About 10" on the conservative side, with more to come. If freezing rain comes, electricity will be gone in a heartbeat. But lovely and cool anyway. I've dealt with worse and less resources.
You ever watch a dirt floor turn white about 2 ft in from the walls? I like winters too! Was just having a repressed memory of searching for calves all night long in this wonderful weather. But it was life. It’s 3 deg at my lodge right now.
Never minded the insane cold temps. Looking for winter calves sucked mostly but loved the serenity and whiteness of the snow.
Buddy and I used to hunt in the coldest temps of the year just to say we did. Ice forming on the eyelashes, and so on. It was an adventure to us.
Buddy and I used to hunt in the coldest temps of the year just to say we did. Ice forming on the eyelashes, and so on. It was an adventure to us.
It is the prettiest when you know you don't have to get out in it.
Yep, retired life makes one only get out in it for recreation with the off road toys.
Heating instrument lines leading to transmitters, RTV's, and other process instrumentation in the middle of the night with a propane torch sucked big time.
I'm sure you have been there and done that as well. Miserable duty.
I remember calves born in snowdrifts we had to rescue. They usually lost their ears. I remember chopping 6 inch thick ice in a pond and inventing a pond mill by welding up a lawnmower blade on a shaft and two metal 30 gallon barrel halves for the propeller. I never chopped ice again. I had thoughts of refining it and selling it but dad showed me the ad in the Farmer Stockman for my idea I had reinvented. I then realized I was a day late and a dollar short.
My Uncle was the big cattle rancher. He always bought a 2WD pickup with positrack rear end, saying loudly it was as good as a 4WD.
Whenever the snow got deep or the mud was really muddy, he always called me to meet him at the gate with the 4WD to feed or look for winter calves.
There are several home built pond mills in my area, but with a single day of no wind, they are useless in temps like this, locking up with ice like everything else.
I've seen some solar pumps with battery back ups that move the deeper water in a pond to the surface but again, they can't overcome the extended freeze we are experiencing now and cloudy skies to recharge the battery. Water on the edges freezes up so the cows move to the center where there is water and drown in some cases.
Tough times for domestic and wildlife.
I’ve got several solar pumps on our places. Never had a problem with them till now, no sun no water. Luckily, I’ve got a portable generator that starts in minus degree weather so I only have to put gas in it, the ground water pretty much melts the ice from the day before so it’s not too thick to chop out.
One poly tank froze a little over 4” over night the day before yesterday.
One poly tank froze a little over 4” over night the day before yesterday.
Just got back online after a few days of no electric, water or internet. Lots of catching up to do.
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