We knew we were going to get hit by a big snow storm and rushed around to get ready as they were forecasting up to eight inches of snow. There are always things to put away and pick up, making sure there’s room to snow plow and not have things buried until spring. Then we hauled extra hay, moved the horse and mule back into the small pasture, the donkeys into the same one, and bedded the goats extra well. The snow scoop was hung up on the front porch and the broom Will sweeps the solar panels with stood in the corner. Will hauled in extra firewood with Mittens “helping” by riding in the wheelbarrow. Then it started to snow, and snow. Pretty soon the wind picked up. Yep, the storm was upon us. All night it snowed and blew with gusts up to 35 mph. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3 AM and with a flashlight, looked out front. I couldn’t see the storage barn, 50 feet from the house. So I put another log on the fire and climbed back into bed.
Sunday morning, it had stopped snowing and the sun was out. Ahhhh, so nice. But boy, was there ever snow out there — and not eight inches! It was a foot, plus some drifts three feet deep. So we played clean-up all day. Will tromped his way to the plow truck and fired it up while I took the snow scoop and started shoveling snow in a path toward our car. He started plowing, making a trip out the mile and a half long driveway to the county road while I shoveled and swept the snow from around the car and over it. By the time he was back, I had started the Escape and was running the defrosters. He plowed a spot for me to park then kept on for another pass on the drive. I moved the car then started in on David’s Fusion. David had gone down to our grandson, Mason’s, birthday party with his 4×4 Yukon and was gone before the storm hit. With the cars dug out and re-parked, I began shoveling paths to the duck house, below the house, and then the goat barn and chicken coop. Yep, I took lots of breaks so I didn’t have a heart attack. There was lots of snow out there!
Today the sun’s out again and Will’s doing a little more clean-up plowing on the driveway. I’ve got clothes to wash with the new wringer washer, and with the sun out, there’s no need to run the generator! (If you’d like to see what it’s like using this old-time washing machine, check out my article, Wash Day, in Issue #130 of BHM or the Twenty-second Year Anthology.) I’m so glad to be able to wash clothes again with sun power. Today the drive and paths are clear, the sun is making the snow sparkle, and the pine trees are just gorgeous on the driveway. — Jackie
My family farms in lower Mi in the South West corner. They were about a week late getting all the planting done due to all the rain and were able to get all the crops harvested on about 1500 acres. We were supposed to get the blizzard that you had Jackie but we never did. The weather man said “tell grandma you will be late for dinner” because of the snow storm we were supposed to get Wednesday and Thurs. I think it went north of us though. Anyway the weather is decent here about 40 degrees and no wind today with some sunshine. Wished we had sunshine all day though as it has been so dreary here this fall. I sure enjoy your blog and have been reading it for years.
Thanks Ruth Ann! I’m glad you dodged the blizzard. We’ve got more snow but it’s light, fluffy stuff and falling straight down. That’s fine with us.
We only had about 4″ of snow but then also I’ve lived in the middle of ten acres of wood. Not only many branches down but also many trees bent over with all the weight. Hope it warms so trees can get the weight off and survive.
Ray & Pat near Mecosta, mi.
Yeah, that wet, heavy snow can sure be a problem. We’ve had to cut our way out of our mile long driveway when trees were downed because of it. I hope you did get warm weather!
Glad you were prepared. We were but then had almost 1/2 rain. That’s ok. How is your canning coming along? I am going back to cleaning the freezer out next week so will have meat and beans to can.
Can’t wait to see your seed offering this year!
My canning is doing just great. I finished David’s deer and then got the left-over turkey canned up too. I have another 20# box of diced potatoes to can up but am working on our new seed catalog today, instead. Lots of new varieties in it.
We’ve had mostly rain occasionally mixed with a few fat snowflakes. Plenty of mud and since the Halloween snow hit, farmers are having a heck of a time harvesting. Corn can handle snow but soybeans can’t. But they’ve been working their tails off when they could get into the fields so almost 90% of crops were in (as of late last week). But I do wish it would freeze. Since barely half the leaves had fallen before the first snow, we had a nice strata of leaves, ice, leaves in the shed gutters. We’ll be putting leaf guards on it next spring.
Mittens lives by the cat mantra: always helping!
I know how hard it is to harvest off of wet fields; been there, done that. We still have some dry beans in the pod out there, but now buried in snow. Not much hope there. But life goes on…..
Yeah, Mittens “helps” alright. To get attention, she hops up on Will’s work desk and one by one, pushes things off onto the floor. After each drop, she looks right at him and waits. No attention? The second batch goes. And if he picks it up, she repeats until he takes her onto his lap for petting. Now who’s trained???
Comments are closed.