Winter Storm Olive?

 Uh OH!

The Weather Channel named this storm: Olive.

The headlines read: Winter Storm Olive's Cross Country Trek will Pack Blizzard Conditions, Heavy Snow, and Ice. It will be a multi day event.

Well now. What a perfect time to need a repair person or a new home heater/furnace, right?

We may be south of the heaviest snow line? We may get heavy wet snow and then lots of ice and winds?

I spent all of Monday reading books and waiting for the Tech to call us. Yes, we have cell service, but no cell service in most parts of our house. We are in a hollow and have a house with a metal roof. I can make calls on the porch and I can always get texts, but phone calls don't always come through.

So we need a land line.

This morning it is 12 degrees outside with winds. Thank goodness, we are not on the ridge top and in the winds. It would feel much colder in the open.

Well, February snow storms are not unheard of around here, we've had lots of them in the past.

Feb 20th 2019:

Feb 24th 2019:

Feb 18th 2020:

I guess some snow would be fine. I'm not looking forward to any ice or winds though.

We'll see how this plays out. If we have power and stay warm I won't worry. Thankfully, I had the sense to hire someone this winter to plow us out if needed too!

I guess I can polish up my snowshoes and charge up my pocket camera so I can at least enjoy the storm if it hits.

Update ~~

I don't know why I didn't think of them before but when I ran errands I stopped at the Vet's office and saw the billboard for the Plumbing Company I used last year. 608 Plumbing For All of Your Plumbing and Heating Needs!

A tech will be out today to assess the situation and give recommendations for a new heater and hopefully get the old one running well enough to be safe.

Really. I do read billboards, but rarely ever really take note of them.

Can I say this?

 Love thy neighbor.

It happens here in my little rural area. On our 1 mile ridge road, I have 3 neighbors. 

Yesterday I cancelled my gym workout. I can't see clearly past 20 or so feet. Let's add blowing snow and roads that are not defined well on the ridge and are hard to see on good winter days. Add snow, ice, drifts, and poor vision.

You get that right? 

However, I also know how folks that can't see well do get around. If you have traveled the same roads for 30 years, you know exactly where the signs are and intersections are. Actually, you can fake it pretty well. I told that to the eye doctor. But I won't risk that behavior as I am the only driver left in our house.

A few days ago one of the neighbors walked down the driveway. I was outside and I was totally startled when I realized that the only way I knew who they were was by how they walked and the size of the little human with the taller human.

Olive texted me again to ask where I got my Feed and was there a closer place to get it? I told her where and then she asked if I wanted to go with, she knew I was running low but cancelled my driving today because of the blowing snow and poor back roads.

She said she'd pick me up and we'd go get feed for the old mule and she could get chicken feed and bedding.

Wow, was that a trip! She is a brave woman to drive through the bad weather. However she was our rural mail person for a couple of years, so she has some great experience with bad roads and weather.

We took the back roads which were the only way to the closest feed store. We actually laughed and ohhhed and ahhhed at the little drifts and icy patches we found. 

My driveway had been plowed and in the time we went and came back the hill was nearly all ice. Olive giggled and said..."Hey, we are okay! We are sledding down your hill!" And yep, her ABS's were cranking away as we drifted down.

She was able to drive right up and out. Thank goodness for her Subaru. 

I took Charlie out for a walk in the afternoon in the woods as the winds were whipping on the ridges and causing lots of drifting snow.

Charlie loved the snow.

I watched him hunt mice for about 15 minutes. He is so funny!

Must be mice in there!

Dig dig dig!

Sniff sniff, dig, shake...

and then...

What????

I headed back out to go check fences and found two trees down across the summer pasture fence from the heavy snow. The plastic insulators broke so it will be easy enough to fix come spring. A hand saw should do the rest.

Last night I got a text from the brand new neighbors on the ridge.

You are invited! Sledding party at our house at 10AM. Bring your own sled or we will provide you with one.

Gosh! How much more fun can it be? 

Lucky me -- to have such good people on our ridge. My two new neighbors include me even though I don't have kids and I am old enough to be their parents. How cool is that? 

Winter Skidsteer Polar Vortex Storm

Well, that should cover just about all of it. At least what I am thinking about this morning.
Winter.
Well there it is. Winter is here. I would have preferred the snows without the storms and predicted subzero temperatures.

It was -25 F and calm yesterday morning. The sunrise was beautiful with purples and pinks. By 9AM it was only 14 below [well, that is what my smarty pants phone said as we no longer have an outdoor thermometer...which I will fix today..]. I did chores and Charlie went with me for part of the time. I must say, he is a sturdy little dog. But he is young too.
Dixie didn't want to come out of her hay bale igloo in the shed. I poked my head in there and it was pretty warm. 

