Coffee anyone ?

RR Homestead

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Good afternoon all!
Busy night. Our jersey heifer finally calved and guess what y'all?! It's a bull!!! Praise the Lord! Exactly what we were praying for all along. Got the new holstein bull calf picked up from the dairy last night. He's now hers. She's a bit confused trying to wrangle two calves that want to run all over. We're out of pens currently to put them in together so they are on a calving pasture which gives them a lot of room to run. She doesn't know which way to go. 😂 She's doing really well for a heifer so far. Tonight is the start of milking training so that's when things will likely get interesting. She's a brat so I expect a lot of kicking. I'll try and find a way to upload a few pictures later. I don't have a way yet to get them on my computer so I'll see if I can get on with my phone and upload some. Our older milk cow is keeping the 3 other bull calves we already had. The two sick calves are doing a ton better. We're working on getting them back on the cow fully but having to keep doing smaller feedings to keep them from overeating again. So far we are up to 3 minutes per feeding and some herbs and all is going well. I look forward to letting them all out to pasture together hopefully in the next couple weeks.
Previous owners of our home went yesterday and turned off the well at the house. So thankful for their help through this storm. They said we've gotten between 8-10 inches of snow so far and it's 13*. 🥶We've asked them to just leave the well off until we can get there for our next trip. Safer that way we think. They forgot to turn off the ice machine in the fridge freezer so hopefully that will survive with no water until they can get back to turn it off. They plan to go back tomorrow and check on things. They are only staying 5 minutes away. So thankful to God that so far there's been no damage at our new place.
DH finished the truck and trailer last night he's planning on taking out to the house next trip. He's ready to start getting ready for his trip as soon as weather allows. I'm hoping to have the cows/calves squared away by the time he's back and start making runs again. Weather outlook for now is pretty decent after this storm passes.
Good to see that everyone here is good. Praying for everyone that y'all stay warm, safe and have no major damage! :hugs
 

farmerjan

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DS has gotten water to 3 water troughs now, and the one group of calves turned into the fenced off "crep" area where the creek is... Running water from the next door business through hoses to our hydrant, and "back filling" the lines that way...
Actually hit 20 for about an hour... been in the 12-15 range all day... mostly snow... 6-8 inches overall, then some of this sleety pellets like stuff... Very dry snow, light.... at least no big crust underfoot...
 

RR Homestead

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DS has gotten water to 3 water troughs now, and the one group of calves turned into the fenced off "crep" area where the creek is... Running water from the next door business through hoses to our hydrant, and "back filling" the lines that way...
Actually hit 20 for about an hour... been in the 12-15 range all day... mostly snow... 6-8 inches overall, then some of this sleety pellets like stuff... Very dry snow, light.... at least no big crust underfoot...
I keep hearing this term "dry snow". I didn't know that was a thing until now.
How are you feeling?
 

farmerjan

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Hey @RR Homestead .... dry snow is the kind that wouldn't pack into a snowball if your life depended on it... it is like those little tiny styrofoam ball things in the bean bag chairs and such... light as a feather... actually easy to push out of the way... as opposed to a wet heavy snow that will pack into a snowball, and weighs a ton to shovel... There's not alot of moisture in this type snow by its self... now the ones that are getting the sleet/ice on top of it will get more measurable moisture out of it...
Rule of thumb is an average snow, not too dry or wet... will be 12" snow=1" rain... this dry stuff is more like 20=1... real wet heavy flakes can be as good as 8=1 ... But I will take any and all we can get...

Feeling about the same, little better; plus, I can finally lay down to sleep. Breathing is okay, not great, but still alot of cough and this drippy crap.... blowing my nose alot still.... Have very little "wind" so takes me a long time to get things done.... but it is better than it was...
 

RR Homestead

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Hey @RR Homestead .... dry snow is the kind that wouldn't pack into a snowball if your life depended on it... it is like those little tiny styrofoam ball things in the bean bag chairs and such... light as a feather... actually easy to push out of the way... as opposed to a wet heavy snow that will pack into a snowball, and weighs a ton to shovel... There's not alot of moisture in this type snow by its self... now the ones that are getting the sleet/ice on top of it will get more measurable moisture out of it...
Rule of thumb is an average snow, not too dry or wet... will be 12" snow=1" rain... this dry stuff is more like 20=1... real wet heavy flakes can be as good as 8=1 ... But I will take any and all we can get...

Feeling about the same, little better; plus, I can finally lay down to sleep. Breathing is okay, not great, but still alot of cough and this drippy crap.... blowing my nose alot still.... Have very little "wind" so takes me a long time to get things done.... but it is better than it was...
I had no idea that was a thing. That explains the comments on not being able to make snowmen out of the snow at our house right now. Thanks for explaining this!

Sorry you aren't feeling all better but glad you aren't feeling worse and seeing some improvements. Continuing to pray for you. :hugs
 

Poka_Doodle

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Probably too late, but some of my family likes a product called yak tracks to put on their shoes for walking on ice. I believe there are people who put screws in a pair of shoes for walking on ice.
My town roads have been icy for the last almost 2 months. I've bitten it on ice 4 times since the beginning of December and had lots of close calls.
Be safe all of you who are iced in!
 

fuzzi

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Where did this come from?
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This afternoon it was up to 34°, but most of the ice on the trees did not melt. Now we're getting a mix of freezing rain and sleet, and the wind is picking up. Lovely. That is a recipe for branches and even some trees coming down. Ugh.

Caleb has been walked, my slippers are warming up my feet. Hope it's an uneventful night.

From our afternoon walk:
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drstratton

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From what I’ve seen on the news, I just hope they can get home!
The show was canceled 5 minutes before the doors were supposed to open. They will be refunded, but they were able to get tickets for Tuesday night. So, they rescheduled their flight to Wednesday morning. They went all that way and really wanted to see the show. Hopefully things are moving along well by that time. They saw another show today and have another one tomorrow. People canceled, so they have been getting amazing seats at very cheap prices. It's snowy and cold, but they are having a lot of fun. I'm just praying for their safety.
 
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