Goodbye stormy weather!

This is where the snow topped out. It was starting to rain as I took this photo; I wanted a record of just how much we got. The expected storm looped over us to the north and we only got 6 inches from it- whew! It rained for most of the afternoon, but fortunately it was not a heavy rain.
My husband brought a snowblower home; he had fixed it for a friend and was allowed to use it in trade.

He widened out all the paths that I had so laboriously shovelled.... now they are about 4 ft wide. I still have major snow on top of my hay but with nice weather here it should come off fairly easily.

The horses are loving the balmy weather. Apparently, the gate into the corral panel pen that is set up inside the mare pen is the ideal location to sun oneself.

I watched the snow come off the barn roof into Beamer's pen- then I had to shovel through part of it to get his feed in for him. He was down at the far end of his pen watching. There is 12 ft of danger zone for the barn.

That fence post is 12 ft. from the barn wall.

One of my friends had her hay shed collapse, with all her hay and 2 horse trailers under it. Major disaster for her. Of course, she has to battle with her insurance company; I think they automatically tell people they aren't covered and hope they will go away and not fight for it.

Our wood shed didn't fare too well either.

We will be happy to tear this down this summer and build one properly and in a better location.

Which brings me to another thing I was going to mention- although you might think we are a bunch of hill billies when you look at the mare shelters and tarps, we really are just doing the best we can with what we have. Over the course of this year, we will get ourselves and the horses set up better, with a nice shelter and a better and more convenient system for horse care, as nothing was set up at all when we moved them here in November- we only had time to set up their basic pen before the hard freeze came. Plans include at least one 3 sided shelter for the mares- preferably 2; and a separate pen with a shelter that can be closed in for foaling and confinement as needed. A lot will depend on how this melt down goes as it will show us where the trouble spots are; the tendency is always to pick a nice flat spot but not if it will be a water trap.

In preparation for the expected snowfall, I finally got some tarps up to act as wind breaks. I don't want to entirely close in the mare's shelter in case one of them needs to escape teeth or hooves. We put up a tarp on the south side; it wasn't quite long enough for the full side but that's ok, that just leaves another escape route while still blocking wind and drifting snow.

Coulee surprised me by being the most curious and least afraid of all the mares. She was right in there supervising.

We anchored the tarp with snow to keep it from flapping in the wind- fortunately, not much wind with this new dump of snow.
Then we added another windbreak by draping a tarp over the corral panels that are set up inside their pen.

Sorry about the blurry photo- still figuring out my new pocket camera- but I included it because it shows just how Coulee got in there, helpful sort isn't she.

Once we got it up and anchored, Rosalee gave it the taste test. Nope, it isn't edible, leave it alone and don't chew holes in it!!!!
Meanwhile. Loretta and Belle stood together at a distance and watched all the proceedings.

We got it done just as the snow started again. Apparently it's mare approved 😤

We are partway through the Pineapple Express snowfall. We have at least 6 inches and it's still coming down. I am sure getting my exercise shovelling! Gotta wear off all those Christmas goodies somehow.
I shovel the path at the horses because I use wheelbarrows to feed with  and I don't have monster snow tires on them! Rosalee is always the most impatient, she hangs out at the gate pawing  or paces the fenceline.

Beamer was not being helpful at all this morning.

Beamer, back up. I'd shovel right to his feet, he'd back a step. Shovel, step. Repeat. Silly boy.

I think he's as sick of the snow as I am!!! It's coming down really hard right now but the good news is that we have a weather change coming, a week of warm weather without snow. Meltdown.... which could bring floods and where the heck is it all going to go? With paths having snowbanks 5 ft. high I might have to wear hip waders! It will be interesting to see if the ground is too frozen for it to sink in  but even if it isn't there will be a saturation point. Stay tuned......

Here is a snow day puzzle to keep you busy.

Batten down the hatches

We are under another storm warning, for about a foot of snow. This sure seems like the winter that won't quit! We still aren't plowed out from Monday's storm so we won't bother until after this next one which is supposed to hit tonight.

The snow in the foreground of this photo is what is on top of the tarps covering my hay. I will get around to shovelling it off eventually!

The skies cleared off last night and there is a 3/4 moon (barely visible in the first photo). Supposed to be a full moon and a penumbrial  eclipse as well as a comet. Click on the link for more info.
This full February moon is known as the Hunger Moon or the Snow Moon. Aptly named!
On the bright side, we are supposed to be back in the sunshine by Friday.  My wonderful husband also put a little sunshine in my life the other day with some lovely yellow carnations. 😍

Snow snow go away

What a day this has been. The howling wind woke us up about 2:30 am, and of course the dogs heard us stirring and had to go out for a pee..... I opened the door for them and quickly shut it again and got into my coveralls and boots and grabbed a shovel to make them a pee trail as there was a lot of snowdrifts that were too deep for Reba to navigate with her weak hind legs.  Not exactly fun in the middle of the night!!!! Got back to sleep for a bit, and in the morning opened the front door to this:

Good thing I placed the shovel right beside the front door after my night shovelling session.

I was plenty worried about the horses as they really don't have a wind break so I headed to the barn after only 1 cup of coffee..... it's usually 2 or 3.... and was wading thigh deep through the snow to get there. I grabbed the calf sled from the wood shed and pulled it down with me as I figured there was no way I could use a wheelbarrow to feed in that kind of snow.  The horses were really happy to see me and plenty hungry but they had to wait while I shovelled a path from the barn to their gate.

