Weather issues, farm life

On Thursday of last week our boss sent all the personnel in the office here in Decatur home early. He may have actually waited a bit too long since the sleet that was falling like a heavy rain had covered most of the roads and bridges by the time we left the office but everyone made it home safely. I have not been back to the office until this morning. (In fact, Mama and Victoria and I only got out yesterday late morning to take Victoria to work at Wal-Mart.)

The next morning (Friday) as we went out to feed the cattle Mama could not stop apologizing to her “babies”. They were covered in ice from head to tail tip. There were icicles hanging from their ears and eyelashes. Their backs were mats of ice. They were hungry and thirsty and we took care of both needs while we were down in the barn with them. The temperature did not get above twenty degrees that day and that night it was back into the single digits.

Most businesses in Bowie were closed through the weekend with the most hearty opening on Sunday – to very little customer action. Even our church was cancelled – both services. It was bad. On our road it still is. We have about a quarter mile of gravel driveway to get to the graveled county road and then about a quarter mile of county road to get to the blacktopped road. All of that distance is covered in about three inches of ice. It will probably remain so for the next several days.

I took the little truck down the road yesterday to get the mail. I wanted to test the viability of driving it to work this morning. I made it to the mailbox without any trouble. When I tried to turn around to go back to the farm I almost did not make it. I ended up going all the way to the main road to get turned around. I could not do it on the ice. I drove the Flex in this morning.

Mama and I have play practice at the church this evening. By the time I get home a little of the ice should have melted on the drive since the temperature is supposed to get up to 45®F today. The only problem is that the nights are still predicted to be in the twenties. That means that everything that thawed will refreeze overnight. That ends up being a mess for several days. By Friday this week the nights are supposed to be above freezing. That will be a blessing.

The cattle are thawing out well. By yesterday evening they had very little ice still remaining on their backs. It has been a chore to keep water for them since whatever we put out freezes within a couple hours. At least the power did not go off during the peaks of intense cold. That meant we still had water through the cold snap.

I would like to say that I got a lot of work done in the apartment during the time I was off the past several days but that did not happen. Until yesterday the temperatures did not make it above the freezing mark and the temperatures in the shop are close to ambient at all times – and will remain so until I insulate and heat the shop.

It was a fun time for me and Mama. We love life on the farm.