SNOW!

A snowstorm hit Sunday. 

By dawn, we were covered.

Can you guess who really wanted to gogogo outside?

Carrie did the obligatory "first snow" toss for the kittens before too long. I didn't get a picture of it in action, because I was on standby if either panicked and ran (Carrie can't move too fast on her gimp knee!).

This was the first chance to use the snow blower. I spent way too long assembling and figuring it out.

I figured it out eventually!

The problem: Gravel. 

It was audible whenever the blower picked up a rock and shot it out. I raised the guides to the maximum height to avoid transferring the driveway into yard. That let me skim off snow above a certain height, but the blower isn't feasible to use in anything less than a storm.

All of our vehicles can handle snow, but the gate would have been a problem. Carrie was smart and left it open before the storm, so we wouldn't get locked in. I used the blower to clear its path.

I walked the blower down to the barn and back during my test run.

Eddie and Ernie were okay with it until Magic said, "Let's freak out!"

I walked slow, pointed the snow away from them, and prayed Magic did drive anyone through a fence! Hopefully, I can slowly desensitize them (*cough* Magic! *cough, cough*), because if I have to clear the path I'm going to clear the path!

Loki had a blast. He's got the fur coat for this kind of weather.

The snow wasn't high enough to freeze his bits, so he frolicked around while I worked. 

As a kid at heart, I love snow.

As a teacher, I love a good snow day (or delay!). 

As a barn owner, snow sucks. The day of wasn't so bad. Everything was neat from the day before, so I could let some things slide like scooping.

The day after was a mess. 

Carrie has me close off the pastures to protect them when the ground is wet. Snow counts as wet, so the horses were all locked in the dry lots, eating lots of hay (that I had to haul), and pooping lots of poop (that I had to scoop).

Snow is time-delayed and drawn out rain. Everything started to melt on Monday and it was a swamp. The horses tore up the dry lots and it was hard to tell clumps of mud from clumps of crap in some spots. It was a pain to drag the cart around in.

Plus, the spreader was full of snow.

School was cancelled on Monday. Then there were a pair of 2-hr delays. I couldn't scoop much early in the week, so the piles grew and I had to work harder as the week went on to catch us back up to normal.

Falling snow was a problem later in the week. Some of it sloughed off the roof and freaked the two alphas. I had to catch Abby and bring her in with a lead rope. Then I had to close her curtain door to prevent her from trying to jump out of the evil stall that she swore would eat her!

The pastures stayed roped off for days as everything dried out. I'd thought Carrie pulled the trigger too soon on buying more hay, but we went through at least 20 bales before the fields opened back up. We'll need to drag the dry lots to even them out from all the hoof canyons pock-marking the landscape at some point. 

Every winter needs at least one good snow. I'm happy to let this one count. It's too bad Shane wasn't around to play in it. He was with Nana, but that's a different story.