Posts Tagged ‘snow’
Animals Update
I feel like the horses have been getting short shrift of air time here lately, probably due to the severe winter weather we’ve been enduring of late. Most days it is all business down at the barn, getting hay and feed distributed before my exposed flesh starts getting burned by the cold air. Pulling out the camera in the cold and dark just doesn’t seem to happen. Of course, the fact that the flash quit working on my favorite pocket camera might have a little to do with that.
I did recently snap this shot at dusk, prior to entering the barn to feed them. That is Cayenne in front of Legacy, and if you look close, you can see Hunter peeking out from the edge of the overhang of the barn. Legacy has played hard-to-get when we attempt to adjust his blanket and I’m beginning to think that he thinks it looks cool that way. He reminds me of a teenager who wears his ball cap sideways or lets his pants hang low.
They seem to be doing well despite the harsh conditions. It is such a treat to watch them when they are prancing and dancing around in the snow. We haven’t been picking up after them in the paddocks as diligently as we used to, and now the snow is covering a lot of their piles of manure, so I have resigned myself to it being a muddy, wet manure mess out there when spring finally rolls around.
Meanwhile, I have been having a lot more interaction with Delilah during the time I’ve been home during the week. Since it was so cold, I let her stay indoors with me, and since the cats just sleep on the bed all day, I put up a gate to the bedroom and then give Delilah freedom to move around the house.
We have developed a game of chase in the house where I run after her in laps around the spiral staircase. Last night, she even initiated the game and invited me to chase her around past the kitchen counter, in front of the fireplace, back to the kitchen, around and around again. I run as fast as I can, pushing her to work hard, but I run out of breath well before she tires of the game.
I tried to get her to wear boots that Cyndie bought for her feet, and she was very nice to let me get all 4 of them on her before we went out on the coldest day. After I got her ready, I still had to get my boots and coat on, and she stood totally still while I got ready. I think she was freaked out about trying to walk in them. When I was ready, it took some coaxing to get her to move, and then she clop, clop, clopped her way to the door.
Outside, she instantly appeared to be trying to run out of them, and it didn’t take her long to succeed. I thought it was nice of her to try, but I am guessing they won’t get much use beyond that first attempt.
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Book Report
Cyndie enjoys listening to me read aloud, and we recently finished a perfect book for that exercise, allowing her to fold laundry while I recited the last chapters of author Jerry Apps’ “The Quiet Season: Remembering Country Winters.” The book was a gift from my niece, Liz. She said that reading it caused her to think about us and our place in Wisconsin. I can see why.
Hopefully, it wasn’t because the period Jerry wrote about was in the 1930s and 40s. Things aren’t that backward out here. His descriptions of chores and routines do evoke a sense of the familiar for projects we have undertaken in our first year here. As difficult a time as they had carving out their existence on a country farm (he describes winter life at a time before indoor plumbing or electricity, and very limited wood stove heating), it definitely caused me to feel a longing for the simpler time.
Since then, life has gotten a lot faster and busier.
I think the frenetic pace of modern life suits Cyndie better than it does me. Yesterday was her annual holiday cookie baking extravaganza where she converts restaurant portions of butter, sugar, flour, brown sugar, and I think, more butter, into a wide array of delectable works of edible art. Our kids braved the light snow and drove out to be here for the festivities and helped to truly kick off this annual tradition the way Cyndie likes.
They produced a dizzying volume of beautiful cookies that have the house smelling dangerously delicious, causing me to gain weight just breathing the air. Between baking tasks, Elysa fed the horses and Julian helped me shovel the labyrinth. We watched some football, sat by the fire, shared a wonderful dinner –why not? The oven was already hot– and created cookie trays for sharing at everybody’s workplaces.
Much of the day resonated for me with the spirit of the stories I had just read by Jerry Apps. Maybe that is because we almost crammed his whole book worth of tales into one day.
Thank you, Liz, for the book. It was a wonderful treat that we enjoyed very much!
