Frozen Water & Flowing Water
It isn't often that our wet weather creek starts running when there's snow on the ground. But one of the recent snow and ice storms we had (they're all becoming one big white blur in my mind) was followed a few days later by a downpour, resulting in a lot of runoff from the surrounding hills and higher water levels underground. For a while the little trickle of overflow at the spring box looked like a miniature Niagra Falls, and the pasture around it was flooded. The creek is one of my favorite things about the farm. I really wish it ran all the time, but after a decade of drought I suppose we're lucky it still runs at all.
One of the other things I love about the farm is that it's located in a migratory flight path, and this morning I was surprised and delighted to hear the unmistakable sound of geese overhead. It took me several seconds to realize they're already heading back north. Most of them were traveling above the clouds and out of sight, but a couple of low-flying flocks went by while I was down at the barn, and of course I stopped to watch. I must have seen two thousand geese in just a couple of minutes. After all these years they never fail to mesmerize me.
I probably could have snapped a couple of good photos - something I've been hoping to do for ages - but it was raining, so this was one of the rare times I didn't have my trusty little camera slung around my neck. Instead I stood with my face to the sky as I listened to their incessant honking, foolishly tried to count them, and soaked up the joyful moment with everything I could.
Winter is flying by.
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where rubber boots are all the rage and the only traffic to be found is on the goose expressway high above our heads.
The 'No Accumulation' Just Keeps Piling Up
So the agreed upon plan was that yesterday the snow and ice would start melting off, today it would finish melting off, and by Monday morning vehicles would once again be able to get up and down our driveway. But when I sleepily padded by a window this morning I found myself blinking confusedly. Everything is a whole lot whiter out there than it was when I went to bed.
Phone call to the builder. Phone call to the drywall finisher. Phone call to the sheep shearer. Phone call to the general store in town where they've been holding a package for us since Wednesday.
Now I love Weather Underground as much as the next girl (actually probably more than the next girl), but once in a while you have to step away from the computer, take a look outside, and accept the fact that no matter what everybody in cyberspace is telling you, it most definitely is snowing. And accumulating.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorm Stuff
Other Photos Of My Favorite View
Same Scene, New View Photos
Hayfield Photos
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© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where it doesn't take a meteorologist to predict that someday this really will all melt off and we'll be able to get in and out. In the meantime, it sure is pretty. Kind of a pain in the butt, but pretty.
Dolores & Daphne Check The Temperature
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Donkey Photos
Dolores Photos
Daphne Photos
Snow Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where all the donkeys believe that if the temperature drops below 60 degrees, they won't survive the night without plenty of extra treats. And triple everything if there's snow on the ground.
Just Chillin'
Nobody gets in, and nobody gets out. The half-mile-long, steeply curved part of the driveway is still covered with an impassable layer of snow and ice from Monday's crazy storm, and the rest of the farm hasn't defrosted much either. Yesterday I rescheduled the sheep shearer for the third time.
The sheep are restless, the donkeys are bored, and the chickens are threatening to fly south until spring. Topaz, who had become quite the little outdoorscat, ventured onto the front step this morning and hightailed it right back into The Shack. Robin The Mostly Retired Beagle Dog has been camped out by the woodstove all week and must be forced to go outside and pee.
But the temperature has warmed up slightly, the builders are hoping they'll be able to make it down the driveway on Monday, and we were only without electricity for a couple of hours. There's plenty of firewood, plenty of food, and that pesky little plumbing problem has successfully been fixed.
Thursday I sowed a patch of Swiss chard seeds in the greenhouse. This morning I watched a bright red cardinal bopping around in the snow. The scenery is beautiful, and the animals and farm chores keep us plenty busy. Winter is good.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorm Stuff
Farm Life Tidbits
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© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where 240 acres of snow and ice is fun for a while, but it's starting to feel like we live in Minnesota.
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Farm Boss Patchy Cat Knows How To Get His Point AcrossSo that crazy weather forecast I wrote about the other day? We got it. All of it. And then some. I don't think I've ever seen so much weather happen in one day. We had freezing rain, we had sleet, we had ice, we had ice pellets (which I'd never even heard of before moving to Missouri). We had huge bursts of echoing thunder while it was snowing huge, soppy flakes. And then we got several inches of what I can only figure was 'no accumulation.' Which then froze solid last night.
This morning Joe was watching through the living room window as Bear walked around on the no accumulation. "The ground is so hard Bear isn't making any footprints," he reported. Then we suited up and he walked out the front door ahead of me. "The ground is so hard I'm not making any footprints!"
Every single thing outside is totally encased in ice. We've gone into a sort of hibernation mode. I made a batch of Chocolate Babycakes With Mocha Buttercream. Joe calculated how many feet of oak door casing we'll need in the new building (a lot!). We bottled a bunch of beer.
During times like this, things around the farm are reduced to the bare minimum: making sure everybody has food, water, warmth - and that we say upright while we're slipping around out there on the ice.
It feels very isolated, but in a good way. It's doubtful anyone could get down here unless they hiked - and even that treacherous undertaking probably wouldn't be possible. Meanwhile we have no desire to see if we can get out.
We're thankful that the only damage so far appears to be several broken trees, and we're very glad we still have power, especially after hearing on the radio down at the barn (the only place we can get reception) that thousands of people around us are without it.
A big ice storm like this happens at least once a year here but I usually forget about it - or else I mentally block it out. The landscape actually looks really cool. I took all kinds of photos, but I think this picture of Patchy Cat standing in his water dish pretty much sums things up.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorms
Farm Landscape Photos
Patchy Cat Photos
Cat Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Joe is in the kitchen frying up a big cast iron skillet of wild venison in homemade lard for dinner, and we're really glad we cut all that firewood on Sunday.
And Doris Was Thrilled
A Man & His Supervisor
"Um, honey? The bathtub just puked up the dishwater I poured down the kitchen sink."
So yesterday Joe dug into what we thought was a small plumbing problem.
Way More Exciting Than Watching The Superbowl
Turns out it's more like a medium plumbing problem. But at least it stopped snowing. And hasn't started raining yet. And the ground isn't frozen. Well, not solid anyway.
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Hunky Farmguy Photos
Lucky Buddy Bear Photos
Dog Photos
Snow Photos
Farm Life Tidbits
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares more than you probably want to know about life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and the dirty dishes are starting to pile up.
