Random Five Friday...

It's been a while since I've joined up with Random Five Friday...but today's a great day to do it!  A lot has been happening to keep us busy around here.

1.  Lancaster County was hit by a nasty ice storm this week.  Wednesday morning was a mess!  It's amazing what 1/4" - 1/2" of ice will do to trees and power lines.  There are still many people without power, and it looks like it could be the end of the weekend until everyone is back in service.  We are very fortunate here, in that our lights never even blinked.  Jim was prepared to hook up the generator if we needed it, but we were glad to let it parked in the shed this time.

This is our rental property across the road.  Those old Chinese Elm trees are huge...and old...and they don't withstand stress very well.  Early in the morning, we heard "crack"..."crash"...over and over again. Thankfully no branches hit the house or any power lines.  Although it looks like a tornado hit, no major damage was done...

2.  A friend sent me this picture of our farm that she took on her phone.  The red of the Farmall M, and the orange of the manure spreader were the only traces of color!  This is what it's looked like around here for a while now...all white...

3.  I took this picture of the corner hutch the other day when I was feeding calves.  Pretty soon the snow will be melted (hopefully!!), the grass will be green, and Jenna will have two little 4-H goats in this pen again.  I might even put the chickens in here once it greens up, to give their pen a break...

4.  We got rid of this guy the other day.  He was little, but ornery, and there's no sense in keeping a bull that has an attitude...

5.  Jim and I attended the funeral for the mother of one of his closest friends recently, and I just had to share this picture.  The farmer and his wife don't always wear barn clothes!

Hopefully you're staying warm, wherever you are.  Have a great weekend!

Ice...

Last night at bedtime, the forcast was for freezing rain and ice over night into the morning...then turning to rain by lunch time.  We really weren't sure what to expect.  When I went out to check a springer before heading to bed near midnight, it was just beginning to mist lightly.  (yes...I should have been in bed much earlier, but I fell asleep on the sofa... :)

At 3:45 am, we woke to the sound of crashing tree branches...our neighbor has a lot of old trees on his property, and though they've been trimmed, the weight of the ice accumulating on the branches must have been the last straw.  Over the course of thirty minutes or so, we heard crash after crash, as the ice did it's work. 

Thankfully, the electric lines weren't on his side of the road!  Losing power was our greatest concern.  We do have a generator, but it's a real hassle to hook it up...and when we use it, everything takes longer.  It generates enough power to run the vacuum pump (to milk), the compressor (to cool the milk), the silo unloader and the barn cleaner, but not all at one time!

So...we decided that we might as well get up and do the milking a little early, in case the ice got worse, tearing power lines...or someone slid into a pole!  We weren't so early that we affected the cows' schedule too much...too much change in routine isn't good for milk production!

By breakfast time, we had mostly light rain...however the ice accumulation on the trees remained, and was beautiful...

                                         

When I was feeding the chickens, I had to laugh...this chicken wanted to come out, but wasn't sure about the snow.  I call her "Fraidy Chicken"...

A few others were a little braver...

...and when I left the chicken house and headed out of the pen...I had to laugh some more.  That's Murphy, the sentry at the gate.  She knows she's not allowed inside the chicken pen, but she will push every limit she's given!  The chickens were very aware of her presence, but didn't seem too worried!

All in all, we didn't fare too badly this time around.  Yes, school was closed again, and the kids are going a little stir crazy (or maybe it's me!)  but it could have been oh, so much worse. The rain is making a sloppy mess, but somehow that seems better than another foot of snow and temperatures in the single digits.  We're counting our blessings!