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Cold Advice
Right on schedule, the bitter cold arrived to seize the region in its icy grip. It is something of a shock when it happens in such a short time. The messy slop that was on our driveway Wednesday, became rock-hard glacial ice yesterday, after the temperature plummeted from above freezing, to well below in a matter of hours. As I was walking up the quarter-mile distance of our driveway after taking the trash bin to the road in the dark last night, I noticed myself flinching tight against the biting breeze.
Relaxing your muscles in reaction to extreme cold is a little secret of mine to bring a moment of warmth. I tried for years to get Cyndie to embrace this trick, but she was a very reluctant student of my teachings. I eventually came to discover that her level of discomfort in the cold was much more extreme than I ever would have guessed. When she told me she couldn’t feel her feet while we were trying to play racquetball after a short trip to the gym one winter, I took off her shoes and put her feet to my stomach. They were like solid blocks of ice! I was dumbfounded, and insisted we would buy her a pair of sensible insulated winter boots to replace the shoes she had been using.
With Venus and the crescent moon demanding attention in the sky above me, I took a breath and consciously willed my muscles to relax tension. Instantly, I felt a sensation of calm, the transition of which provides a pleasant side effect of the feeling of not being as cold as it just seemed. It is a mental game, really. A psychological ploy.
It got me to thinking about the fact that our friends from Guatemala, which we have invited to stay with us for a couple of weeks this month, might be interested in learning some steps to being comfortable while taking part in activities outdoors here in the winter.
• 1 – Drink Water – The first thing we were given when we arrived at Sue and Paul Schurke’s Wintergreen Lodge for a dogsledding vacation was a personal water bottle for each member of our family. Not only is staying optimally hydrated the best thing you can do for yourself in everyday life, it is the MOST IMPORTANT thing you should do in order to stay comfortable outdoors in the winter. If your urine output is more than a hint of yellow colored, you are short-changing yourself of the multitude of benefits of optimal hydration. Give your fingers and toes the best advantage toward staying warm outdoors on cold winter days by drinking enough water.
• 2 – Wear Layers – There are a variety of clothing options that can work, but the important aspect of layering is to choose base layers that wick body moisture away from the skin, a middle layer that insulates, and an outer shell that repels water of snow or rain. Depending on my activity, I will often forgo the outer shell and choose a wool shirt or sweater. Wool can absorb a lot of moisture and not feel wet, and it will keep on insulating. I prefer it because it breathes, instead of trapping my heat.
• 3 – Don’t Constrict – If you are going to take full advantage of being optimally hydrated, don’t constrict your blood flow by wearing boots, gloves, or clothing that are too tight. When I first put on Steger mukluks like the ones that were worn on Paul Schurke and Will Steger’s expedition to the North Pole, it felt completely wrong to me. It feels like wearing slippers outdoors. I got used to it very fast. My feet have never, ever gotten cold in the surprisingly comfortable Steger mukluks. Let your blood flow. Don’t think that an extra sock is worth it, if it makes the fit of your boot too tight. Better to skip the extra sock and allow your foot room to wiggle your toes. Mittens work better than gloves, because your fingers can wiggle all over the place, and they aren’t isolated from each other, so they can share their warmth.
• 4 – Don’t Sweat – The important reason for wearing layers is so you can begin to shed your covering when you generate so much heat that you begin to sweat. Keep in mind that this list is based on the assumption of dressing for outdoor activity. If you are active, you generate your own heat. If you want to stay warm, the wetness of your own sweat will work against your goal. Pace your activity, and open your clothing to adjust your body temperature in order to avoid getting wet from the inside out.
• 5 – Stay Dry – If you put effort into keeping your base layer dry, don’t waste it by letting your outer layer get wet. If it is precipitating, have a waterproof shell. If you are going to have a lot of contact with snow (sledding or making an igloo) have waterproof pants. Don’t spill your drinking water down your front. Avoid stepping into standing water or reaching into open water. I like it cold, because then the snow is dry. Water in winter is a bummer, unless you are drinking it. Lately, I am having a hard time dealing with handling buckets of water in the barn for the horses when it is single-digit cold. I don’t like water getting me wet in the winter.
