They warned us.
We were told.
I didn't want to believe it though. It was just too... extreme.
But this morning, it could not be denied.
When you walk out the door at 7 am and the inside of your nose freezes up, well.... it's cold.
Mr. P reports that the low here last night was -2 .
It is not unheard of, but it IS very unusual for us to have these kinds of temperatures in the winter.
We are not quite set up for this kind of thing.
For instance, if you have a little bit of water on your glove from the hot water bucket you are taking to thaw out your chicken's water bowl and you grab the latch to the coop door... this is what happens.... instantly:
This picture was taken three hours later. It's still there. Because it's only 10 degrees now. Maybe by afternoon I'll be able to remove it without tearing it to bits.
I went out the second time to give the hens some corn that I had to retrieve from the back of the Cube this morning. Thank goodness I stopped at the feed store earlier this week and picked it up. Corn helps them stay warm. Anyway they were happy to have it...
I had also taken out a pan of oats that I had poured hot water over so they could have a warm breakfast first thing in the morning. But by the second trip out... it had frozen solid.
I'm thawing it out now on top of Bruce. He's done all kinds of extra work today, including melting a half gallon of crystalized honey in a big water pot. What a guy.
So, we are holding on as best we can. The word on the street is that a warmer system is moving in and we will start to thaw, but it will also be raining on top of this icy snow. How fast do you think the ice pond will fill up this time? And just think, it has almost two feet of snow down there right now. It should make for an interesting looking ..... mess.
(Wonder where the rabbit carcass will end up?)
Oh lord.
I forgot about the rabbit.
Sunny is still not 100% after her go at it. She's on a rice diet at the moment. She has a delicate stomach. But is all wolf on the front end, so she thinks she can eat no end of dead animal parts with no ill effects. Silly girl.
Okay... gotta scoot. Time to put more wood on the fire.
This picture was taken three hours later. It's still there. Because it's only 10 degrees now. Maybe by afternoon I'll be able to remove it without tearing it to bits.
I went out the second time to give the hens some corn that I had to retrieve from the back of the Cube this morning. Thank goodness I stopped at the feed store earlier this week and picked it up. Corn helps them stay warm. Anyway they were happy to have it...
I had also taken out a pan of oats that I had poured hot water over so they could have a warm breakfast first thing in the morning. But by the second trip out... it had frozen solid.
I'm thawing it out now on top of Bruce. He's done all kinds of extra work today, including melting a half gallon of crystalized honey in a big water pot. What a guy.
So, we are holding on as best we can. The word on the street is that a warmer system is moving in and we will start to thaw, but it will also be raining on top of this icy snow. How fast do you think the ice pond will fill up this time? And just think, it has almost two feet of snow down there right now. It should make for an interesting looking ..... mess.
(Wonder where the rabbit carcass will end up?)
Oh lord.
I forgot about the rabbit.
Sunny is still not 100% after her go at it. She's on a rice diet at the moment. She has a delicate stomach. But is all wolf on the front end, so she thinks she can eat no end of dead animal parts with no ill effects. Silly girl.
Okay... gotta scoot. Time to put more wood on the fire.