Setting Your Mind At Ease

We have had a few frantic messages over the last few days asking about our welfare and how this storm system is affecting our day to day business.

All is grand here, the dogs are running around like pups snowplowing the deep snow with their snouts, the cats have been birding like crazy with all the little juncos pecking along the top of the snow looking for seeds that have dropped from any plant that has not been completely bent over and covered with snow. The cows are all full into their winter coats and braving the platter-sized flakes to eat hay before moving under tall fir trees for shelter. The paths that they make are few but the ones they do have all well trod and packed firmly for easy footing. We have Ruby and her new baby Eve tucked safely inside the barn until the weather mellows out a bit. We have to use buckets to dip water and haul to the barn so Ruby has enough non-frozen fluid to drink and she is pigging out on all the hay she wants. Eve runs laps around the length of the barn while her mother eats.

The Gator is useless in the deep snow and the front loader on the tractor with its pallet stacked with hay is the only way we can get around to feed. When we walk across the bridge to get to the barn and tractor, we always have a snow shovel with us to remake a path over river. It takes until nearly 11am to get the morning chores done and we have to start the evening chores just before 3 in order to get finished by dark.

The pallet forks were taken off yesterday and was switched to the bucket. Mike spent several hours plowing the driveway in order for us to be able to get around once the snow dump part of this storm is over. We are hoping to deliver a load of firewood this week since all the stores are out with customers asking for more.

It is simply glorious beauty with all the trees laden with snow, the county road quiet from the traffic of log trucks, pickups, commercial vehicles and family cars. We did have to wait at the end of the driveway for a tractor to go by yesterday, the neighbor who lives a mile up the road was going down to to Junction to plow out the business there so they could open their doors for business as traffic is still getting through from Portland to Seaside for those who have tire chains and know how to drive in very slippery conditions. The tractor driver was so well bundled up we had to wait for him to unmask enough to distinguish who the brave traveler was!