• 6 – Pick Smart – Make smart choices when selecting winter wear. Wool is better than cotton. Jeans make terrible snow pants. A neck gator and good hat provide a huge amount of benefit for being such simple accessories. Get the right fit for everything. Take drinking water with you while you are outside. Eat a substantial healthy breakfast. Be prepared to deal with wind. Don’t forget to be active and have fun.
It amazes me to watch the horses deal with the cold of winter. Sure, their coats grow longer and thicker as the hours of daylight shorten, but that’s about it. Otherwise, they just stand out in it like any other day, butts into the wind. I wish it were that easy for us, but with rather simple preparation, it is possible to come pretty close. If you tend to the 6 points above, all that is left is finding the balance of activity that generates enough heat, and then you can be out all day long having so much fun, you never bother stopping to think about feeling cold.
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Rain Delivered
They promised snow, but we received freezing rain for most of the day yesterday. I really dislike rain in the winter. The day will not go down in our history as one of the better ones around here. On top of the weather being lousy, Cyndie is suffering greatly from a sinus infection that has walloped her a good one. When momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy.
The horses are being good sports about the lousy weather. We put them in the barn on Tuesday night, and decided to leave them inside, sheltered from the freezing rain, for the entire day yesterday. This is the longest we have yet to confine them in those stalls. It seems like a bit much to ask of them, but I think maybe they sense the benefit and are accepting the situation without complaint.
Delilah didn’t seem to mind the wetness one bit, and ran all over the place, playing in the slushy mess. I let her roam off-leash for a bit, and she stayed in contact with me for the entire distance down the driveway to get the mail, and back again. I hadn’t intended to stay out and get wet, but once you are wet, you don’t really get any wetter, so I scraped the freezing slush off the upper part of the driveway. While I was out, our tractor was delivered on a flatbed truck from the local dealer who performed a full set of routine maintenance steps. Yep, I got out of having to change the oil this time.
The driver dropped it off at the flat spot of the driveway near the barn. Since it doesn’t have chains on yet (the weather was nice when they picked it up last week), I worried I might not get it up the hill to the shop garage. Well, I made it up the hill, no problem, but then spun my wheels when I tried to back it up the tiniest of an incline into the garage. No worry, I have a loader on the front, and people tell me to use that to push myself whenever I get stuck. It worked like a charm. The tractor was a frozen mess of ice, but it is back in the garage with all new fluids, a repaired leaking front tire, and no more dripping from the hydraulic line quick-connect fitting.
Since I was out in the garage, already wet, I decided it was a good time to get the plow re-attached to the Grizzly ATV. Knowing we will have frigid Arctic air settling in for a few days, I figured I should try to clear as much of the slush off the driveway as possible before it gets locked in place for good. I can’t call my first try at plowing with the Griz a smashing success, but I was able to do a fair job and I completed it in a fraction of the time I spent last year trying to use the big diesel tractor. I feel optimistic about my chances of becoming proficient at maneuvering the ATV and moving snow to clear the pavement to a degree that meets my exacting standards. I think it will be a bit easier to plow snow in the future when it isn’t raining at the same time.
Just to top off this first significant, and lousy, snow event day, I needed to reattach the mailbox after the township plow went by. We are picking up right where we left off last year, in that regard.
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Snow Promised
The daytime temperatures here have been above freezing the last few days, but the precipitation that is moving across our region has fallen mostly as snow. The warm days are forecast to change on Thursday, when the temp is expected to drop into the single digits. It will stay in the single digits, even for the warmest point of the following days, through the entire weekend. Before that excitement arrives, we might get up to 7 inches of new snow.
With that in mind, I took some time to shovel the labyrinth last night in hopes of creating a more obvious path so it will be visible even if we get a half-foot of snow. I love how the pattern becomes more obvious with the snow. I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish before dark, so I stopped part way to take a picture.
It is inspiring me to try to make significant gains next summer getting the path well-defined, because it makes such a difference in the experience when you don’t need to think about the route along the way, and can, instead, focus your thoughts on the contemplative journey you have chosen. Having snow to very visibly define the pathway has showed me how valuable that is.
I’m thinking it won’t be feasible to keep shoveling down to the ground as the snowfalls get deeper and deeper through the winter. I would need to build walls of snow between each path, because there is nowhere to put the snow that is shoveled. I’m hoping to be able to just trod the path after each subsequent accumulation, now that I have established the base that defines the route.