By mid afternoon I got a text from Justin. He said he wanted to come down and put the skid steer tire on. 
Well we got the tire on. However, in order to put the tracks on, we needed to start it and lift it with the bucket and set it down...well, I won't bore you with the details but all of the rest of the work hinged on starting the skidsteer. 

I had it plugged in. It wouldn't start. We figured it was the battery. I'd recalled that Rich had said at one point that he probably would need a new one? Rich didn't recall that. 
His memory is fuzzy about most things these days. The last time he was in the shed he was frustrated because 'something' wasn't there that he had put there. I found the items in his truck later and told him ... well, that didn't go so well either.

[I have to keep recalling that Rich's anger that get's directed at me is not really his normal. It is the frustration, the pain, the feeling of helplessness from all of his illnesses that he can only express his frustration in the tone of anger. He used to be able to stomp out to the shed and fix everything himself. Not any more.]

Anyway.

The conclusion was we'd have to wait for better weather. Justin could open the battery compartment and charge the battery and we could finish the job. But it would be a while. 

Justin promised to plow us out during the next storm. He wouldn't take any payment, relaying that when they needed help, I was always there and I took care of all of their chores when they went on vacations. Even up.

So the skidsteer is stuck right there in the way. I can't get the big old truck out to get small square bales, but I have the monster bales to use.

It looks like a very cold wintry week coming up. 

And the Vortex is coming!

The Skidsteer saga continues. I told Justin at this point I'd rather hire someone to plow this winter. I'd get the skidsteer parked and send it in come spring time to get overhauled or just sell it.

Next Saturday it looks like it may get up close to 30 degrees. That will be the day to start the skid steer, charge the battery and finish putting the tracks back on it. 

For today, I'm getting the usual things in town and then parking the 'Ru in a spot to make it easier for Justin to plow after the storm. 
One day at a time.

Skidsteers, Charlie, Mules oh my

We had a nice snow fall. The NOAA said we were going to have a Winter Storm Warning with blowing snow and then dangerously cold temperatures.

The snow started early Friday and we'd had a couple of inches by chore time.

The mules and 15 waited in the woods for supper with their snow blankets on.

One may think that they would be cold.
However, if you were to stick your hand under that snow, you would find a warm fluffy layer of their winter coat and their skin is warm. I do take my hands and run it up under the snow-coat just to be sure.

By morning we'd had about Charlie Chin High Snow. This is our new measure. How high is the snow on Charlie?

Here Charlie plows through the snow while assisting with chores.
I fueled up the skidsteer and plugged in the engine block to warm it up as I went in the shed to get my sled of hay.

The mules follow me along the fenceline with little grunts and sometimes a little braying. If they hear the sled on snow or on grass, they are coming at the trot.
I used to use this sled to lead our cattle from one paddock to another.

Feed. Animals always follow feed.

Mica has been moved to her own little paddock with Lil' Richard. She eats so slowly that the other mules were limiting her intake of food.
Anyway, Charlie quickly decided that sitting on the porch was wiser. He could watch me walk in the deep snow and he could sit in the sun.

Here is the view from the porch. The heated water tank is to the right outside of the photo and in the wooded area. The one nice thing about living in a hollow is that the cold winds can be dodged just by moving around most of the time.
The mules by noon were taking naps in the sunlight right there were I had fed them.

I started up the skidsteer and everything went very well. I was almost finished when I thought I'd take one more swipe by the house and make it easier to park by the kitchen door to unload groceries. This is a tight area and normally I scoop up snow and back out.
I decided to make a tight turn instead.

[Truth be told, skid steers do make tight turns all of the time, that is the beauty of having one.]
For whatever reason I heard a loud PFFFFT and immediately shut it down. I climbed out and saw that a tire came off the rim. Uh...Oh.

Rich was upset. He got that quiet tone with me and told me how much I messed up in no uncertain terms. He went on and on citing multiple issues about how difficult things were now. How I'd left it in a bad place, how I'd messed up.

In some ways I knew it may have been his frustration in knowing that he couldn't get out there and 'fix' the problem. He went on to tell me that I'd ruined a tire and that it could cost $150 just for a tire. I thought that was odd since that sum of money was not an issue.
I was driven to tears and then I got angry.
Nope. He couldn't be nice.

So I walked out of the house and called my neighbor's cell phone and left a message.
When I came back in Rich demanded to know what was for lunch. I wanted to knock my Halo off and tell him to figure it out. I wanted to tell him off. Instead I took out the dish I'd prepared for him the night before and set it on the counter.

