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"hmmm, snow in the forecast....." That was my first thought on December 15, 2009 when my day began with the usual check of the weather. When you make your living on the land, by the land, the weather becomes a BIG factor. It's part of the neighborly greeting here in rural America. "hey, How are you? Hot enough? or Had any rain out your way?"
When I checked the weather again, there were INCHES of snow in the forecast! My morning greeting to Tom was "Dear, there's SNOW in the forecast!" As the week progressed, the predictions became more impressive. Uh, oh....the "big one" the old timers had been saying we were due.
We made arrangements at the barn. We brought the ewes in, put the steer in a stall. We ran some extra water (never know when you may lose power) checked the generator, covered the crops in the greenhouse, checked supplies. We watched the snow begin....well, we were ready.
But, how about that vegetable delivery scheduled for Saturday? How about the steer headed to the processor's on Monday? Oh, it's just snow....we've got 4-wheel drive...nothin' to it!
HA! When the snow finally stopped falling, the local report was 25 inches! We haven't had snow like that in YEARS! So many years that I can honestly say....I've never seen snow like THAT before (not here, anyway)
Now the fun began....the big dig out! Once Tom got to the barn and got the tractor out, the enormity of the task became evident. Oh, were we glad to see our neighbor with his backhoe and BIG tractor! All three working made short work of the driveway and a track to the barn. Now to get out to all the animals.
It took ten minutes to haul a bale of hay about 100 feet to the ram. I was amazed how completely exhausted I was when I finally got there. WHEW! All the animals were fine and well-fed.
It is now 10 days after the blizzard. There is still snow on the ground, the animals are still in the barn. But, we got the steer out of here and the vegetable delivery done. We made it!
"hmm, there's snow in the forecast......AGAIN!"