Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Well... it was a tough night. Temps down to -3... and even with the faucets cracked open, the water is frozen this morning. I could not leave them open too much or the well pump would keep running and do not need that burned out... So I have opened them all up and will hope that it will thaw but I suspect it is under the house in the crawl space/basement...Just hoping no burst pipes out of it...
The sun is out and it is UP to +6 out there now at 9 a.m.... Might hit 20 today...

Will go out to the chickens to let them out of the crate in a bit. Greenhouse/shelter is in the sun so it will warm some for them. The zipper door has been a PITA to get up and down with the ice and wet freezing it.. and then the cold making it very stiff. If it warms up a bit it will slide easier.

Got water on for hot cocoa to get started... yep, package mix this morning... don't need any more dishes to wash than is absolutely necessary.

House is 66 inside with the heaters. The propane gas in the LR runs constantly... the 2 oil filled radiator heaters are barely keeping up....
Baby, it's cold outside......

 

[Mini Horses]

Sorry about the frozen water. DD is furthest on my well. I can cut off at house and also at barn. Soo I'm good up here but can't use cut off or she has no water. Some above ground at barn, heat tapes and insulated BUT minus degree not good. I told her keep a drip and flush toilets ever couple hrs to keep water moving. So she has running water this morn.

Its -2 here with winds and water tubs freeze back over in short time. But counted all noses at feeding. Cold but ok. Scoffing hay and in barns or by windbreaks.

 

[Baymule]

Y’all hang in there!

 

[CLSranch]

Baby, it's cold outside......

As much as I am glad to see/hear all the Christmas music stop, I always think songs like that and 1 horse open sleigh etc. are more suited to Jan and Feb weather.

 

[Mini Horses]

Winds dropped dramatically, so temps rose to 22 with feel like of 15. Still too cold but improvement from this mornings -2 !! Extra hay. 3x with hot water toting but, made it thru the day. Ditto tomorrow.

Water thaw at your house?

 

[farmerjan]

No, water did not thaw and probably will not thaw for a couple days... until it gets above freezing. Flipped the breaker off so if it should thaw when I am not here, and a pipe has split... it will not spew water all over the place. Tomorrow the temps might hit the upper 20's and Monday should be a little warmer... we will see. I will try it on Monday probably...
Water is frozen in tack room at Deb's also... even with the heater in there; although I had turned it up somemore the other day after all the ice..... but it is not set real high. Her house is fine though. Worse comes to worse, I will go take a shower and wash my hair there.... DS called me to get a ride from the silage bag out back, to the barn so he could get the skid loader out there... just too cold to walk the 1/2 mile or so... and he is still sounding rough from the relapse of the cold he had when he was working all those stupid nights when his boss was off... then I gave him a ride back out to get the truck after he brought the skid loader back to the barn because it is not wanting to start in this cold...he had the truck out there with the feed cart to put the silage in...

It got all the way up to 17 this afternoon... with the sun on the recording thermometer... but it was still breezy and it was just cold....

I am going to bed here in a little bit... tired and a nagging headache too. I did get the little bags for the kids for tomorrow done and the ones for DS and GF....going to read a bit and snuggle down.....

Hope @Baymule had a safe trip to her sister's house with the kids... and she comes back to warmer temps.

Happy Christmas Eve to all.

 

[farmerjan]

Warm 10 whole degrees this morning and up to 25 at noon. Sun is out and chickens were glad to get some "house room temp" water to drink. The wild buff leghorn hen has been in the shelter and has not run out the back... goes to the far corner near the slit behind the straw but when I pour the water she comes back near... one of the lt brahma pullets is a bully towards her.. but at least she hangs around and I am sure is getting something to drink after they have their fill.
Going to DS's GF's parents in a little bit. Otherwise I wouldn't see him... not worth the fight... roll with the punches... But a member on another cattle forum was talking about prices down in SW Va for land and all... and come spring I am going to take a ride and do some looking. The reassessment on this place is high and so would make good equity...this county has ridiculously high taxes too... and becoming more blue with the colleges here and the BS from the professors and all... remember I am 20 minutes from Lexington Va where Sarah Huckabee Saunders was refused service at the stupid RED HEN restaurant with all the "woke servers"...... and as soon as the final settlement of parents place in NH, the small amount that I will get will still be enough that I will have enough to pay off all the credit card balances ( I am carrying a couple that are ZERO interest for 12 months) and hopefully be able to find and pay someone to do some work here...get a few things done I want and then be able to see about possibly finding more land and a better environment for me and what I enjoy doing... or just an investment...
If anyone on here reads the EPOCH TIMES the news through them is even getting more and more scary... and it is not all "red wave" politics.... there are some very interesting articles that are reporting on "blue politics" and not all negative... BUT it is scary of the slant that things are leaningtowards with China and even the things like "assisted suicide" becoming a "norm" in so many "enlightened" countries around the world...

Our moral compass around the world is disintegrating and it is such a sad state of affairs.

Still wishing a Merry Christmas to all and a better New Year for all.....

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday evening. Christmas night. It was a mostly sunny day, temps got up to 31 but enough breeze to still be cold feeling. Still better than the 15 or so the other day.

A nice enough day, got a call from my DS that his father had been invited to GF's parents for Christmas... was that going to up set me??? I said no, it was okay with me... DS said he did not want to blindside me walking in there. My ex is a sad shell of the person he used to be... walks so hunched over that he looks like the hunchback of notre dame.... really sad. But that is partly that he does not keep trying to keep himself in any kind of healthy shape... did not do the exercises after his knee replacement... fell and got an infection and had to have it redone... and has not tried to "push himself" to "do" things... he is 9 years older than me and looks 20 years older... I feel nothing one way or another about his being there.... except he is so isolated that he talks constantly and is an authority on everything... I understand he had a mini stroke and wound up in the hospital for a day or so again... he is weak and falls alot... don't know how much longer he is going to be able to live alone... sorry for my DS and the burden he is carrying for that. I wouldn't wish my ex's negative attitude on anyone...

Came home a bit ago and just locked chickens in for the night; they must've dumped the waterer as is was away from where I put it earlier... going to have to wedge it between a couple bricks or something so they can't flip it I guess. Hopefully the temps are going to go back into the 40's and 50's during the days, so will be back to using the bigger automatic waterer... just not putting as much in it.

Hoping it warms up some tomorrow and I can maybe get some water in the house... or by Tuesday, it is supposed to be up in mid 40's so that ought to help... I will open the doorway into the crawlspace part to let the warmer air in since there is no heat down there... might have to put a small heater down there to facilitate the thawing.... Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings...

I am going to clean up the mess I made and start to get things a little more organized in here... I caught another mouse yesterday... and was thinking that I hadn't seen any for a few days, but saw one run across the floor in the kitchen when I got home... will I never get them gone????

Merry Christmas.

 

[Mini Horses]

I had one in a trap and saw one run by! . So baited some sticky...they do better than the snappers. Little sobs! Warmed to 37, pretty same tomorrow, wind over, which helps! Maybe 15 overnight.

 

[Youngfarmer2019]

Do you have a cat for those mice?? Warmed up to 17 degrees today as apposed to -7 last night and 10 degrees yesterday. I’m on vacation, it should not be this cold