01/20/2024
Good morning from a very cold hill top farm. It’s one degree out now and the wind is whipping across the fields. It’s loud and it hisses at everything in its way. It kept me up last night worrying about what its capable of and wishing I had better housing for my animals. Our house is usually pretty warm but you could feel it suck the heat right out and it was cold when gout out of bed. I checked on everyone when I first got up and broke open frozen waters. Yesterday we loaded everyone up with hay for the weekend. I bottle fed our lamb and warmed up a bottle for a new calf born last night. It was too cold to take any chances with him not nursing right away so we fed him a bottle of colostrum before calling it a night. This was his mom’s first calf and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with him. I was happy to see him nursing away, this morning, though, so I didn’t give him the bottle. The old pony ripped his blanket. I put a blanket on him that’s twice his size so I can mend his. I put out birdseed but it was blown away. So I made a hole in the crusty snow and piled some seed in it. Hopefully, it will stay put. The other day I saw a cardinal blown right off the feeder by a strong gust of wind. He was undeterred, though, and fought to stay at the feeder for a while. Now I’m warming my feet by the fire so I can go back out and get on with my day.
