Animals
- Powerless
It always brings a smile to my facewhen I see my equines sleeping in their dry lot. Horses and donkeys take many cat-naps during the day while standing up.It's only when they feel completely safe and secure that they allow themselvesthe pleasure...
- In Need Of A Life Raft
Will someone please throw me a life preserver?I am afraid that very soonI might justfloat away...... After Sunday's snowstorm deposited 6 inches,we have had nothing but rain, rain, rain.The ground is super saturated and will soak up not a drop...
- Mother's Day Mayhem
I hope that all of you, wherever you may be, had a wonderful Mother's Day.I would love to say that mine was uneventful...a day of much deserved rest.But....as luck would have it, that was not the case. Yesterday's weather was quite severe.We had...
- Tales From The Dark Side
This post is rated: PG (poor guineas)....(some violence is implied) Sadly, today's tale is not as light hearted as usual. We have had a few days of trying times. It's bad enough that Thursday and Friday morning's snow turned into rain that...
- A Typical Day!
Well, after yesterday's harrowing experiences, I decided that today was a day to go to town and run some errands (ie: get a few hours away from the farm). So, I jumped out of bed at 5:30, showered and dressed, and headed to the barn as the sun was...
Animals
Ice Storm
Yesterday morning at 1 AM I awoke with a start,
to the "tap, tap, tap" of water dripping onto my bedroom carpet.
Lying there for a moment, getting my bearings,
I heard the unusual sound of rain and lots of water
trickling down the side of our log cabin.
Thinking that the dripping was coming from around the french doors..
(at times we have to add a little caulk around our windows)
I put a large towel under the dripping to catch the water.
"I'll further investigate later when I am fully awake."I thought.
Meanwhile, Hubbs slept on.
Laying there, though, that dripping became like Chinese water torture.
"Drip, drip, drip" was all I could hear...
louder and louder, robbing me of my sleep.
So, I headed upstairs to the guest room to escape the noise.
By 2 AM I was back asleep again.
At 3 AM Hubbs woke me with a start.
"We have a leak!" he exclaimed.
"I know." I sleepily responded.
By that time he was in my upstairs sewing room calling out
"Grab some towels, we have a really big leak!"
There was a huge puddle of water in my sewing room that was
running down between the floor boards and dripping into our bedroom.
Then Hubbs throws on his snowsuit and rain gear and head outside
with the spot light.
After a bit of investigation, he found that our downspout in that corner
with the spot light.
After a bit of investigation, he found that our downspout in that corner
of the house was frozen solidly shut.
(Most likely due to the freezing of a full rain barrel
that connects to this gutter...it does have a shut off valve, but that
was frozen too.)
This resulted in freezing rain water running down the corner of our logs
and then between the logs, into any crack or crevice it could find.
and then between the logs, into any crack or crevice it could find.
YIKES!!
I threw on my cold weather gear and rain gear and headed outside.
I must say, it was beautiful...
deadly beautiful.
Hubbs grabbed the extension ladder
and headed up to the upstairs corner of the house,
with me holding the ladder steady in the ice.
He took the downspout off the gutter so that the water
could just flow freely from the gutter.
Problem solved....temporarily.
Back inside... to mop up water.
Finally we returned to bed and slept for another hour,
only to find when we awoke that the power was off.
Thank goodness we had the foresight to have a generator installed
when we built this house.
The generator supplies power to the freezers, fridge, hot water,
and geothermal heat when the power goes out.
By mid morning, the power returned
crises were averted
and life returned to semi-normal....
with the exception of our beloved woods.
We lost many trees and limbs to the weight of the ice.
Clean up is going to be quite a job.
But putting that aside, I have to admit the views are breathtaking.
I thought I would share some with you....
The chicken pen was transformed into an icicle garden.
Happily, those crazy non-conformist guineas made it
through the ice storm unscathed.
Most of the morning was punctuated by the "crack-crashing"
of ice as it fell from the trees, and tree limbs as they tore
from their trunks under the weight of the ice.
By mid afternoon, the temperatures were in the 40's and
the rest of the ice on the trees melted....
and the world was covered in slush.
We are so very lucky, though,
it seems like the rest of the country is suffering with even
harsher weather.
Take care...all of you who are in the throws of blizzards...
stay warm and dry and safe!
and geothermal heat when the power goes out.
 |
| Our front yard |
By mid morning, the power returned
crises were averted
and life returned to semi-normal....
 |
| Paper-white birch tree, cut in half by the weight of the ice. |
with the exception of our beloved woods.
We lost many trees and limbs to the weight of the ice.
Clean up is going to be quite a job.
But putting that aside, I have to admit the views are breathtaking.
I thought I would share some with you....
 |
| A corner of our front deck. |
 |
| The woods beside Becky's barn. |
 |
| Looking down from Becky's to our barn, and upper pasture run-in shed. |
The chicken pen was transformed into an icicle garden.
Happily, those crazy non-conformist guineas made it
through the ice storm unscathed.
of ice as it fell from the trees, and tree limbs as they tore
from their trunks under the weight of the ice.
By mid afternoon, the temperatures were in the 40's and
the rest of the ice on the trees melted....
and the world was covered in slush.
We are so very lucky, though,
it seems like the rest of the country is suffering with even
harsher weather.
Take care...all of you who are in the throws of blizzards...
stay warm and dry and safe!
- Powerless
It always brings a smile to my facewhen I see my equines sleeping in their dry lot. Horses and donkeys take many cat-naps during the day while standing up.It's only when they feel completely safe and secure that they allow themselvesthe pleasure...
- In Need Of A Life Raft
Will someone please throw me a life preserver?I am afraid that very soonI might justfloat away...... After Sunday's snowstorm deposited 6 inches,we have had nothing but rain, rain, rain.The ground is super saturated and will soak up not a drop...
- Mother's Day Mayhem
I hope that all of you, wherever you may be, had a wonderful Mother's Day.I would love to say that mine was uneventful...a day of much deserved rest.But....as luck would have it, that was not the case. Yesterday's weather was quite severe.We had...
- Tales From The Dark Side
This post is rated: PG (poor guineas)....(some violence is implied) Sadly, today's tale is not as light hearted as usual. We have had a few days of trying times. It's bad enough that Thursday and Friday morning's snow turned into rain that...
- A Typical Day!
Well, after yesterday's harrowing experiences, I decided that today was a day to go to town and run some errands (ie: get a few hours away from the farm). So, I jumped out of bed at 5:30, showered and dressed, and headed to the barn as the sun was...