't like the company. They ran off when they saw the horse.

  Frozen pond.

 All the ewes got put back in the top pasture.

 Bonnie is still in the bottom with the rams.

 Paige.

The Vortex in Kentucky

Polar Vortex is what they are calling it. Like the rest of the country, we got the big cold snap. It was -4 this morning. The power went out as we were getting out of bed. It was only out for about 3 hours. The inside temperature got down to 58. We need the wood burning stove. I have the tractor block warmer plugged in as well as the battery charger on trickle charge so it will be ready if we need to put out hay.

 The cattle have stayed in the run-in most of the last two days. They don't like vortexes any more than the rest of us.

 We got a little snow as the temperature was plummeting. The sheep are staying close to their sheds as well.

 The wind was stiff but there wasn't enough snow to make any drifts.

 The ponds froze.

 The rabbit and sheep waters froze solid. Lisa has been out twice a day changing them.

 Paris on the hard frozen lawn.

 Piper having fun with Luna.

 The girls aren't staying out long. They prefer the warm indoors.

 Paige.

Happy New Year

We had a nice visit from Bill and Kathy. They got home safely late Monday. Dad is still here. He was originally going to head back to Florida tomorrow but he is going to wait until after the snow storm. I went over to Nelson's today and picked up four bales of hay. We've been storing them, four at a time, in the tractor port this year. It saves me from driving the tractor down the road after dark.

 We burned lots of things over the holidays. The first day we lit the burn pile to get rid of the year's debris.

 Kathy helped by adding fuel.

 Bill raked and maintained the fuel and air flow.

 Dad came down the second day. We gathered more sticks to add to the embers we had banked from the night before.

 Dad got some black walnuts while he was down there.

 We burned everything and set the corral panels so the sheep wouldn't burn their hooves.

 The next day we burned the stump and branches from the fallen tree in the other pasture.

 It was a hot and clean fire. All hard wood, no weeds or posts until Lisa brought the garden refuse out later.

 Kathy and I took off out coats because the fire was so hot. Dad let one of his ears out.

 Dad got me a great new camera for Christmas. It's a Nikon Coolpix. One of its many settings is a smile detector. It waits for the subject to smile then snaps the shot. This was a manual shot. It doesn't detect grumpy face.

 It worked on Bill.

 Dad set it off.

 I had to take off my glasses so it could see my face.

 Lisa joined in and made it happen.

 It was able to detect Kathy's lovely smile eventually.

 Tonight's sunset.

 Paige.