It might be a snowshoe exercise, although I’m not sure it is wide enough for them to fit very well.
After I finished shoveling the whole thing, I took a picture, holding the camera up into the darkness. If you look close, you can see that the snowfall for the next phase of precipitation had already started.
I’m ready. Go ahead, let it snow!
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Single Digits
We received a bit of snow on Thursday night, and this morning temperatures are in the single digits. My usual ease with facing the extreme cold of winter has waned as I age, but I was pleased to find that adjustment came quickly for me, as I began clearing the driveway up by the house. In no time, I was removing my jacket and finding an easy balance of comfort in the cold, while involved in activity.
Sure, it feels cold if you just step out and stand still in the frigid air. What a great excuse to do something productive, or at least, entertaining!
After I finished the driveway, I walked with Delilah down to the labyrinth to make tracks along the pathway in hopes of establishing the route in snow so it will remain obvious throughout the winter. It was a delightful experience to be the first one to trek through the snow, enjoying the rare opportunity to see where I have been, in contrast to the portion that lay ahead.
Delilah has a bit too much energy to be limited to staying on the path, so she wasn’t much help with tromping down the trail. Plus, the arrival of snow has ramped up her energy immensely, as she gleefully celebrates the white stuff that has turned her outdoor world into a whole new playground experience.
Unfortunately, today dawns with new restrictions for our animals, as the deer hunting season has begun, and the woods all around us will be filled with the sounds of gunshots. The unbridled romping will be severely constrained for the next two weeks.
Cyndie reported that this morning, the two elder horses of our herd were stoically standing posts facing in opposite directions and were barely willing to suspend their surveillance to partake in the morning feed. They sense that the predator/prey operation is underway.
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October Cold
It doesn’t always work to compare one year with the next, and I was doing just that last week, as we approached the 1-year anniversary of moving to this fabulous property in Beldenville, WI. A few days after we arrived last year, the temperatures were warm and we cooked dinner outdoors over the fire, then went to sleep with our bedroom window open.
Yesterday, I went outside with my usual work gloves on and rather quickly discovered they were now insufficient. It is time for insulated gloves again. I assumed the air temperature would warm up as the day went on, but it seemed to just get colder. Clouds blocked the sun most of the time, giving the day a classic cold October look. I ended up involved in more outdoor activity than I really wanted, and my body started to absorb the chill as the hours accumulated. Snow fell on and off, occasionally dense enough to start to collect on surfaces.
There is something to the adjustment of our bodies to the environment, and in October, temperatures in the neighborhood of freezing feel painfully more cold than they do in March. Yesterday the outdoors were harsh and bitterly uncomfortable. In 5 months, the same temperatures will have us opening our coats and basking in the relief from the deep freeze.
The horses have started to grow out their thicker winter coat of hair, but it isn’t quite full yet, and the cold rain in October gets right through to their skin. We brought them into the barn on Sunday because they were shivering.
Last week, before the rain, Hunter showed up with a mud mask on. It looked like he was getting ready for Halloween at the end of the month. I wish I could have seen him in action when he did it. The finished product looks so perfectly applied that I’m thinking he had a mirror or something. Probably, he was trying to improve the insulating value on himself, in preparation for the October chill that felt so wicked out there yesterday.
Project Interrupted
Happy Mother’s Day, all you moms out there! 
Yesterday, the crew showed up to begin the process of framing the hay shed. They didn’t get very far. Guess what. It’s too wet. Imagine that. At least they accomplished the first critical step of stringing up the exact square dimension of the future structure. After that, they drilled one hole with the skid loader, and quickly discovered they would not be able to set the posts yet.
The dirt that came out of the hole was a sloppy muck that plopped to the ground like a wet cow pie. Then the hole filled with about 2-feet of water,
the sides of the hole collapsing, as water ran in. If you look closely at the second image, you will see the muck in mid-air, dropping from the drill on the skid loader.
Progress is stalled, once again. But, not for lack of trying. At this point, all we can do is wait for nature to take its course. Luckily, it was a windy day, which does wonders for drying things.
