Snow Day!

I'm way behind on 'stuff' but there isn't a whole lot going on around here. 
 

There is Charlie who adores snow and cold. You would not think so with his short legs! He literally snow swims and bounds through the snow. He has more issues with heat than he has with cold it seems.

I have to remind myself that he has a very thick hound dog coat that is moisture resistant.

Below is Siera taking a snooze in the snow. 

At feeding time, they all got squirrely and ran around while I pulled the hay sled through the snow to the feeders.

And then there is the Fearless redheads. They follow the sled and nibble out of it while the ding bat bays run like the sled will eat them.

Sundance~~ I'll just take it from the sled thank you very much!

Charlie, Bear, and I go on a little snowshoe trip to the valley.

An 'outtake' from an idea I had...

The day after the big/little snow. It was below zero.

But that was the day of mighty winds and a trip with a friend to hike along the Kickapoo River and search for ice.

Did I say how much I loved winter? 

Yeah. 

I do.

Dislike this Ice Winter, But...

I have yet to spread our dwindeling supply of sand/rock/salt mix on this trail that I use 3 times a day to feed, water, and take care of our hounds.

I've taken to tying my Yak Traks onto my boots with laces. I could wear my snow shoes with their giant teeth that will grip and dig into the ice, but the Yaks are slightly less cumbersome.

In 3 weeks we've had 3 ice storms. There is another one scheduled for Monday some time. Well, okay the weather is snow/sleet/rain mix.
Since I have our Subaru now parked on the ridge, it will stay there.

I've used hay chaff and dirt from the shed floor on some of our worst walking paths. I've even taken it by the sledfull to the large heated stock tank so the critters could get some grip on the ice.

Amazing how the equine are dealing with it. The mules lead the way and the horses follow carefully. No one has slipped.

Under the ice crusted snow is about 3 inches of ice. Our lane for the skid steer is almost totally useless.

It is so nearly iced up that even with ice picks, the skid steer nearly has an impossible time negotiating the path.
Going up this hill is impossible.

We've decided to use another route for moving round bales for the cattle. That worked okay, but is now fast becoming nearly impossible also.
The ... ahem old skid steer with double the ice piks may have done better, but at this point? I'm not sure.

The Dexter cattle also have adjusted quite well. They have trails that they use and mostly hang out near the feeder.

However, this ice and melt and rain and ice and more melt, then freezing has created some incredible beauty in the creek area.

I finally had a little time to get down and explore. I didn't go far as chores would beckon me back home within an hour.

Many parts of the creek were frozen over completely and in other sections where springs came up kept it flowing.

Water...
Ice...
With water flowing beneath it...

I could have wandered about all day.

And here is the Ice Wall. I would love to get over to the Ice Cave.

However, I can be happy just messing around not too far from home.