Week 9/52: Andy & the blizzard

We have been warned about an incoming storm so had been doing things to prepare.  We tucked a young momma and her twin calves into the barn, put extra straw into the barns so there is a nice, comfy spot for the cattle to lay and tried to mentally prepare for trudging through deep, blowing snow.  (Okay, my guys did the first two things and I did the last!)

The storm didn't come quite as soon as expected but the weather folks were correct about the storm a-comin'.  By the time I went out to see if there were any new calves at 3 AM it was snowing and starting to blow.  When I went out again at 6, it was really blowing.  I had sent a text to Christopher and told him to stay home (he lives in our little nearby town).  He usually is out here at 5 or 6 AM to check cattle but today I asked that he stay put at least until daylight.  He & Paige came out later to tend to their horses and help with cattle chores.  The visibility actually kept getting worse.  Sometimes we can see quite a distance, but the ground drifting is terrible making the roads bad.  Plus, it is very hard to see the edges of the roads when everything is white and moving.  Brett had to help Christopher & Paige get "unstuck" a couple of times after they decided they had better get back home.  After Brett was back home, he said, "I watched for the fences to find the road."  He made sure he could see the fence in either ditch but even that was tricky sometimes.  Anyway, everybody got to their respective destinations safely.

Andy went to see the blizzard and didn't even get the screen door open when he found this.

Guess that is what happens then the wind is blowing straight at the door.  Lucky for us the inside door is tight!

I went to the other door and could hardly get the screen door open.  Here are a couple of photos from that door (I wasn't going out into this mess unless I had to). 



















 

The visibility in the yard isn't too bad right now.  Heck, we've had blizzards so bad that we couldn't see the barn.