What a week so far!

Saturday night the cold came as expected. The blizzard followed and dropped about three inches of snow on us. I was far less worried about the snow than I was about the temperatures. I spent Friday night getting some tracing wire pipe heaters set up with the wire I found in the barn (left from our days in West Virginia circa 1991) as I hooked up the stock tank heater for the calf. (That stock tank heater is working perfectly so we do not have to haul water to the calf daily.) I ended up making three heat trace lines and put two of them on the hydrants we have at the coop and the well house. The third I put around a waterline we have in the garage supplying water to the ice maker in the fridge we have just inside the garage door. So far, the tracer wires have kept the lines from freezing. Praise the Lord! Unlike many around us we have had power throughout the brutal cold.

Sunday services were cancelled, both morning and evening services. So, Mama and I hunkered down and tended to the animals as needed, hauling fresh water to them morning and evening through the cold days. Monday was a holiday, so I did not have to worry about trying to work – the internet was out all day anyway – but Victoria had to go to work. Since she had a flat tire on her car, I had to haul the air compressor from the shop to the garage and air up the tire. That took some time because I could not get the fitting I needed to get air into the tire into the frozen line on the air compressor until it warmed up a bit. The temperature was 0°. She made it to work fine but spent the night at her boss’s house in order to get back to work on Tuesday. So far, so good.

I had a class to teach Tuesday morning and had no internet at the house, so I headed to the office. The roads were not bad, but they were not good. They were iced over most of the way to the office on both the primary and secondary roads. In Texas, the roads are not plowed. We do not have the equipment on hand because it is not needed very often, but they are “treated” with some chemical to help keep the bridges free of ice. I suppose that treatment did not happen or was not effective because the bridges were far worse than the roads. Anyway, when I made it to the office, the was no power at the building. I let my management know and I headed home. The temperature at the office was -6°. We contacted everyone in the class for that morning and canceled the class. The one scheduled for this morning was also canceled. Back at the farm I got to enjoy the much warmer temperature. I was not the only one dealing with issues related to the cold. Some of my coworkers were without power and had been without power since Sunday morning. They were going to their cars periodically to warm up and recharge their cell phones, so our management told us to take the day off. A snow day. That helped ease the frustration somewhat.

Last night we got a lot less snow than was forecast. We got about an inch as far as I can tell. For now, the snow is over, and the temperatures are forecast to warm up significantly – to the point that we are expected to be in the seventies by this time next week. We will not be above freezing until Friday, but we will get close today and tomorrow. Mama and I are praying for those who have had no power which has caused them to deal with freezing waterlines in their homes and the wells supplying those homes. Only after those lines thaw will we see the damage done by the freeze. But we are on the downhill side of this exceptional weather. I am very anxious to see if my fruit trees made it through the hard freezes. Time will tell.

I am not sure if church will be canceled tonight, but we will plan to go if we have the service. I will try to get some work done as I can depending on the internet availability. Mama and I will tend to the animals as well as we can in this cold. Hopefully, by the weekend, we will be above freezing. Mama was contacted by Brittany Wycoff last night asking if we could house the 100 chicks she bought which are due to arrive today or tomorrow. Yes, we can, but we will have to move the heat lamps we have in the coops to the nursery coop to warm it up sufficiently for the chicks to survive. It is somewhat unexpected, but I think we can manage. I think our older chickens can manage also. Life on the farm is always about adapting and doing the most with what you have available.

The Lord is blessing us, and we are rejoicing in those blessings.