Winter? Or Spring?

A month.  That's how long it's been since I've posted.  I'm in a blogging slump right now, but stick around!

We've been keeping busy with regular stuff...you know, milking, feeding, cooking, cleaning, repeat.  The weather, however, has been very confused!

Two weeks ago we were running around in shorts and T-shirts...at least Jim was!...and last week we had a "blizzard".  Stella, the nor'easter paid us a visit on Monday evening and 'til she was gone, we had somewhere around a foot of snow.  We didn't know what to think!  It was pretty cold, but seemed frigid, considering the unusually warm weather we had all winter.

Here are a few pictures from the storm...

On Tuesday morning, just after I got up, and the snow wasn't too deep yet, I snapped this picture of the daffodils along the south side of the house...

The biggest concern for us was when the milk truck would come, and whether or not we would be ready for him.  He showed up just as we finished milking, and just as Jim was ready to hop on the skid loader to open the driveway.  It was pretty good timing, actually, because the snow was only about 6" deep at the time, so between the chains on his truck and Jim on the skid loader, he came and went with little trouble...

That's always a relief.

When I fed the calves in the morning, I glanced in the chicken pen, and was surprised to see these hens all huddled together outside...

I have no idea what they were thinking, but there were no tracks around them, so I'm assuming that they huddled together outside all night, with the snow coming down around them.  I carried them inside the shed, where they happily joined their friends for the duration of the storm.  They're fine...and laying eggs quite happily now that the snow is gone!

I got a new phone, and was having fun taking pictures in the snow.  This is one of the hens that was outside all night...she was intrigued by her first selfie...

Now, a week later, most of the snow is gone, except for a few big piles.  It had better be...because SPRING is officially here, and I'm happy about that! While I don't like losing an hour of sleep over the change to daylight savings time, the longer daylight hours energize me.  I feel so much more motivated to get things done when there is daylight and sunshine!

One thing I've been working on the past few weeks is something called 40 Bags in 40 Days.  You may have seen postings on face book about this, or read about it online somewhere.  I'm not following it to a "T", but I'm working on cleaning out and simplifying.  It coincides with lent, and is so satisfying to me.  I've cleaned out closets, cupboards and book shelves. (why was I keeping things in my kitchen cupboards that I never use?) When I'm done cleaning out, I'm planning to scrape wall paper in the upstairs hallway.

Enough rambling...

I hope you're seeing signs of spring wherever you are!

Digging Out...

It's good to be on this side of the "Blizzard of 2016"...

Anticipation can be the worst, I think.  Wondering how much snow we will get?  How cold will it be?  How long will it last?  Will we lose power?  Will the milk truck get here?

...and so on...

Now that it's over, we can deal with the facts.

It was an almost record setting storm for the east coast, with snowfall totals in our area ranging from 26" - 30".  It was hard to measure accurately, for the strong winds that came along with the storm.  On one side of our house you could still see tufts of grass peeking through the snow, while in other areas there were big drifts.

The first snow flurries started right on time, Friday evening around 6 pm. This is the first picture I took on Saturday morning, 6 am, looking out the porch door towards the barn, while my coffee brewed...

Jim had already headed out to start milking, and Daniel was coming on his four wheeler.  He lives about 1 1/2 miles away, and we figured that was the best bet to get him here.  Getting him home late morning was another story! The roads weren't plowed, and even a four wheel drive pickup couldn't get through.  A snow mobiler came the rescue, and that was probably more fun than a truck ride anyway!

It was a long day.  The snow just kept falling, and falling, and the wind blew everything shut as quickly as it could.  We were expecting the milk truck, so Jim and Daniel worked together to open the driveway as much as they could. Daniel ran the skid loader to move the snow off the driveway...

...and Jim used the D-17 to scrape...

I had taken extra feed to the chickens on Friday, but they still needed fresh water to drink.  The trek across the chicken pen...after fighting to get the gate open...was slow going, with snow above my knees by late morning...

This is looking back towards the barn from the calf hutches.  The hutches are on the south side of the house, in a protected area, so the calves were cozy, but the path getting there was hard walking through deep snow.  Our tracks were almost blown shut in the ten minutes we were down there...

The milk truck never made it yesterady, but we were fine.  We can hold extra milkings in our bulk tank, and so those who were full, got picked up first. The roads were horrible.  Those truck drivers have to have nerves of steel to navigate in weather like this!  Next time you drink some milk, thank a trucker!

