It was -4 degrees this morning. The teenagers said it was -20 last night when they threw water from a pan into the air to see it freeze before it hit the ground.
I am sitting by the wood stove, planning the finances for the end of the year. I am about to start packing your bags.
The basement is at 33 degrees and we will have to bank snow around the foundation to make it through the next few days before it warms up. I put hay around it on Friday when the basement dropped from 39 degrees to 33 degrees in one day and it was stable at 34 degrees for the week. The water in the barn well box froze Saturday and it took all day fuzzing with the box covers, heat tape and a light for warming inside the well box to get it back flowing. Fortunately nothing broke.
Carol is happy, has frost on her whiskers and does not go outside anymore. She does not like cold hands on her udder. She starts dancing and I have to move the bucket to safety which makes my hands colder holding the metal bucket and brings on more dancing. I am keeping on my gloves for manure removal and bringing in the hay until I am ready to milk and that seems to help. She likes the sprouted barley now. I stopped sprouting more for now because we are going to Florida for Christmas week and the helpers don't need more chores, besides feeding and milking and washing cheeses and guinea pigs and heating the Hugging House... it's good to live in community! If any of you would like to have our three adorable guinea pigs for a week so they will be warmer and get more love, let me know. They come with two large cages, hay and treats. We are looking foreward to the Florida temperatures.
I hope you are staying warm and cozy. Please return your bags. May be I see you at pick up?
Dulli