Snow and sun

I shoveled the half inch of snow that fell overnight.  Then I shoveled the snow off the garage roof.  An hour or so before sunset the sky cleared and I saw the sun.

The 'bumps' in hayfield are where the alfalfa sits higher up than the grass under the snow.

Snow on roofs

The weather forecast calls for a snow/rain mixture on Friday.  Rain added to all this snow is not good as it will only add to the weight.  It appears a neighbor's hay shed's roof collapsed under all this snow a few days ago.

I'm concerned about my buildings so today I started to clean snow from the roofs.  I got the snow off the house's entryway roof and a little off the house roofs next to the entryway.  Then I cleaned the patio roof and started on the tool shed roof as it got dark.  I also cleaned up the rest of the snow that slid off the pole shed onto the ground and my walking path.

I have lots more roofs to clean.

My friend Donna lent me her roof snow rake once her sister was done with it.

Before

After

Once the snow was off the roof I had to shovel it again to move it away from the house.

For Daisy's antics during my snow roof cleaning, follow this link to her blog: http://tallpinescat.blogspot.com/2015/01/snow-roof-cat.html

Shoveling snow for hay

I wanted to get back to feeding the cattle large hay bales.  Feeding the cattle small bales three times a day for the past week was getting old.  The problem: two feet of snow.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday shoveling a path from the large hay bales out to the north pasture near where I had the metal feeder. Two feet of snow was too much to drive through much less pull a large bale through.

Shovel.  Shovel. Shovel.

More shovel.  More shovel.  More shovel.

The snow was too deep to roll the metal feeder so I had to shovel a smaller path from the metal feeder to where I would pull the bale. 

Then shovel a path through the corral so I could open the gates and then drive out to the bales.

Finally just before dark I pulled a large bale out to the pasture.  I discovered I hadn't made the path wide enough for the initial turn away from the bales.  The pickup ran up into the snow and stopped.  After backing up and reorienting the pickup I was able to pull the bale out to the pasture.

The cattle were happy to be able to 'pig out' on the hay.  This is how much they ate by next morning.

Much of what I shoveled on Saturday (to the gate).

Much of what I shoveled on Sunday.

Today I prepared the next bale for moving.  That meant getting a chain around the pallet the bale sits on, then pulling the bale out a few feet to ensure I can move it later.

I chatted with my neighbor today as I prepare the next bale move.  When he saw what I had shoveled he said, "No wonder you are thin."

Night photo of pasture trees

Metal roof snow

This afternoon I finished clearing snow off the driveway.  Now I can reach the road.  Tomorrow is grocery day.  It was colder and windier today so I was glad I only had to toss snow downwind to clear the driveway.

The snow is sliding off metal roofs. After clearing the driveway I shoveled the snow that slid off the roof so far.

  So much for the path I cleared the other day.

Then until it got dark I shoveled to create a path between the pickup and the corral.  I'm 3/4s the way there.  After I get groceries tomorrow I will continue shoveling snow so I can reach the larger hay bales, then create a path so I can pull one to the pasture.  My pickup is four wheel drive so I imagine I can reach the bale without shoveling, but I doubt I can drive through the snow while pulling a large bale through all this snow.  I had trouble pulling a bale through five inches of snow... another 19 inches would stop me.

I am creating some very large snow piles here and there.

More shoveling

Another day of shoveling snow.  I now have almost half of the driveway cleared of snow.  The wind died down and the temperature stayed in the low to mid 20s F so that made shoveling easier as the snow did not stick to my shovel or blow back into my face.

Below is tomorrow's work and then I will finally be able to drive to the road.

No snowplow today.  A road grader drove by instead.  The grader left a giant berm of snow across the driveway entrance.  I had to shovel the berm away before it settled and hardened.

Day after Snowmageddon

After a short bit of freezing rain last night, it quit raining and snowing.  Tuesday was calm and quiet.  Blue clouds but no precip.  The temperature today got just above freezing.  This made shoveling the snow that much harder.  It is so annoying when so much snow sticks to the shovel.

I took advantage of the lull and shoveled snow.  I re-cleared all the paths.  I shoveled a path to the large hay bales, all of which were buried under snow.  What normally would take me 5 minutes of shoveling to make a path to the bales took me over a half hour.  I cleared snow off a corner of the tarp and left the rest of the snow at the tarp and bales for now.

I shoveled a path all the way around the house.

I shoveled a path to the garage and cleared enough snow to be able to open the garage door (the door swings out when opened).  I may be able to open the garage door but I'm still unable to drive my car outside the garage.

I shoveled a short section (the easiest to clean) of the driveway.

At this rate it will take another two days to clear the rest of the driveway so I can go uptown to get groceries.

