Well, the sheep have experienced their first, second, and third snowfalls. They don’t seem to mind being coated with “powdered sugar”. I keep telling them it’s not a big deal. I think I’m coaching myself, not them.

It’s been brutally cold – as in freezing and less-than freezing temps for days straight with no warm-ups – until today. I think we broke through freezing and almost got to 40 degrees F. It seemed like a small miracle to me.

I’ve been battling keeping the livestock water tanks from fully freezing into giant bricks of ice. I carry a claw hammer every time I go out, but it’s not enough. When I went to plug in one of the new tank heaters in the rams’ water tank, I only got so far across the frozen tundra (our lawn) before I ran out of extension cord. After another trip into a big city, I think I’ve finally found the solution in two 100-foot extension cords; there’s a tank heater in the rams’ tank now.

Just a small view of what everyone has been up against:

The weirdest part is the grass. It’s so much more different here than in Florida. The minute we got a frost in Florida, the bahia grass would say, “Nope, goodnight!” It would go dormant overnight. Here, the brome grass doesn’t even care – it’s still green and it’s not just frozen that way. I’m not sure what it takes (other than drought) to make it take a break?

The barn seems to still be a rumor (something about the CAT having to go in for maintenance not once, but twice), but the north fenceline is going in this week. It’s going to be a behemoth as the braces are made out of the trunks of hedge apple trees. Apparently these hardwood posts can last for a century and all the locals utilize it in their fencing.