What a day ... most think I would say that because it is Christmas Eve. Truth is that it was more about getting ready for the snow then anything. According to the weather man tomorrow we have a 100% Chance of snow. So what do we have to do to make sure everything is safe and warm through a storm like that?? Well, Christmas Eve or no Christmas Eve there is alot of prep work done before the storm hits so that we can get through a storm with as little issues as possible. First, All waters must have heaters. That brings me to the Part of Christmas Eve that I like. You see Mom got me this for Christmas ....
In back of the rope and Apple treat for my horse is a heated water bucket for my Goats. Now with the snow coming Mom let me have it a bit early and I went to get it in place before the storm came. Everything else already has water troths with heaters in them. All we had to do was get electric to them all. To bad the barn doesn't have electric yet. Mom took time to run electrical cords to every one of the troth heaters and get them all in place and going.
The other thing we do for the animals to get ready for a winter storm is that we also have to get heat to everything. Around here that is done with heat lamps. The Call Ducks, Sheep shed, Goat shed, Chicken coop and calves all got heat lamps in place today. Getting the water heaters and lamps in place to a good bit of the day but we also found time to move up all the animals to the front pasture so that if the pond freezes nothing will get caught out on the ice. We also caught and removed all training leads that the animals were dragging. Storm and Joseph both still had their leads in place and they have to be removed because if they freeze to the ground in a place where the animal can't get to shelter, the animal would be in real danger of freezing to death as well. Dad's Big job today was to made sure to get big round bales out to everything so that we won't have to worry about haying them in the snow. We also got the last of the straw put under the shed in the pasture for the cattle. They will use it to snack on as well as to bed down in and stay warm.
On top of that we took time to clean up everything from the back of the roping arena. You see there is a unused spot at the back of the arena where the fencing is falling down and we just really don't use much. With me breaking Storm Mom says I am going to need a round pen and she plans on putting it in that unused spot. That way we will be fixing fence and making that spot usable all at once. She even got the first 6 posts for me for Christmas and she plans on buying a few every payday until we have enough. (I think she said it was almost a hundred we would need) Then she says she will go to buying the side boards for it. She says we will get it a little at a time and when we are done it will be done and paid for. There are even going to be a couple of pens on the side of it for my cattle. Anyway, Mom and I cleaned up the spot we are going to use. We got rid of stuff like this ...
The other thing we do for the animals to get ready for a winter storm is that we also have to get heat to everything. Around here that is done with heat lamps. The Call Ducks, Sheep shed, Goat shed, Chicken coop and calves all got heat lamps in place today. Getting the water heaters and lamps in place to a good bit of the day but we also found time to move up all the animals to the front pasture so that if the pond freezes nothing will get caught out on the ice. We also caught and removed all training leads that the animals were dragging. Storm and Joseph both still had their leads in place and they have to be removed because if they freeze to the ground in a place where the animal can't get to shelter, the animal would be in real danger of freezing to death as well. Dad's Big job today was to made sure to get big round bales out to everything so that we won't have to worry about haying them in the snow. We also got the last of the straw put under the shed in the pasture for the cattle. They will use it to snack on as well as to bed down in and stay warm.
On top of that we took time to clean up everything from the back of the roping arena. You see there is a unused spot at the back of the arena where the fencing is falling down and we just really don't use much. With me breaking Storm Mom says I am going to need a round pen and she plans on putting it in that unused spot. That way we will be fixing fence and making that spot usable all at once. She even got the first 6 posts for me for Christmas and she plans on buying a few every payday until we have enough. (I think she said it was almost a hundred we would need) Then she says she will go to buying the side boards for it. She says we will get it a little at a time and when we are done it will be done and paid for. There are even going to be a couple of pens on the side of it for my cattle. Anyway, Mom and I cleaned up the spot we are going to use. We got rid of stuff like this ...
And even removed old posts like this ...
Then we found what will be the center of our round pen and drove the center stake. If the ground hadn't been so cold and hard Mom said we could have set the first posts but as it is we will miter the tops of the posts and set them another day when the ground isn't so hard to dig in.
The last thing we had to do to get ready for the storm had nothing to do with the animals but it is very important to us surviving. You guessed it. With the wood burning stove for heat we have to make sure there is enough firewood cut, split and brought in so that there is heat for us humans ... Dad and I had enough wood cut, we just had to get it split and bought in. With the two of us it took no time...
The last thing we had to do to get ready for the storm had nothing to do with the animals but it is very important to us surviving. You guessed it. With the wood burning stove for heat we have to make sure there is enough firewood cut, split and brought in so that there is heat for us humans ... Dad and I had enough wood cut, we just had to get it split and bought in. With the two of us it took no time...
After we got all of that stuff done we came in to have a bit of Christmas with my Sister and he boyfriend. This year we all traded names and had a limit. My sister got my name and I got something I really needed ... A new Jacket. I got some other stuff but here are just a few of the things I got. You saw the bucket and rope and treat for my horse but look at all this....
My Sister and I both got a stocking full of candy...
Mom Made me this Hat ...
Now check out my version ...
In the end I had a good meal with my family and got some really great gifts to boot. It was a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS ... Now I am off to bed Do you think it is to late for Santa to come to my house ... LOL
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