It has been cool on our farm recently. Here is a photo of Ryeleigh after she treed one of our peahens who was outside of the barn. Ryeleigh was proud of herself.
Our “barn cat” Izzy is enjoying the house. She does go out sometimes to hunt, leaving prizes for us on the back porch, but then she is back inside, enjoying the heat and furniture.
I was admiring the thick wool coats our younger sheep have. This is Bambam
and this is Harlen.
I have to empty the rain gauge regularly when it is this cold. Otherwise the water inside can freeze and break the glass tube. Grampa’s gauge is no longer electrified, sadly.
In the mornings now you can see where the sheep spent the night.
The cold weather has not slowed up our dogs. They still enjoy playing.
We are getting ready for single digit temperatures here. It is supposed to be 5 degrees beginning on Sunday. So I made sure our hoses are empty of water.
We are checking our outside faucets to make sure their heat tapes are working and the insulation is in good condition. Tom replaced the insulation today on our pump house faucet.
I did get the chance to admire the moon this morning. See how dark it is here at 9 AM!
I decided to move the older thinner sheep into a pen in the middle of the barn. I am hoping it will be a little warmer there plus I will be able to make sure they eat as much as possible without competition. Tom went out and got fresh straw for them, placed after this photo It will be cramped for them for a few days but hopefully they will survive this freeze.
I checked the heater in the pump house. We have only had our pipes freeze once when we were away for Tom’s birthday. We have since gotten smarter so hopefully our improvements will continue to work.
I also admired the fog in the trees and the cloud formations.
I will have to harvest as much fresh parsley as possible as it will likely not survive this.
Tom is stocking up on firewood for our stoves.
And I pulled our drinking water into the kitchen to keep it from bursting.
Hopefully we are ready for this deep freeze.
good work with the freeze prep! we’ve been busy with the same sorts of tasks here. i really hate it when it gets so cold.
Thanks. Glad you are getting prepared as well. I do not like the extreme cold. I hope the animals make it.
Wow, you guys are going to REALLY get cold! Nothing so extreme here, but Rick plans to do some weather-proofing here today, and I need to harvest a bunch of our still-lovely parsley to dry in the oven before it freezes and goes to waste.
I am glad it won’t be as cold there. But always good to be prepared.
I know I’m late in writing! – Good gravy! I didn’t expect Ryeleigh to tree a peahen!! Did you ever think she might?
How are you doing in that cold weather? We got snow this morning – about a foot of white stuff!! Outside temp is now about 40 degrees.
I thought she might if they got out. She was so excited to do it. Fortunately the peahen found her way back to the barn.
We have a foot of snow too but it is 17 degrees now and dropping. I am just about to blog photos about our weekend. I hope you stay warm.