Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch Part XXXVI

I took these pix and did this post last week...we had a blizzard on Sunday, so stay tuned for a blizzard inspired 'Meanwhile' coming soon!

These pix were all taken when the snow was mostly gone, but it was super cold...Here's GusGus in his Marlboro Man coat playing in the snow, SO cute!

When it's so bitter cold outside, I try to remember to bring my chore clothes out of the mudroom and warm them up in the house in front of the fire for a while before I go out to do chores...It helps a lot to at least start out with warm gear!

If you look closely, you can see the steam coming out of Cogburn's beak while he's crowing...and that's inside the barn...brrr!

The worse part of taking care of the critters when it's so cold is the watering...the horse tank and the chicken waterers are on heaters that keep the water from freezing...

most of the time...sometimes it's so cold the heaters can't keep up with the cold...

and I have to bring pitchers of hot water down and pour it in the lip of the waterers so they can get a drink...

The chickens seem to know what's up, and always come and get a big drink right after I pour the hot water in...

And the frozen hose goes back into the bathtub to thaw out...

I started keeping the chickens cracked corn in their coops; the mice aren't as bold around the chickens, and the chickens will kill the mice if they catch them in the coop...I had unoaded this bag of corn in the barn and forgot to take it down to the North 40 coops and sure enough, the mice got into it overnight...when II had Giant move it down to the North 40 the next day, he left a trail like Hansel and Gretel!














and it worked about as well as Hansel & Gretel's lol! It didn't take the chickens long to find the trail of corn!

Now we've just go to hope we have enough fire wood to last for the rest of the winter! Stay warm & happytrails!