The first major snowstorm of the season is moving across Nebraska. If it were a tornado, it would be an F5. The snow has been coming down all day. It’s hard to tell how much with so much drifting, but walking out to the barn this afternoon, it felt a foot deep. It is now enhanced with strong, strong winds and blizzard conditions. Oh, joy! I don’t want to hear one word about a “white Christmas”. This is a white OUT! 
I worked from home this morning and later headed out to make sure all the critters had shelter when the winds picked up. The cows? Well, they have shelter but chose not to go there, I guess. Stupid beasts.
Ginger, Baby and Blue always get the barn and I am always hopeful they let Windy and Butter in as well. Today I found those three inside. They were dry when they greeted me. Windy standing right outside the door covered in a blanket of snow.
I found Butter down by the portable shelter. My gawd, talk about a bad hair day! Look at her forelock and mane! She looks like she’s been rolled! And.She.Is.Not.Happy! She is not a happy horse by nature but I'm quite certain I have never seen her look this disgruntled! Today she looks beyond pissed off!
The “dry & happy” herd followed me to the portable and were checking out the digs. So I took Butter and Windy back to the barn and closed them up with a bale of hay and an opportunity to dry off before the bigger storm hit. John went out later and put a bale in the portable and let the herd merge again.
I moved my small trailer back by the barn to help serve as a temporary windbreak. I also put up some temporary covered panels to help block the wind by the automatic waterer; hoping it won’t freeze up when the wind chills start to drop.
I could do a Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate Winter list, but I think you get the idea. I know, Butter! I feel exactly the same way!
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This severe storm warning from The Weather Channel about sums it up:
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CST THIS EVENING. A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST WEDNESDAY.
* TIMING: MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED.
*AN ADDITIONAL 6 INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE THROUGH THE NIGHT...BRINGING TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS FROM THIS STORM SYSTEM INTO THE 12 TO 15 INCH RANGE.
* NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 TO 45 MPH THIS EVENING WILL CREATE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY.
* IMPACTS: TRAVEL WILL BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
* WIND CHILL READINGS ON LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY WILL DROP INTO THE 15 TO 20 BELOW RANGE.
Tammy, I was hopping around the blogs and found yours. It did two things
ReplyDelete1. Recalled the fact that I am a horse lover but I can't keep one. Sigh!
2. Made me curious. Curious because looking at so many snaps of horses/cows/fields on your blog I 'concluded' that you must be a ranch owner :) And I never thought that a ranch-man can even have a blog ha ha :)
This curious combination forced me to comment ... Basically my understanding about the ranch is limited through a few hollywood movies I have watched (wild-wild-west etc).
Sorry for slightly bad English - its not my first language.
I wouldn't dare say anything about a white Christmas :) We are finally getting our first major snow storm and as far as I am concerned major to me is over a foot and we are only supposed to get 3 to6 and I think by the way it looks we are getting more than that!
ReplyDeleteWow! Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteNo griping about the snow. We've had snow since Thanksgiving and it won't go away until May.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, if you aren't prepared for it even an inch of snow can be paralyzing. And a storm like your here would cause problems.