A Quick Update

I plan to post a lot of blizzard photos later today; as well as an update on some of the other stuff going around, but first I have chores to do and I have some good news, and some bad news.

First off, Christmas was great, though it’s not over yet. We get Zach’s kids on Wednesday and we’ll open presents with them. Then we have Zach’s family Christmas on New Year’s Day.

Second, while we were in the middle of our blizzard, Zach moved the hen house for me, as the chickens were about to drown in snow in their own house. It was blowing so hard y’all that they had snow 3 feet of snow in their house. You see, their house is built kind of like a pier and beam house, so the actual floor sits up about 2 and half feet from the ground. the skirting goes all the way down to the ground on two sides, but the hen house sits on skids, so it’s easier to move. On two sides though, due to the skids the skirting doesn’t go all the way down. The snow was just blowing into their house. So we were out, in an 18 degree day with 30mph winds, with the big, green, tractor, moving the house. We cleaned out the snow and what did we find, but 3 eggs! The first eggs my chickens have laid. They were ruined by being frozen of course, but they are beginning to lay nonetheless! I am so excited. Once he got the house moved, he used two big round bales to help block the wind. Needless to say, the hens are much happier and warmer now.

Now for the bad news…it’s very possible that I might lose Baby Bam Bam. He has suffered from being a runt, born by a first colt mare who isn’t producing a lot of milk and the milk she is producing isn’t very good. He was also born in September, which meant he had about 1 good month of weather before it snowed three times in October. He’s got a frostbit nose, and when we weaned the colts, right before the blizzard began, he managed to get kicked in the forehead, and has a swollen lump over his left eye, and now a blue cloudy spot in that eye. He’s now wearing a blanket, but just can’t seem to generate enough heat to stay warm. yesterday he turned down oats. A horse would sell his soul for oats, so that he didn’t want to eat is a REALLY bad sign. I gave him some medication to help with the pain of his bruised head, and take down his fever if he has one. We’ll see how he is this morning.

I hope the holidays are treating all of you well. I’ll be back later with pictures of the snow and stormy weather.