Weather

The end of February and the temperatures are well below normal.

I haven't bothered shoveling the snow from last weekend.  Our normal high temperatures should be 40 F and the snow will melt soon.  The sun is intense, and even though the temperatures had been only getting up to the low 20s F, the snow melted in some areas.

Wednesday morning an inversion was trying to form to cover the Valley as seen below.  Fortunately it dissipated and we had a mostly sunny day.

For this sunset I was able to better capture the color.

Last night the weather got worse.  We were under a blizzard warning last night and today but my part of the Valley did not get it. We only had a little snow and some wind. For a guy who has lived in North Dakota and Minnesota - no big deal.   But local schools and sports were canceled and much was made over a little Winter weather.  Don't get me wrong - it is cold with temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below 0 F.  Daisy really wanted to go outside today but it was cold enough that Daisy got halfway out the door and then changed her mind.

Pruning pasture apple tree

For some reason there is a large apple tree in the pasture.  I don't know how it survived the livestock to grow tall.   It had been neglected and a few years ago I pruned some of it and also lower the tree's height.  Unfortunately I hadn't continued to prune the tree over the past few years.  Today I worked on the tree.  Because I hadn't pruned the tree in a few years I had to mainly work on removing newer branches to open the tree up rather than continuing to work on lowering the tree's height.

Tall pine trees are all around so it is hard to easily see the bare apple tree.  The photos are not the greatest but they are all I have.  I already had started pruning a few branches from the tree before I remembered to take photos.

Before... and after.

Another view of the tree:  Before... and after.

Tonight's sunset

The very end of tonight's sun's light on the mountains.  A minute later and the sun had set.

Melt and snow

We are in a cycle of melting and snowing.  A little here and a little there.  The mountains are getting hammered though.

This morning's view.

BTW: On Daisy the Cat's blog I had earlier spoken about Tammy, Daisy and I watching a horror show.  I was the only one who ended up having a nightmare.  My nightmare dream was that one of the calves got through the corral fence and back to its momma.  The calf drank from momma and I had to start the weaning of the calf all over again!
 

Pruning apple trees

A few weeks ago, before the recent cold spell, back when we were having such nice weather, I pruned the two apple trees in the fruit tree and garden area.  Usually I prune them every Winter. I don't know why but I didn't prune them last Winter.  So they were overdo for a pruning.

I don't have too much of a problem reaching the apples on high when using a stepladder so I put on hold my efforts at slowly reducing the tree's height.  Because the horses are in this area for a week or so each year I am limited in how low I want the lower branches to be.   Mainly I removed the newer branches and did some thinning.

Tree 1: Before and after.

Tree 2: Before and after.

Water and ice

The official low temperature last night was minus 21 F - a new low record.  My thermometer had a low of minus 24 F.  It was minus 22 F when I went outside at 8:30 am to feed the cattle.  All the cattle were frosty white.  So far the cattle seem to be doing well.

Now that the temperatures have gotten frigid I plugged in a light bulb for heat in my little shed for the well.  In case the light bulb burns out I also plugged in a small space heater as a backup.  I like using the light bulb more than the space heater as the light bulb puts out continuous low level heat unlike the heater which goes off and on and heats some parts of the shed more than others.


It is a challenge to keep two livestock water troughs ice free.  I have a heating unit that sits on the bottom of the trough.  In really cold temperatures, and with a full water trough, ice can form on top of the water.

I have a floating water heater that is nice as it warms the top of the water and keeps the ice away. 

But last year the floating unit began to trip my GFCI circuit breaker so I switched to using the bottom sitting heater.  When it wasn't as frigid I was able to alternate water troughs with the heating unit to keep the trough from forming thick ice.  A few days ago I found the floating unit no longer tripped the circuit breaker and began using it.   The other night I found my breaker tripped and I had to stop using the floating unit as a tripped breaker also shuts power off to the other heater.

I suspected the problem was because some water got into the floating unit, though I don't know why that should be a problem.  The bottom sitting unit looks to be the same design with the difference is that the metal is all exposed.   I hung the floating unit over the wood stove and dried it out.  I glued all the seams in hopes of completely sealing the unit so it will work.  So far tonight the floating unit is heating and not tripping the GFCI circuit breaker.

Even after I refill the water troughs old ice usually remains at the place where it froze even though ice does float. The water from the well is so cold the ice doesn't have much of a chance to melt before the water begins to freeze.

Colder

My thermometer said the temperature got down to minus 18 F this morning.  The sky was clear without a cloud in sight.  Our high temperature got a few degrees above zero.

The mountains were pretty.  I took some photos mid day and then at sunset.   Once the sun set it felt even colder.

Mountains in Glacier Park.

Tilted water trough

Before the recent snow, over the past week or two when the weather was nicer, the adult cattle's water trough melted into the ice and snow underneath and the water trough became very tilted.  I had to let the cattle drink most of the water down before I could lift the water trough out of the ice and place boards underneath to level it.