As a good portion of the country is well aware, there’s lots of snow outside. We received about a foot of snowfall here, with lots of drifting, because it’s windy here on the farm just about any day of the year. We don’t have a lot of trees to serve as windbreaks, something we hope to correct in the future. You’ll hear more from George on that subject soon, I think! 
All of our animals were kept safe and relatively warm (despite the teeth-chattering temperatures of late) throughout the storm. No waterers froze over, which is always a relief. We do have heated water sources, but there is always that chance that power will be lost during a storm, but thankfully that was not the case during this blizzard. So all and all, things were fairly uneventful.
Except for plowing. Wow, we had to do a lot of that. 
George had the very good idea to clear out space in our barn on Tuesday evening so that we could park our truck inside, to avoid it getting covered in, and the bed full of snow. He did most of the plowing yesterday, because my asthma has been flaring like mad, and so I had to spend most of my time indoors. The cold air just does me in. I’ve been trying to wrap a scarf around my nose and mouth area, but it is not doing the trick. Also, it just steams up my glasses. I’ve tried several anti-fog remedies, without success. So contacts may be a part of my future, even though I thought that I had quit those years ago! 
I did order a Respro “Xtreme Sport” mask yesterday, which will provide not only air filtration, but also, insulation. I’m really hoping it curbs this breathing issue for me. As soon as I step outside and get in a couple of breaths, I can feel my lungs getting inflamed, and often I find it necessary to visit my nebulizer machine as soon as I get back to the house. I’ve long had this issue, but it’s gotten worse this year – I believe due to the record low temperatures we’ve seen this winter. Hopefully the mask does the trick. If nothing else, I’ll have the makings of an awesome Star Wars style bounty hunter getup .
Believe me when I tell you that our driveway is not something you’d want to take on with a little snowblower. Although, that’s what we did our first year here. George would push our 21″ snowblower along, and I’d follow in our AWD station wagon to provide him some light and a warm-up area to take a break. It would take close to two hours to complete. We’re really grateful for our plow truck. She’s torn up plenty, but she flies true. Most of the time.
The chickens are desperate to go outside, as you can see by their very hopeful little faces through the inner coop door this morning. But the snow is as deep as they are tall, and it is just too darn cold right now – 12 degrees F is no kind of weather for feathers. 
We are all looking forward to a good spring thaw. I can’t wait to see them back outside, scratching for bugs, leaping in the air after moths and other flying insects, and just generally being chickens. They literally know the meaning of being “cooped up” and are quite weary of it, thankyouverymuch!
Our goats are less vexed about not going outside. I’ve opened their back door for them to be able to get out, and if I really coax them, they might come out for a quick romp in the snow, but they’re not particularly interested in spending time out there. Most of them are pregnant, so I understand when they tell me they are just hungry and want some more hay, please. We really must build a larger feeder soon, because this just isn’t sufficient for them; they’ve all grown too big to be able to share the space effectively.
Poor babies. And they are only going to continue growing – goats don’t reach maturity/full size until they are about three years old! Plus, we will have even more mouths arriving in April with the kids. So I promise, my Browncoats Herd, you will have a larger mess (and that is the appropriate term to use for a goat feeding area, trust me) soon!
As always, if you’d like to get a closer look at any of the photos in this post, just click on it, and an embiggened version will pop up. I know many of you already realize this, but we’ve had some new visitors of late, and I want to make sure that they are also in the loop! 🙂
The baby chicks are doing great, except for the one who was scratching at her eyes like mad on Tuesday – she’s not grown and is laying around a lot, so I’m concerned we will lose her. Poor thing. I have tried to help her get water and food, but there is only so much you can do for them. She’s laying under the heat lamp, so I know that she’s warm enough. We’ll see what happens. The rest are thriving, and have reached the really cute stage where they’ve discovered, “Oh my, I have wings! Let’s try these babies out!” and they run around the brooder while flapping away. It reminds me of our son when he is pretending to be a superhero.
Here’s hoping everyone is warm and safe, and that we don’t get even more snow. I know some areas are worse off than we are, and what we have here is bad enough, so I really hope that Punxsutawney Phil is right, and we will all have an early spring!
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