Too bad it was offset by a May 11 snow shower. We need wind and sun, not wind and snow.
I busied myself with getting a fire started in the brush pile nearest the barn. We haven’t been giving this pile as much attention as the other one, partly because it has so much dirt on the pile. It also has a much larger collection of branches, most of them still too green to burn easily.
To get them to ignite, we have to feed a lot of dry wood to the pile, so I made multiple trips up the hill toward the house, to pull out dead branches that are stacked throughout the woods across from the house and shop garage.
It isn’t the type of walking exercise that I am supposed to be doing, especially when I am trying to lift too heavy a batch of branches, but I hope it counts for something, because it totally exhausted me. I decided to end my work before something gave out on my body and forced me to be done.
We’ll see if I quit in time to save energy for today. Over half of that brush pile remains, and I have plenty of trips to make if I’m going to reduce it a noticeable amount by the end of the day.
Messed Up
Things are seriously twisted. It should not look like this in the first week of May:
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Yes, it is absolutely beautiful. But, this isn’t the time for it! There are some farmers who won’t be getting their crops in the field in time this year. It is just too wet around here. It was already wet. Now that has been compounded. It is even soggier, and getting later in the year.
I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. It was desperately dry last fall, and all this moisture will be good toward making up for that. It is a bit sad that it comes with a cost, though. The weight of all that snow really did a number on the tree branches. Standing out in the middle of the storm with all other sounds muffled by the snow, the snapping and popping of limbs giving way stood out like the report of rifles at a gun range.
On Wednesday evening, as I drove home from work, the weather reports on the radio indicated there was a chance for large accumulations of snow in a narrow band from the southwest to the northeast across their listening area. That narrow band ended up over our place. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I could see it was already a significant amount. By Thursday morning, it was over-the-top ridiculous.
I had gotten up a bit earlier than usual, trying to contemplate whether or not to attempt the drive to work. The electricity kept kicking out, and then coming back on again. We knew it was a signal that lines were being affected. Finally, around 5:30 a.m., it went dark and stayed dark. Losing electricity means we have no power to pump water from our well, no lights or electricity for our appliances, and no fan for our furnace.
We plotted to use our battery-powered devices sparingly. I just happened to have my phone on when a call came from our geothermal furnace company. He said that he had completed the quote for that backup generator we had inquired about, and wanted to send it to me. I expect he feels quite confident in our willingness to accept the value of his offer, as we read it by flashlight, huddled next to the fireplace.
Trees falling and branches breaking under the heavy load.
It is funny how, on one hand, we like to exclaim how perilous our situation was, yet at the same time, could adapt to it like it was a pretty posh camping expedition. Overnight, the fireplace helped hold the house temperature in a comfortable range. We collected water that was dripping off the roof, to pour into the toilet tank for flushing. We went to bed when it got dark. It wasn’t that hard to cope.
The difficulty that we struggled with, was not knowing how long we might be in this predicament. By leaving our refrigerator and freezers closed, we could last a moderate duration of an outage. It turned out to be about 28 hours until our power was restored in this incident. Once we get our generator installed, we won’t have that concern.
One other problem I suffered was, getting a sunburn, through the clouds, on my unprotected face. When I am out clearing snow like this in January, the sun is never high enough to be a problem. It just didn’t occur to me at the time, that it was a much higher month-of-May sun up there over the snow clouds.
My whole sense of normal is completely messed up.
Clothesline Fail
At least she was able to use it once. I guess that is why they make it removable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold up 14 inches of wet spring snow as well as it holds up wet sheets and clothes.
We are running on battery power, so I gotta make this short. What an adventure!
(edited w/ update: 10:12 a.m.) I made it into work at the day-job, where there is heat, running water, and electricity; all things we are still lacking at Wintervale. They tell us there is still no way to estimate how long we will be without power. Oh, joy. We are burning wood in the fireplace, in attempt to hold the temperature of the house up at a livable above-freezing level. One advantage to the cool temps: the food in the refrigerator and freezer may last a bit longer.
When I left the house this morning, I drove through falling snow.
Happy month of May, everyone!
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Relative Something 