February 12, 2008

uper sunny and warm today. The water is dripping off the eaves of the house and snow is starting to crash off it and shaking the house as it falls to the ground. The next snowstorm never did manifest overnight. At 11 am it is +4C/39F. A couple miles down the road it is +9C.

A snowmobiler came over this morning and I traded him a cup of coffee to pack down trails for me so I can get my dog team out to my firewood. The woodshed is getting rather low. I would just as soon not get caught with it empty.  We made it out to where the wood is stacked in the back 40. The powder was up to my hips and he commented on he didn't realize we had had so much snow fall. I knew as I have been walking in the stuff. Well slogging through actually and makes me want to make my snowshoes before next winter for sure.

Well... all was going great and then SNAP!!! Apparently it is very very difficult to drive a snowmobile without a steering wheel. He had just bought this other snowmobile so he could go sledding with his kids and the steering shaft broke. No kidding!! Where the white arrow is, in the picture, is where the rest of the handle is supposed to be, but is actually hanging upside down to the lower left hand side of the picture. It was a challenge to get the snowmobile out of the back 4o with no steering, but with alot of leaning in the right direction and a few tugs here and there on the skis, we got it back down to the cabin. He has to take the shaft out the rest of the way (we tried with limited tools when we were still out back) and go to his friends to get it welded back together. So much for an easy morning. It will take a few trips with the snowmobiles to get it packed good and then a few cool nights to make it a tight trail for me and the dogs to work. I won't ask them to go through that deep of snow. I had to walk out behind the snowmobile and it was still knee to hip deep the whole way. 

I took a few pictures around the yard today since I had my camera out. 'Blossom' and 'Crystal' are free feeding on a round bale. They are standing on snow. The bale is half buried under the snow and was frozen, which is why they have recently been switched to free feeding as I cannot get the bale apart. You can see how much snow has fallen in the last few days from the amount on the roof of the goat shed. I think 'Crystal' is 9 years old this year. I bet she will come into milk again as soon as the grass turns green. 'Blossom' is 9 months old now and still a sweetheart. She will be smaller due to her Jersey heritage and I have a small bull lined up to breed her to this summer.

This is my hand on one of the icicles on my cabin this morning. It is about 4 feet long. With all the snow falling off the roof today, it is probably not there anymore.

And the root cellar. If you have seen it, or pictures of it before, you know how deep the snows are. I now walk down into it I generally don't.