Weather woes

Early yesterday morning, after I tried everything I could to prepare to present the class from home, I had to abandon the idea. With the winter storm settled over us, I had very spotty internet connectivity. So, I let my team know the issue I was dealing with, and a coworker took over the presentation of the class.

His broadband service was more robust than my line-of-sight service. I guess the snow that we were getting was able to interfere with the signal just enough to cause me problems. Nevertheless, the class for the two individuals was successfully accomplished so there was not loss of their time and no need to reschedule. Later in the day, by early afternoon, the internet service was back to full force. Mama, Victoria, and Trace did not notice the weak signal strength, but the program I was using for the class certainly did.

The temperatures remained well below freezing through the day yesterday. The high was twenty-two degrees. During my lunch break, I gathered the water pans from the coop, all of which were solid blocks of ice, and brought them into the sunroom to thaw. It did not take long, only a couple hours, for the ice to thaw to the point that I could dump out the remaining ice to empty the pans. That done, I took them back to their respective locations at the coop and came back to the sunroom for a five-gallon bucket of water to refill the pans so the chickens could get a drink. They had been without water all day. When I got the bucket in hand and walked across the patio, I hit a slippery place on the patio, slipped and fell hard onto the patio, spilling the entire contents of the five-gallon bucket onto myself as I hit the ground. I was more angry than I was hurt. One of those “should have known better” moments. Anyway, I refilled the bucket and continued the chore of getting water to our flock. This morning, I can feel the aftereffects of the fall, but they are not causing me too much additional pain. Praise the Lord!

The goats have not ventured out of the barn into the snow. If they do, they will find that they have fresh water available. Before the freeze I placed a floating tank heater in the galvanized tub we use to provide water to them, and it has kept the water from freezing. Not so with the two other goat areas. The bucks have a rubber tub for water so I cannot use a tank heater for them. They have been given little drinks twice per day and hopefully the ambient temperature and abundant sunshine will warm their container and sufficiently thaw the water to allow them a good deep drink later today. The bucklings have had their small water dish in the building with them and it has not frozen solid in spite of the low temperatures. Freezing temperatures are the most difficult weather issue we deal with, mostly because we do not have to deal with it very frequently or for long periods of time. This cold snap will soon pass, and the afternoon temperatures will get well above freezing. We always appreciate those days. Cold mornings, warm afternoons. A good Winter mix.

This weekend will be spent thawing out. Hopefully, the afternoons will get warm enough that I can see the bees stir about. They have been a concern of mine during this cold. But as I watch the sparrows flock to the feed Mama sets out for them, I have faith that God has provided for our bees as well. I certainly have tried to do my part in feeding and sheltering them, but what I can provide is limited. Mama and I are very hopeful that this, our third year with the bees, will see our honey harvest finally come. Time will tell.

With the chickens and goats spending most of the past two days inside their enclosures, there will be some cleanup of the manure they indiscriminately deposit wherever the need arises. On warmer days some of that manure is dropped outside their coops and barns. Not so recently and that creates a mess Mama and I deal with. Fortunately, all that refuse is recyclable, and we will be tilling the garden soon. Much of the manure will be added to the garden soil so our accumulation of the winter cop and barn cleanings will be put to use as natural fertilizer.

Meanwhile the slowly melting snow will deeply water the grass and plants. That is long overdue. I have watered our fruit trees, bushes, and perennials and about once per week – weather permitting – but this slow saturation will do more good than I have done so far.

By Saturday evening, the roads will be clear, and the snow will be gone, and we will be back to “normal”. God is good.