We Survived! So far…..

Glad that’s over! That’s about all I can say about last month. I’ve been trying to decide how I can write about what this last month was like and I’ve decided I really can’t. I just can’t find the words to describe it. Snow, wind, stress, and more blowing snow. That’s what I’ll remember. Don’t get me wrong, we are use to lots of snow here. Its when it comes fast and furious, that makes it trying.
During the last storm, when we were getting 10 inches of snow a day, with 30 mph wind gusts, on top of the 4 feet of snow already on the ground, I was reminded of another winter many years ago, that is written in the history books of this valley. The story goes that a group of Finnish settlers moved here and were told that this valley had mild winters. The story says that they had an easy winter one year, and then the next year a hard winter hit with lots of snow. And I’m guessing because of where they settled, lots of wind. They say that a lot of livestock was lost that year. Making sure our 250 head of cattle got fed everyday and were able to get water, in amongst the blowing and drifting snow, became a daunting task. I began to imagine what those Finnish settlers must have been going through. These animals depend on us to get them through the storms. If we did not have the large machines we have now, and easy access to stores that had the supplies we needed, we would have been in a lot of trouble. Now it’s all just a memory, but I have pictures to remind us. This is one winter we will be talking about for a while. I will let these pictures tell the rest of the story.

This picture is of my Farmer shoveling out the front room window at our house…..for the 3rd time!! He can not stand not to see out of the window. He has spent a lot of time here this year. There were days when he did not have time to shovel it out and it REALLY bothered him. He would tell me it was my turn to shovel, but my answer was always….I’m ok, it doesn’t bother me. 🙂

This next picture is of the field with the wheel lines that I have been taking pictures of a lot this year and in years past. If you look at the picture in this other post, you can see the difference in just under 2 weeks.

These pictures are of the wooden gate into the corral. It is a four panel gate that hangs up off the ground by about 6 inches. These critters are the butcher beef for our freezer. They were suppose to go to the butcher weeks ago. With all the snow and the inches of ice at the bottom of the gate, my Farmer can not open the gate. (yes this gate swings in not out, which is why we now engineer any new gate to swing both ways) He now walks over the gate to feed them. Which is no big deal when you are just carrying a bucket of grain to put in their feeder. The 120 lb bale of hay that they eat everyday is what is a pain. My first thought would be to just throw the hay over the fence. However, you can not do that, my Farmer tells me. You must think ahead…..for the time when the snow gets crusted or hard packed from the animals walking on it, and they realize that they can just walk right over the gate. That is why you feed away from the gate and the fence. You do not want them to know they can walk over the gate.

This next picture I took while we where all working at making the water troughs safer for the animals. Yes, I am in the tractor and they are out side in the elements. I always make sure I get the cushy job. hehe. The snow had built up so much around the waterer, the animals were above it which made it a risk of them slipping into the water. I removed the snow with my snow blower machine up to the trough, and they chipped away the ice with a bar and shovel. Their job may have been back breaking, but mine was stressful. I had to make sure I didn’t hit anything with my blower! They dug down the area enough that it was safe again and the cattle could easily get to water.

This next one really doesn’t show a lot except for a lot of snow. And the tops of the bulls. And the beautiful mountains in the back. Since I took this picture, the snow has crusted over and the bulls could walk right out over the fence if they tried. I’m hoping they do not figure it out.

Ok. Here is one of me. We have a couple underground cellars that we used to store our seed potatoes in. We plowed along side the edge of the roof, hoping the snow would start to slide a bit and take some of the pressure off the structure. I stand just under 5’3″. Notice the layer in the cut bank. I’m guessing the snow above that mark if what we received just in the month of February.

Well, that’s probably enough pictures for now. I hope you enjoyed having a glimpse into what our month of February was like. I did post some videos on my Facebook page here. I would like to post a video on here but I haven’t figure out how to do that yet. I’m working on it.

I know we were not the only ones affected by this weather. A lot of people everywhere have be struggling with the weather this winter. I only know first hand what we went through and I am very happy to put it behind us.
Now that everything has settled down, I can just sit back and admire the beauty of all that snow…….while we are working on making a path back to the creek for our cattle to water from, working on the miles of buried wheel lines that need attention, and watching my Farmer dig out some more gates. And maybe, just maybe , I might get some dishes done. Oh! One more thing……..last year someone decided to put a bull in with the heifers a month early. Which means…we will be having calves any day now. I am wondering what that person was thinking! Yet, that’s how it is when you are Livin’ the Life, the Farm Life that is.

That’s how February was here. I’m hoping (praying actually) March will be calm. How was it were you live? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear.