The Big Storm

I awoke at 4:00 this morning, remembering that I hadn't stashed any emergency water rations.  Down I came and checked the situation.  In the basement were 2 filled 5-gallon containers, and 3 empties.  Upstairs they came, and I spent the next 45 minutes cleaning and filling.  But first, Zoë had to go out.  Well...she thought she did. I flicked on the light and opened the door to find the outside hallway filled with snow. 

That's the door to the outside on the right

Zoë looked at it a moment and headed out the second door to the outside.  It was comical to watch:  she trotted about 3 feet and, without missing a beat, trotted back in the door.

After filling the water containers, it was 5:00, almost time to get up anyway, and hallelujah of all hallelujahs, we still had power!  Okay, with the wind howling outside, rattling windows and blowing snow, that might not last.  I turned on the coffeepot so my mother wouldn't have to do without if we lost electricity, and engaged my brain.  It was cold outside.  Thinking about that, I decided to bake some bread and some eggplant Parmesan that I'd been planning for tonight.  Keep the oven going, and at least the kitchen would stay warm.  I mixed together whole wheat bread and put it aside to rise, and then mixed up pita bread dough.  I love fresh pita bread stuffed with salad, and kept that vision in my mind as I rolled out the pita circles.

The risen pita dough

Rolled out and ready to bake

Two done, 6 to go.

 Around 7:00 Zoë asked to go out again.  Same scene, but this time she sniffed the air before she quickly turned and scooted back through the door.  It wasn't until 10:00 that she gave up the fight and stayed out long enough to relieve herself.  Poor mizzable dog!  She was not a happy camper, and neither was I, for I couldn't put off going out to the barn any longer.  I put on two pair of socks, two pair of sweat pants, heavy boots, a  heavy jacket, gloves, hat, and earmuffs, and ventured forth.  All the snow that should've been outside the door was actually inside the door, so the first few steps were clear; then I descended into ever deeper snow drifts, until I was knee deep and struggling to get to the side door of the barn.  No drift against the door, though!  The wind had blown it all away about 6 inches from the door.

My footprints were quickly filled in.

Oh, the shock when I got to the horses!  They were covered with snow, and there was a 2 foot drift against the door of the hay stall!  Slush covered the top of the stock tank, and snow had even blown into the milking area.  Worse, three of the goats were running around.  I thought I'd locked them in their stall, but either they know how to open a slide latch, or I completely missed that one.  I filled their feeder with hay, dumped some Chaffhaye into the round feeders, and secured them.

Magic, bless her cotton-pickin' little heart, had dumped the horses' feeder on the ground and pushed it around the floor.  She's such a darling that way.  Once all the snow was out of the way, I filled their feeder,, made sure the other goat stall was copacetic, and headed back to the house.

The drift against the door--and Magic's handiwork.

The water tank is right next to the outside doors.

Happy horses.  Their feeder is full.

The wind is supposed to let up sometime tonight.  It's still snowing, still drifting.

So far, we haven't been plowed out, so maybe we'll be farm bound for another day or two.  At 3:30 in the afternoon, we still have power, so it looks like all that preparation worked.  I still need to bake the whole wheat bread but I'll do that soon.  I have some other things I want to do first, like write this blog and then kick back for a bit.  I don't mind snowy weather one bit if I don't have to be out in it.