The Bunch Are In The Deep Freeze

 

The drifts are about a foot deep! They are almost level with our deck.

We spent almost two full days preparing the animals for the deep freeze. Instead of bringing the chickens to the garage like we normally do, I decided to try to keep them outside. We added extra chips and tarps, brought out the insulated water bucket, made up extra hay bags, and installed a heat lamp in the chicken coop in case of emergency. I really don't want to turn it on, but if they need it I will for a little bit. I will have to sit out there with them while it's on though. The heat lamps are HUGE fire hazards and many a farmer has burned their barn down trying to keep their animals warm. I did end up turning it on a couple of times, but just for about 30 minutes each time. Just enough to warm them and the coop up. For the first time since we have had her we had to blanket the horse. The reason was because while the freezing rain was coming down she was standing in it and became completely soaked. With the temps heading down to single digits, she could die from exposure. While you are NEVER supposed to blanket a wet horse because it can lead to pneumonia, we felt that would be a better option. I tried to towel dry her the best we could and then T helped me blanket her. I knew she had lost a lot of weight, but her blanket was GIGANTIC on her! We had to put all the straps on the smallest setting and it was still a little big. However, when we took it off the next morning she was completely dry underneath it so fortunately she did ok. That was the only time we put it on her because when she's dry she doesn't need it. She has a crazy thick coat. The poor donkey could really use a blanket, but she won't let us put one on her.

It was cold! My ears are FINALLY back to normal and I have been very careful to keep them covered in the wind.

I felt bad for Gwen. She had icicles on her back.

Axl loves the cold weather! He has had lots of zoomies!

D spent one night at my parents after the first initial round of precipitation. We wanted to make sure he had an easier commute to work in the ice. He did come home the next day though since it was the beginning of his weekend and did not have to go back to work for four days. Unfortunately, he had to transverse the icy roads in the dark on his way home. He said the main roads weren't too bad, but we have about 12 miles of unmaintained county roads. He said the last 4 miles and our street were really scary and he almost couldn't make it. Luckily, A's work decided to close so she didn't have to go in and was able to stay nice and cozy with us at home. The first couple of crazy cold days we were busy going out to check on the animals and break up waters every couple of hours. We had to bring a couple of chickens in to warm up in the garage cage, but one of them is almost 10 so I kind of expected it. After the Iris getting wet incident, the horses did fine and stayed warm in their hut. We tried to get out on Tuesday to see if A could get to work on Wednesday, but we couldn't make it off our street. We tried again on Wednesday afternoon after the sun had been out for a while. We slipped a lot on our street and when we got to the end of our street the county road was so bad we had to turn around. We actually decided to send D to my parents house while it was sunny so he would have a better commute to work on Thursday morning. He said once he got past our roads, it wasn't too bad. I am hoping our street melts enough today so we can get out tomorrow. I need to go to the farm store. I hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

A has had a great vacation from work. She says she could get on board with the not working thing!😂 She has had plenty of time to read, workout, play games, watch movies, etc.

We did get some snow. It wasn't all ice. And yes T is in short sleeves. It was warm in the sunshine with no wind!

She had a little mishap during their snowball fight.

Overall, it hasn't been too bad especially since we never lost power. I am ready to not be a prisoner at my house. Melt road, Melt!