Snow...Finally!

This winter has been incredibly warm, but I like a bit of snow. The weather forecasters have been all over the place with this storm's predicted snowfall. We started with the first flakes around 7 last night. When I went out this morning to feed this is what met me at the patio door.

That's an open door. We had about 10-12 inches already on the ground when I was feeding. And we really need to get some weather stripping for the bottom of the big barn doors. There were two foot tall drifts in the barn from snow blowing in under the doors. The wind is the big problem. By the time I walked back to the house from feeding I could barely see my foot prints. Many snow drifts were over my knees. Now the forecasters are saying we will get a total of 23-30 inches.

Yesterday was spent getting the animals as ready as they could be for the storm. The barn overhang we had built last spring is a lifesaver. No longer must I shovel out in front of the doors to get them open so the sheep can go out. I fenced in the area directly under the overhang after we had all the wet weather. We were starting to get hoof problems with all the mud. Now the ewes are walking around in dry straw and discarded hay.

The rams are hanging out in their shelters this morning. Yesterday I moved one of the calf hutches so it would block the northeast side of the shelter, where the wind was supposed to be coming from during the storm. They have been hanging out in both the calf hutch and the shelter and staying cozy. Extra hay this morning for them!

The chickens are probably the most miserable. Usually they hang out under their coop but the snow has blown under there and they aren't too thrilled about staying inside the coop.

The kittens are happily ensconced in the barn, with all the food and water they need/want. And the birds are chowing down at the feeders, making for some very interesting kitty television.