Your Weather, 2021

[digitS']

I have some idea what you are going through, @baymule . But, we didn't have so many animals to care for in such a cold climate as ... where was that (?) ... eastern Texas.

Those "labor for the critters days" were in southern Oregon.

Here in the North, I had a few real cold winters including days when the temperatures didn't rise to the positive side of zero Fahrenheit. The chickens had some problems, especially when I was out in the country and didn't have a very tight coop. They would move to the barn.

I'm not sure if they arrived there and didn't want to make the trip back to the coop or just liked a bigger area to find their nest on the floor. They all made something of a nest in loose hay. About half wouldn't climb on the fence at night to roost. One day, the high temperature was -10°f. That night, an older hen died.

When I moved out of The Sticks, my new coop was built tight and with insulation. Winter always limited egg production but that was okay. They didn't just shut down completely for months as would happen in the barn.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

we had to shovel again this morning, Mom hit a pot-hole yesterday and so the tire-light was on, so she was paranoid about that, plus we were expecting propane delivery so i got out and shovelled this morning and Mom finished up while i was in the shower, ran into town to have the car oil changed and the tires checked. everything ok. just needed some air.

back home for a few minutes and then i have to run out for an errand this afternoon. sunny and cold but the fresh snow and blue sky looks beautiful.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

-3 here this morning. We got 7” of snow, I trudged out trails to the barns and such. I carry 2 buckets of boiling water with 2 1/2 gallons in each bucket. I bust ice, pour in hot water to grateful thirsty animals. I have ewes nursing their babies 15 of them. Plus 2 bottle lambs in the house. I feed twice a day, now with extra feed to help them keep warm. It takes me 3-4 hours in the morning and 2-3 hours in the evening. I am exhausted. We have an ice storm coming in tonight and tomorrow, then more snow Wednesday. Sunday will be a high in the 50’s and the Great Thaw will begin. I can’t wait. We are not set up for this.

This is breaking temperature records back to 1909. I’m betting that this won’t happen again in my lifetime. Once is enough.

I have had those days taking care of dogs in Kansas, but it is expected to get that cold and much snow there. I was born in Oklahoma on the Texas border, so I know what you are going through is rare, but what I am starting to worry about is global cooling, the Grand Solar Minimum. I have just read a little about it, but I think I will look more into it. My mother was born in 1915 and my dad 1910 in Oklahoma and I heard stories of severe weather from heat to snow, the dust bowl, and when I moved to Kansas it was like a dust bowl. Our fences would start to get buried in sand and we would have to use the tractor to move sand and then it started raining and changed in Kansas and had more of weed problem than sand blowing. Grass started growing and kept the sand from moving. I would have to look for pictures of our 5 acres how it changed. I am not sure what it is like now, but we are at the edge of this cold spell and nothing like the rest of the country. We had one frozen pipe that we thawed easily and we have a woodstove, but I am going to look into being a little better prepared. My friend in Kansas is sitting outside of town alone, bad shape, does not walk good, and electric company telling about going to shut power off and on. She did not bring firewood in, so her woodstove is useless. Her electric stove is propane, but has an electric ignition, so useless, but she has a solar shortwave and a solar small generator and has her cell phone and I think a lamp charged. I guess having wood heat backup is about the best you can do. The damage i saw already just in one town was like 500 calls for busted pipes yesterday and showed a house with the ceiling fell down and water in the floor. Anyway, hope it warms up fast for you.

 

[Niele da Kine]

Well, just a bit of not-snow to hopefully warm up your day?

The rain has stopped for a few days so now the grass is growing like crazy. I need to deploy the sheep into more areas so we won't have to mow as much. They'd much rather eat the grass than we'd like to mow it.

Although they haven't flattened the grass in their pasture area yet. They like to sleep under the edge of it most mornings. Those fuzzy lumps are sleeping sheep, tucked in under the grass. We either need less grass or more sheep. Other than that, the winter weather - it got down to the mid to even low 50's (Farenheit) at night for the past few weeks - seems to be over.

There's been a high surf warning out for the past few days so the surfers have been ecstatic but the surf is a bit lower today so the rest of us can go to the beach and play.

 

[Zeedman]

Having a wood burner is a good thing, even when the power is not out. The blower on mine has a plug, so I can run it off the generator or inverter if necessary. But I also plug it in & burn wood when the temperature drops below zero, because the wood burner really lowers the heating cost at those temperatures. My basement was maybe 1/3 fully stocked with fire wood; after 8 days, there's not much left. Hopefully tonight is the last one in the -F., then a gradual warmup. Hopefully March doesn't decide to come in like a (cold) lion this year.

All those days in the negatives have a silver lining; there's enough ice on most of the lakes now to drive on them (except, of course, Lake Michigan). Between the temperatures & slippery conditions, I haven't had a chance to drive to the lake shore to check... but there is probably a virtual city of ice shanties out there now. I'll try to post a photo.

 

[AMKuska]

Having a wood burner is a good thing, even when the power is not out. The blower on mine has a plug, so I can run it off the generator or inverter if necessary. But I also plug it in & burn wood when the temperature drops below zero, because the wood burner really lowers the heating cost at those temperatures. My basement was maybe 1/3 fully stocked with fire wood; after 8 days, there's not much left. Hopefully tonight is the last one in the -F., then a gradual warmup. Hopefully March doesn't decide to come in like a (cold) lion this year.

All those days in the negatives have a silver lining; there's enough ice on most of the lakes now to drive on them (except, of course, Lake Michigan). Between the temperatures & slippery conditions, I haven't had a chance to drive to the lake shore to check... but there is probably a virtual city of ice shanties out there now. I'll try to post a photo.

I really really really want to see that! I can't imagine any such thing in my head.

 

[digitS']

I was watching two PBS shows, yesterday: Weekends with Yankee and New Scandinavian Cooking. The scene I recall with the Yankee was being pulled in a horsedrawn sleigh while snow was falling. Meanwhile here, it was snow hard at that time. (Kinda snowed all day but so light that it didn't amount to much.) This latitude is north of Maine so we do expect winter but, wherever that scene was filmed, really looked like winter.

Then in New Scandinavian Cooking, the host is also on a sleigh ride . He joins a couple of fishermen on a frozen lake. They have shoveled about 2' (70 centimeters ) of snow out of the way and augered through the ice. Andreas is out there smoking a couple of their fish!

I miss ice fishing. I'm out of the habit ... DD has become something of a fisherwoman. I'm not sure that I want to encourage her to go out on the ice. It's not that it's so inherently dangerous. It's that the adventure usually has to be on one of the smaller lakes. The big lakes seldom freeze, here. Driving on the highways and roads in the winter should always be limited.

After taking a few days off, the neighborhood squirrel was out yesterday afternoon. I wonder what he thought that he could be up to. He really can jump when he's try to limit his steps in snow . No bird feeders in the immediate neighborhood for once ... ground is frozen under the snow so there is no digging for his walnuts ... tell me I'm nutz for even thinking that I could put some sunflower seeds out for him.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

tell me I'm nutz for even thinking that I could put some sunflower seeds out for him

In my opinion, that would be nutz. I've had too much damage from those furry tailed rats to encourage them.

 

[flowerbug]

In my opinion, that would be nutz. I've had too much damage from those furry tailed rats to encourage them.

some people do it for entertainment like bird watching.

me, no, i don't encourage them either around here, i already have enough fun with the other creatures i don't need to encourage yet another. besides the hawks tend to keep after them here, i've rarely seen more than one around for long and most of the time when i do see them they are running for their life.

 

[Marie2020]

I'm really worried for @baymule with the weather being so bad.

We are due snow this weekend