Let him figure out how to warm it up while I figure out how to solve the skidsteer issue.

I must admit. I'd done a pretty good job so far.

And the problem could most likely be solved. Yes it was cold and yes I may have damaged the tire. But these things can be fixed and it was not gloom and doom. Nor was the world going to end because the tire came off the rim.

I went out with a scoop shovel and waited for Justin to arrive.

The issue became this. How to get the metal tracks off with the bucket in the way. Okay we used the boom lock out.

Then we used the bucket to pick up the front of the skidsteer and blocked it to keep it in place with the tracks folded out of the way.

After we figured out all the logistics, we were able to take off the tire and the rim. The bead was broken on the outside of the tire but not the inside.
Justin attributed it to low tire pressure and me turning over and over again.

These are things I wouldn't really know as a novice skidsteer driver. He was calm and explained everything he was doing and his reasoning behind it.
He also told me that I should think of this as a learning experience...he did.

By dark we had the tire off.
We'd spent 2 hrs in the cold working together.

By supper it seemed Rich was no longer upset, in fact he seemed to have forgotten the incident.

Charlie? He was content in bringing peace to the house by snuggling up to the Grumpy Guy and dropping a tennis ball at his feet.

So it goes.

Today it is frigid.
So I think I'll go for a nice long walk down the valley out of the wind.

After all, I have the gear for it and I can't stand to sit inside all day.

Tomorrow I'll take the tire into the shop and hopefully Justin and I can put things back together. I will learn more than I need to know about skidsteers.

Plus this spring I will have the implement company we bought it from come out and get it. It needs an overhaul/maintenance job. I'm not really prepared to learn all about changing filters and fuses, hydraulic fluids, and other things...not yet.

Snow Day

Storm Warning!
5 to 10 inches of heavy wet snow!

Well that is what the weather service said. I awakened to a heavy snow falling outside when I let Morris out pre dawn. It was coming down and it was heavy and it was wet as predicted.

Snow slid off the metal porch roof in clumps making 'whoomph' noises in the dark.
I stepped outside for a bit and thought I heard some Thunder. It was predicted that we'd have a Thunder Snow.

I grabbed some coffee and watched out the window until daylight. The mules and the horses moved around eating and drinking. Everything was pretty peaceful.

Some of the animals took snow baths, rolling in the fresh snow and then leaping up and shaking. The younger animals took to running and chasing each other, much like children will do when playing.

I don't mind snow storms, that is, as long as I am not stuck driving somewhere in one. I like it best when I can enjoy it with snow shoes or skis.

I actually had promised to do some domestic things around the house and one of those things was make chocolate chip cookies.
Ugh.
I wanted to go out in the snow storm and explore...however domestic duties called.

I don't like baking. However...sometimes we have to appease our spouses. Baking cookies appeals to his sense of well being and his sweet tooth.
Plus it makes him feel special.

And when he feels special, he is can be very sweet. And I can usually get 'what' I want.
However there was no second agenda and I just actually felt like doing some baking while I cleaned house and arranged things for the company we were to have this weekend.

Of course I made an afternoon trip with the camera when I took the egg shells to the compost pile. Well I managed a small detour. I walked out into the Merry Meadow and enjoyed the views.

When I got back towards the house, I saw my 'upstairs' neighbor out and about with her kids.
She was practicing with her cross country skis.

I put my bucket inside the house and Morris could hear the neighbor kids playing.
He kept going in circles and whining.

Finally I took him out and up to the neighbor's field. Morris is always a hit with the kids.

Run run chase run is the best game they can play.
Except when Allie chooses to play Tug of War with her gloves....

And...
Morris is happy to oblige. Which causes hysterical laughter even when I try to stop him from doing so.

The day ended quietly as it was ushered in. The snow kept coming down.

Grumpy Husband plowed the driveway. I really know that he wasn't grumpy over that aspect. He loves his newer skid steer. I'm sure he'd rather be driving that than doing most anything else.

When the neighbor's husband got home he plowed also with his tractor. Men, snow, and machines. They say they don't like it. But secretly they do.

Women, snow...and cross county skis.
Yes, we met up at the mailbox on the ridge late, donned our headlamps, and enjoyed the beautiful new snow.  We managed to make one pass to break a nice trail and then fly around the ridge a second time.

We have company coming today with their dog Scout. Morris and Scout like each other well enough outside but inside Morris tends to be a bit cranky.
There are day hikes and night hikes planned as well as visiting.

I'm so glad it snowed again and took the dull browns of mud and changed it to a beautiful white.