Ready for Winter

The snowstorm was beginning to roll in yesterday morning when I did the barn check. There was a heavy mist coming down and a chilly wind blowing.

The temperature just above freezing so there were no snowflakes flying.

The round bales are stored by the hayfield and the hay mow has about 100 bales stored there, all ready to go.

The south side of the old barn has two huge box stalls, each with their own entrance. That makes it so that, no matter where you are in the herd pecking order, you can still get inside when the weather is bad.

The horses did not seem to mind the weather; all of them were relaxing outside.

I finally found the barn heater and got it set up in the bathroom, topped off the water trough, and then headed into town to run some errands before the storm hit. 

By 4:30 in the afternoon, we'd had three inches of snow. The temperature was dropping fast and the winds had picked up so that the snow was drifting. Roads were ice covered and treacherous, and there were spotty power outages in town. Local schools announced a two hour delay for today.

This morning dawned cold and clear, with the wind chills at -6.

I'll be chopping ice again today and throwing down hay earlier than we'd planned (we were going to start this weekend.) But the barns and horses are ready for winter. Even if I am not!