They got a couple of bales from my emergency stash in the barn as I had to dig out my haystack.

Won't be using the hitching rail in the near future!!!
The mares did have a lot of ice and snow on them but they weren't shivering. They were insulated pretty well as Loretta shows:

They all had icicles hanging from their flanks and they clinked as they walked.

Coulee looked quite pathetic and she let me know that she was in a hurry to get fed.

I left them happily munching as I went to tend to Beamer. He has a better shelter than they do, but with only him in the pen the snow doesn't get packed down much. I had to shovel from the gate to his shelter so I could get his feed in there.

I ended up giving them a mid day feed too as they went through their morning feed in about an hour. They looked much better this afternoon as there was a bit of sunshine, enough that they shed all their snow coats.

That black thing in front of Rosalee is their water tub, which is about 2 ft. high. I figure there is about 2 ft. of snow where it isn't drifted, and 4 ft. or more in the drifts.

Just over knee deep on me after shovelling.

I had to shovel my way back to the house (that's the neighbour's trailer) so about a hundred yards. Shovelled my way to the woodshed too. Thea was enjoying the paths as I cleared them.

Ted got called out to work for a local plowing contractor, and he gets to bring the tractor home to plow our driveway. I sure hope this is the worst of it over with, but we still have snow in the forecast until Friday. It was a snow day in town with schools and lots of businesses closed.
Now it's time to head back down for the evening feed before dark.....

Around the farm on a snowy day.

Although snowmageddon continues, it is kind of pretty and very mild, with temps just above freezing, or dipping just below. I did a little walkabout with my big girl camera today; here are some farm scenes:

 That slope in the background may end up being  cause for concern this spring if we get heavy rain on top of all this snow. Sure hope it doesn't come sliding down like it did 20 years ago- although I think our house is far enough away from it to not be affected if it does.

 The car we want to rebuild this year.... can you see enough of it to figure out what it is?

The pond below the horse pasture. It's filling up but a long way from the top of the banks.

Of course, I couldn't be out and about without some horse and dog photos!!!!

 Mr. Handsome, hanging around all relaxed and looking, well, handsome.

 Snowflakes on his kisser....

 Mama Belle's silvery muzzle

and miss Thea, always on the job.

This is how much snow we have so far:

17 and 3/4 inches and it's still coming down. I think this snowfall accounts for about 10 to 12 inches of that. I just checked the forecast, we should have another 4 inches by morning and no let up in sight. Glad I'm retired and don't have to drive in to work every morning!

And..... it's snowing again....

I"ll let the pictures do the talking....

To while away the February blahs I made that last photo into a puzzle. Enjoy!

The reveal

As most of you know, we moved in October.  The new place needed a lot of work, from setting up horse pens for Beamer and the girls, to a complete overhaul in the house.
We had a friend come in and put new paint on the ceilings, I painted the walls, and Ted did a lot of work trimming out the doors and windows, installing shelves and cupboards (bathroom and mud room), custom fitting the existing vanity by making it shorter to fit the space better, and putting a new top, sink and taps on it. He also re-plumbed the bathroom and turned the tub around so that the plumbing was against the wall instead of in the middle of the floor. In the kitchen he installed a new overhead microwave and stainless steel sinks and taps. He custom built a storage solution under the stairs with a pullout that holds all those wonderful things that need storing inside but are unsightly (like paint cans, vacuum cleaner etc.)
Our landlord (my brother-in-law) installed laminate flooring  and tile to cover the painted OSB board that served as flooring before.
I still have to paint upstairs so I'll leave that for a future reveal, but here are some before and after photos of all that we have done so far.
Kitchen: before....

 After

We need to fix that kitchen window this summer so that it can open, and get new cupboard doors as those ones are getting pretty shabby.

We were fortunate to have this sink given to us, and those flowered tiles are ones that I had made up with some of my photos.
I didn't take before pics of the bathroom, but here is what it looks like now.

The tub is painted a dark blue with a bronze coloured ball in the claws.

The other side of the bathroom- its a big bathroom! 

The wooden cabinet which hides the hotwater tank and plumbing was built by Ted. That's my mom's washboard on it and the little teddy-bear coveralls originally belonged to Ted's dad.

The living room, before:

 and after:

The wall colour is the palest grey, because the furniture and floors are dark I wanted a lighter colour for contrast.

Looking at the living room from the mud room:

All those trim boards on the baseboards, windows and doors are Ted's handiwork.

My office which doubles as a dressing room used to have dark blue knockdown on the bottom half of the wall. Ted built me the bookshelf. 😄

The mud room houses the wood stove and all 4 dogs.

Ted built this gate to keep the critters at bay. It is repurposed deck railing, and we added the boards with our brand on them because Thea could walk right through that 6 inch opening. Come spring we will take it out and give it fresh paint. Haven't quite decided to go with white or black.
Those theater seats came out of a closed down theater in Claresholm- they are very comfy and close to the stove for a nice place to sit on a cold day.

This is the coat rack Ted made that is in the corner by the door. He made the horseshoe/railroad spike one, and the other forged piece we bought from my friend Janice. We attached them to a couple of boards we found in the barn that were milled on this property.
So there you have it- home sweet home!