20 January 2025

Cold

It’s officially cold out. Yesterday was chilly but the temp did climb above zero and the wind didn’t blow. Today we are up to -4 with a stiff wind.

The cattle are eating as much food as we can get to them. I’m taking a short calving course from the extension office. They were just saying that 17 degrees is when a normal healthy cow starts needing to put in a bit more work to stay warm. Today they were bunched behind windbreaks looking decidedly chilly as they soaked up what warmth the morning sun had to offer.

No school today. which means the kids get to go break ice! Lucky they let them stay home from school so they don’t have to go out in the cold. Usually on weekends they take a fourwheeler and drive out to the tanks. It’s to cold to do that. Yesterday I said they could take my pickup and drive themselves out there. But it was to cold for the old girl to start. No point in even making an attempt today. That’s the only vehicle they’re allowed to drive so I went along the last couple days to drive. And help out a bit.

The feed truck can get around the fourwheeler. With a suburban parked in the middle of the lane I need to move around to get out of the way. When I got back from maneuvers today I looked over to see my son picking ice chunks out of the water with his gloved hands! I ordered him to the vehicle immediately. He may not be feeling the cold yet but it wouldn’t take long to set in. His sister and I finished pitching the ice out, with a pitchfork this time. Then we all headed back. When I got in the car he showed me his snow pants, frozen solid and stiff already from the knee down where he had been playing in the water.

They went inside. I went to check horse water. They are heated and had only a ring of ice around the edges. The horses were sleeping in the sun or grazing on their hay. They looked happy. Hopefully there wont be anything to trigger Rusty’s random cold induced lamenitis.

Their father finally made his way inside after finishing feeding the cows. He did get to ride a fourwheeler and was nearly frozen. Now we will all fight the dog for a seat in front of the fire. It’s a good day to spend looking through garden catalogues and ordering seeds for next summer. It’s nice to be reminded that although it is so cold outside seed starting time is coming soon. Spring not too far behind that. We are grateful for a toasty warm house and plenty of feed for the animals.

4 January 2025

Creativity

The children have been building things. One of them more than the other but they both got in on the biggest build.

8 has been working on a little scooter thing. No one is really sure what to call it. He thinks maybe a three wheeler. Which it is. He found the pieces and has been assembling it himself. He’s doing a very good job with what he has available.

 

He had a friend over to spend the night. They went outside and didn’t come in until dark. I was starting to get a little worried. I needn’t have been. They were removing the wheels from the, thing, whatever it’s called. They never did do a whole lot with them. But they rolled them around a lot. I was just impressed that they got the wheels off.

 

Along with cousin Cade they created a sledding contraption. We don’t know what else to call it. 8 and his friend added on a little. The one piece I think is going to need to go. Sharp tin to land on seems like the worst of the bad ideas here. The black tube, culvert? The kids and I drug home in Nov. I thought it was going to be a horse toy. I was wrong. The kids took it off immediately and began improvising ways to hurt themselves with it. Or play. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. They slid down it off the swingest frame. They slid down it off their other toys. They rolled each other down the hill in it. Apparently that one hurt too bad.

When they ran out of snow to sled down they created this. You go through the tube, land on the mattress springs, then continue down the hill? I’m happy not to have seen it in action. But I’m proud of the things they are coming up with to do with it.