First Snow

Our first snow of the year came yesterday, all day yesterday. First, the precipitation came in the form of 40 degrees and rain. Then temps started dropping and the rain got thicker. For a while, what came down melted. Then it started sticking to the car, then to the roads, and by evening, I think we got at least 5”.

I came home from town and the roads were slushy. With temps just at 32 degrees, the roads were just getting slick. I drove slower, and there sure are a lot of poor drivers out there. They just need to pass, then are only slightly in front of you!

Anyways, I get home and hubby and I head out to do chores.  We only had about an hour before dusk.  We wanted to open up the stud’s area to make it larger and to get him into a lean-to. That meant we had to move his water tank to an area closer to an electrical outlet for the water heater.  Luckily, the water in the tank was low enough to dump.

After it was scrubbed out, we moved it closer to the gate, put the heater into it, and now he has a tank of fresh water.

We left the dogs outside during this time, to play in the snow.  We fork hay back into the round bale feeders, and by doing so it’s amazing how much hay is saved. When hubby went to fork the large lot, he came back to say they needed another round bale. Great, now we are fighting dark.

We switched the bucket on the tractor to the spear, hubby gets a round bale and I opened the gates. I should have known the horses were a little hungry by the way they were running around. But their feeder still had some hay, so I think the cooler air and snow was making all of them feel “like young kids” again.

We actually put out 2 round bales, and we’ve learned to put them end to end. Then we put 2 empty round bale feeders on each of the other ends so that the horses don’t pull out too much hay and stomped it into the snow, mud, whatever. So actually, there are 4 round bale feeders in a row, with the middle 2 feeders with the new round bales in and the end 2 feeders are empty. Then we fork the loose hay into the end feeders. Horses are happier that they are spread out to eat hay and we are happier when there isn’t so much waste.  Even though it’s a little bit of work once or twice a day, our round bales last a little longer.

Luckily, the bigger tractor also has bigger lights, and we finished in the dark.  I’m loving the tractor we got earlier this spring. It made that trip worth it.  What a trip that was, well actually, 2 trips.

I’m sure tomorrow, hubby will see just how easy our snow removal will be. Our driveway can be filled with snow now, but we won’t have to shovel by hand!