The snow stopped last evening around bed time, and things look and feel totally different this morning!

Murphy and Snickers ventured outside, after being cooped up in the barn all day yesterday.  The path that Jim shoveled to the hutches last evening stayed open...

This view is much cheerier than the same view yesterday, isn't it?

The roads are passable again...

After milking this morning Jim began widening the driveway for the milk truck, who we expect this afternoon. The driver just called to see if we are ready for him.

In fact...here he is!

We were waiting to dig out our cars, because the snow around them will get thrown on to the driveway.  Now that the milk truck is in, I guess we'd better get to work!

Snow makes everything look so clean and bright...

I still had a hard walk to the chicken pen with water, but I got eleven eggs, even though they were closed in their shed for a day and a half!  Good girls!

We are so fortunate.  We never lost power, which would have thrown a whole other wrench into things.  Yes, we have a generator, but it's one more thing to fool around with when we're already cold and tired, so we're glad to not have to use it.

Looking back, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, and for that we are thankful!

Here It Comes...

Ready or not, here comes the first snowfall of the season...

...and it's gonna be a be a DOOZY!

That's my "Starts with D" for Friday's Hunt #4, with Teresa at Eden Hills. I guess you'll have to take a description of doozy, rather than a photo! We spent a lot of time getting ready today.  The forecast is for 18"-22", with strong winds and some white out conditions.  The milk truck is due tomorrow morning, and that could be an adventure.  Those truck drivers have to go out in all kinds of conditions, just like the farmers do.

Jim put as many round bales up in the barn as he could fit...backed in a full wagon load of corn fodder for bedding...(the barn hill gets slippery and hard to navigate in this kind of weather!)...we got a load of sawdust earlier this week...the calves are cozy...the chickens have extra feed...and he's getting the generator ready, just in case.

This is my "beautiful" selection.  This morning's sunrise...the calm before the storm...

And for my "week's favorite" I chose a picture of the beautiful flowers on my windowsill.  They're what's left of the bouquet we gave Jenna after her District Orchestra concert over the weekend.  Gerbera daisies are some of my favorites, and seeing them smiling at us while anticipating a snow storm makes me happy!

It's 7 pm, and it's been snowing lightly for about an hour.  The cows are milked, the milk is cold, the pipeline is washing, the coveralls are in the washer.  Now we wait.

I hope you're warm and safe this weekend, wherever you are!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet...

You know that saying about the mailman?  Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet…will stop this courier…I forget the exact wording, but regardless…it applies not only to the mailman, but to the milkman as well.

One of the people that we rely on regularly is the milkman.  It seems like a lot revolves around his schedule…

“Don’t park in the driveway; the milk truck comes today!” 

“Make sure there’s soap and acid in the tank washer; the milk truck comes today!”

“We’d better get started in good time this morning; the milk truck might be here early today!”

This is Tony, our regular milk truck driver.  He’s a nice guy…he comes in the driveway nice and easy, takes care not to drive on the grass, and doesn’t seem too get too worked up about anything!  He’s even stayed for Sunday lunch!

He rinses out the tank before starting the automatic tank washer before he leaves...

We ship our milk to a local co-op.  The milk goes anywhere from Baltimore to New Jersey to several other plants in Pennsylvania, including Turkey Hill, a local plant that processes milk and makes delicious ice cream!



Occasionally, bad weather makes headaches for the milk truck driver and the farmer both...

Last winter, we had two back to back "blizzards", totalling approximately 48 inches of snow in 10 days.  We were expecting the milk truck right in the middle of the worst of the storm.  Jim spent all morning on the tractor, trying to keep the driveway open.  Tony called us about 30 minutes before he thought he would arrive, so we knew when to expect him.  All of a sudden, there he was...

We were his last stop before leaving for the processing plant, so he had to seal the compartments on top of the truck...

And off he went...loaded up with some sandwiches and a fresh thermos of coffee.  Jim followed him to make sure he would make it back out to the main road.  He almost made it, but had to stop just before the top of a big hill to wait for an Amishman who was picking his children up from school on his tractor...

Jim and some other neighbors got him going again, and another farmer came with his tractor and snowblower to help him the rest of the way out to the main road.

When it comes to picking up and delivering milk, the milkman is just as reliable as the mailman.  We rely on him, and eveyone works together in bad weather to see that he can get through!