The wind as predicted kicked up at dusk.  It is blowing pretty hard right now and is suppose to remain strong for some time. I am hoping the warmish temperature today made the snow 'stick' so it won't blow.  Otherwise it will take me more than two days to clear the driveway.

No snowplows came by today.  No one drove in the ditch.

Snowmageddon

It started snowing on Thursday and hasn't stopped.  Initially the snow was light but after midnight last night it got heavier.   Since the snow started we have gotten 18.8 inches of snow with 8.8 inches since midnight.

Needless to say I am buried. I'm not going anywhere any time soon.  I guess I should have bought an extra gallon of milk when I was at the grocery store last week.

The snow is so deep that is it almost up to my knees.  The snow tops my mud boots and gets inside.  So... I shoveled paths to all buildings (except the garage) and a path to to the corral.  In the corral I shoveled paths to the barn and the wood feeders.  I followed the cattle's path to the metal feeder in the north pasture.

I shoveled a path to the road.  I walked over to Bob and Jan's house and shoveled paths to their doors and garage and shoveled the snow off their deck. I pulled Jan out of the snow when she walked to get their mail and got stuck in the snow.

The road is straight and level but with so much snow it can be hard to tell where the road is and the ditch is. One car slid into the ditch by my fence yesterday morning.  Today three vehicles slid into the ditch between my mailbox and Bob and Jan's house on the other side of the road - and that was after the snowplow had cleared snow.  A snowplow drove by twice this morning.  The snowplow was driving the slowest I have ever seen them drive.  Maybe they weren't sure where the road was.

It snowed so hard I shoveled paths and an hour later had to re-shovel snow off the paths.

Later I shoveled from the house out towards the garage.  I shoveled a lot of snow and make a huge pile of snow but barely made a dent in the area needed to clear.  It's going to take a long time to clear the snow.  Donna offered me use of her second snow-blower but I can't get out of my driveway to go get it.

The forecast is for temperatures above freezing on Tuesday before getting colder again.  Warmer enough to change the falling snow to rain and to make the snow on the ground heavier and harder to clear.

Wednesday strong winds are forecast.

Can I just hibernate until Spring?

So much snow fell it covered the water trough.  I scraped the snow off the trough to find the water hadn't froze overnight.

The hay in the metal feeder had been eaten down to the level of the ring.  The snow buried the remaining hay.  I cleared snow out of the wooden feeder and threw a small bale for the cows and bull.

I used a pitchfork to find hay under the snow in the metal feeder.

The calves...

Look at the snow on the roof of this feeder.

Icicles or strange snow formations?

Cattle photos

Thursday afternoon when I let the cattle out of the corral to get to the large bale of hay in the north pasture they walked in single file to the hay.  Buddy the bull brought up the rear until one cow stopped to look around and Buddy passed her.

The calves back in the corral weren't too happy.  They liked having the cows just across the fence in the corral.

Mama in the lead

Beulah right behind

2013 heifer.  Mother is in next photo.

Beulah's calf from 2013 and Red Angus cow, the last cow I bought.

Buddy

Buddy

New year, same old with hay

It 'warmed' up today.  10 F this morning.  So after tossing a small bale of hay to feed and occupy the cattle I went out to drag another large bale to the feeder in the north pasture.  Time to take a break from feeding the cows small bales of hay multiple times a day.  (I still toss a bale or two to the calves each day).

The large hay bale move didn't go as smooth as last time.  The bale was sitting on two smallish pallets which were partially frozen to the ground.  I finally got the bale and pallets moving but I left some of the bottom boards frozen in the ground (as seen below).

The five inches of snow that fell last week?  I shoveled some of it but left most of it.  Under the snow was ice.  I needed the snow for traction even if it sometimes piled up in front of the bale and pallet as I pulled them.

Getting the bale to the feeder was: take a short run and jerk the bale for a ways until all of the pickup's tires were spinning.  Then repeat and repeat, etc.  A few times I shoveled away the snow that built up in front of the bale.

In the beginning I only had one chain around the pallets.  As it appeared I was moving the pallet more than the bale I added another chain around the bale.  The first pull and one of the hooks snapped off the second chain.  The cold making the chain brittle didn't help.

I reworked the chain and got the bale moving.   Then after a few more jerks I pulled the pallets out from under the bale.

I got another chain and between the three chains I had wrapped the bale good.  I could still pull the bale without the pallets as I was moving over snow and wouldn't damage or ruin the bale.  You can see how the hay made grooves in the snow.

Finally I got the bale to the feeder.


Later in the afternoon I went out to fix up the tarp covering the bales.  Daisy came with me this time.  After getting me up several times in the night to let her outside for short times (still cold- ever hopeful), then later running around the house opening partially shut inside doors and scratching and wanting in closets, Daisy slept in the morning while I moved the bale.