Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Temp down to 14 and the wind is blowing hard. Not quite a blizzard but it is awful out there. Just downright miserable... Hope the animals have all found places to hunker down. Hate this wind.

Big bowl of baked beans in the oven. House still is not very warm. Sure wish I had an inside wood stove.... At least we have not had any problems with the power so far.

Put some things in the "spice cupboard" and been looking in a few boxes to unpack some more....

Time to put in a movie and fold these clothes.

 

[Ridgetop]

Good prices on cattle -
Good buy on cow who calved several days later! Hope it survives even though it is not the right time to have a newborn. If the calf makes it then quick return on cow purchase! LOL

Even though you did not like the final price on the private treaty cattle, at least they are off your hands for feeding through the winter. Do you have a cattle scale? Maybe next time weigh your cows at home to check differences in weights. At least no commission.

Keep warm!

 

[Bruce]

It is COLDER than a witch's teat

My second college roommate used to say "Colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra in January". Given he came from San Diego I have no clue how he would know anything about cold. But then I came from just south of L.A.. Cold was anything below 50°F.

 

[Baymule]

While we generally don't enjoy bad weather, sometimes it's nice to have forced down time. Or at least down time between caring for animals. Hope the weather isn't too hard on your son, working nights out in this mess.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday morning. The wind is still blowing and predictions for gusts up to 40 mph with sustained in the 15-20 mph. The sun is out some, clouds too. The temp continued to rise overnight. it is now 35 but feels like 20 with the wind....

I am going out to the chickens in a bit. I did not even go out to lock them in the crate as there would not be any predators out last night in the cold and weather...they would all have gone in the crate so wasn't too worried about them staying together to stay warm.

Trucks have been out on the roads, I imagine spreading stuff for all the slick spots. It does not look like it is scraped to the pavement but then the wind blows on this ridge and drifts it over alot.

Official snow total was 9-10 inches just a few miles north of here. I expect that is about right. The wind sure makes that a difficult thing to measure.

The wind is just blowing out there...I never lived out in the midwest or the plains states... but if it does this all the time they can have it. I could not take the relentless blowing.

Last night the water to the bathtub was frozen... I put a heater to blow in there and after opening up the faucets, it finally thawed enough to start running... first the hot and then about 20 minutes later the cold got flowing. I took a good hot shower and made sure that I kept the heater on low and kept the room a bit warmer. It is fine this morning. The pipes run near the outside wall.
There was a terrible draft in the bedroom and I was having trouble keeping the temp up to 50. The windows they had installed several years ago for the mom are not worth diddly.... I took just clear packaging tape and taped up the sides where the windows slide up and down... and there was cold air coming in the bottom where they are supposed to close down tight. Then I took a blanket all folded up and had to stuff it all along the window trim, below the window, where you could feel the draft... It was really bad. I had some water in a bottle on the floor and it had ice in it. This coming year I will have to see about addressing this problem; after the weather gets nice and all. I think that a storm window is in order for starters... these are double pane windows that the previous owner was saying how good they are and I am not at all impressed...Better than single pane I realize.. but the installation was definitely sub par in the bedroom one. BRRR it was cold... but after doing the quickie fixit it got much warmer. I can't understand how the window just must not fit in the space and they did a crap job of shimming and insulating it out. It is on the side where the carport is only a few feet from the side of the house... but the wind whipped through that narrow "alley space" like a wind tunnel.

I made chipped beef on toast for breakfast this morning. Now getting ready to brave the miserable wind and go out to the chickens with hot water and see what I can get thawed out for them to drink. Next 2 days are supposed to get nicer... sunny and up into the low 40's for day temps and 20's at night, then drop off again to 30's and teens the end of the week.

Haven't talked to DS yet... I am sure he is doing farm stuff as he should have gotten off at 8 .

 

[Bruce]

but the wind whipped through that narrow "alley space" like a wind tunnel.

Yep. Does the same thing here between the little barn which is maybe 20' west of the house and between the little barn and the big barn 15' to its north. The wind between the little barn and the house pulls the snow out of that area. The wind between the barns drops the snow there.

 

[farmerjan]

Taking a few minute break and ate an avocado for lunch. Still pretty full from the chipped beef this morning.

The wind was cold when I went out to the chickens. The water had some ice in it but not frozen hard. Took another gallon or so out so poured it into the other waterer that was pretty frozen. It was actually not bad in the greenhouse/shelter. At least no wind in there.
Picked up 2 eggs, 2 different shades of brown so pretty sure 2 different hens again. That works for me.

Tromped through 6-10+ inches of snow in different places so safe to say we had about 8-10 inches total. It has been mostly cloudy all day. Temps are dropping a bit... hit 37 for a little bit but now down to 29 and it will only drop off now. But the forecast is for mid-upper 30's tomorrow and 40's Wednesday.
Unfortunately they are calling for another "system" to come in this coming weekend again....It seems that we get on these patterns that bring weather "events" in most every weekend.

Haven't talked to DS and I am sure he is home sleeping now so won't bother him. Don't know how this is going to affect getting the rest of the cattle moved. I am not thrilled with so many still out on pasture and they need to be preg checked and the calves weaned off the cows.... I am not in a place to do anything on my own....just frustrating.

 

[farmerjan]

Well DS called a little bit ago. I saw him go across the road and get some hay. He went just down the road, into the nurse cow field and got down the hill too far, hit some mud/soft ground and buried the truck Called me and I met him at the road... he walked up through the field, and I took him down to the barn and we got the big tractor. Rode up the road with him, got in the truck and he put a chain to the tractor and we finally got it out. The tractor had started to slide sideways on the hill.... but then he got it going and luckily the chain came loose as he went sideways, so I managed to keep the truck going and got up on the flat. Then he unloaded the bale there and said he was going to roll some of it out and take the rest to his sheep with the tractor, so I just brought the truck back to the barn and got my car and came on home. Reminds me of so many other times when we only had a 2 wd tractor and the truck and had to use both to get in and out of some of the places we rented.

He has to go back in tonight. Said he was exhausted this morning and just went home to sleep so he could get up and come do some feeding this afternoon. That was fine except that he got behind a bit when he got stuck & we had to do all that. Oh well, part of it.
The road here at the house is still pretty snowy/icy from the wind blowing and the drifting across the road. He said with this wind there are alot of roads with drifting snow again....
I was supposed to go in for a PT session in the pool tomorrow, but I cancelled. I don't want to go out in the cold with the wind and all, and go in the pool and go back out into the cold and maybe catch a cold or something. No sense in tempting it. I have a regular session on Thursday....
So I am going to go in and wash my hair so it will have time to dry before I go to bed.... Ate the small second steak in the package I thawed and a small bowl of baked beans.

The temps are down to 26, wind is still blowing but not quite as bad as earlier. Hoping it will die down tonight and be a little more comfortable tomorrow.

 

[Mini Horses]

Wind here was killer all day! With temps and wind chill it was a real problem. Today, better they say -- low 40s and only 5-10mph. Would be great!!! I can feed the hay, not wear it.. Since it was fed in barn, more waste, fights, and then Into bedding! Hated bedding with good, expensive hay but also glad they had deeper to lay on. . Bite the bullet!! Toss in extra!!

 

[Baymule]

Y’all are sure having a miserable time of it. Hopefully it won’t last too much longer and it will warm up. Jan what about taking the trim off the windows and foam insulating around them? It might fix the draft problem.