Twin baby moose in sprinkler

Elk Calf plays in the puddle!

Though the news was rather sad...

The "Monsanto Protection Act" is the name opponents of the Farmer Assurance Provision have given to this terrifying piece of policy, and it's a fitting moniker given its shocking content.
 'Monsanto Protection Act': 5 Terrifying Things To Know About The HR 933 Provision

The Herd in March

That additional 10" of snow we got Monday night didn't help us, nor the deer herd I'm sure. The wind and the cold temps are disheartening, we were so close to getting a spring this year...  Warmup isn't supposed to happen for at least another week now. 

Eight deer came in tonight around 6:30pm, the herd is coming in for some hay and a salt block we have out, they're nibbling on all the puckerbrush on the edges of the cove and the apple tree branches that are low enough. Rose was watching them standing up and stretching to reach the pine needles along the edge of the field on their way down to the pond.

The deer are coming in from a well worn path on the right.

 SIX Here...

 Five...  The little one in the back left is "Big Ears"  fawn from the summer, a little guy.

2011 West Virginia University Marching Band Armed Forces Salute

Storm is almost over, got another 9" today. Deer!

Storm is almost over, got another 9" today.  This was a heavy wet snow, the snow blower had no problems.  

Three deer came in tonight.  They were digging up the acorns we placed a month ago.  James, Jason, Rosie, and I go out every fall and gather acorns for them, they seem to enjoy them.

Nice sized doe.

She spooked when two more does came in.

Say what?

Snowshoes FAIL

I got snowshoes last year for Christmas and never got to use them, I figured two plus feet of snow was a good time to test them out.  No it wasn't, the snow was so fluffy I simply sank two feet into it.  I can do this in my boots without the snowshoes.  Maybe after the warmup today it'll be better.

Twenty Seven Inches!

Twenty Seven Inches!
Rosie measured Twenty Seven inches, that's a lot of snow compared to what we got for snow the last couple years (excluding Snotober 2011 of course).  

 That's my drivers side mirror you see sticking out of that pile of snow...

 That's a plastic barrel full of sand next to that shovel.

View from the house...

Snow Blowers got to Love 'em
The snow wound down here around noon, the sun came out for a few minutes,  I dug out the buried snow blower, un-tarped it, plugged it in the extension cord and started it, it fired right away imagine that.  I had to shovel a working path just to get it out.  I backed the machine up and tries the thrower mechanism, out came a pile of snow, I turned the machine and headed for the driveway.  Within six feet of blowing snow I knew something was wrong, I was having to push the machine through the snow.  I'm getting older but this is ridiculous, the machine really doesn't want to go.  I let the blades stop and went to the front of the machine, I used my boot to try and move the blades, one was fine the other spun, great, tore a shear pin in the first 6 feet of blowing snow, went back inside got the tools, Rosie found the bag of shear pins right where (they belong) we keep them in the hutch.   Outside again, I tipped the snow thrower back and spun the blade while sticking a Phillips screwdriver into the hole that the shear pin once occupied allowed me find the hole quickly.  I had to go in and retrieve a hammer, the vise grips I had just weren't a good enough hammer to coax the broken pin from the shaft.  I replaced the pin and off I go.  I am having to go over everything twice as 6+ inches of snow are going over the top of the snow blower chute leaving several inches of snow in my wake. 

Walkway down beside the cars, done.
Driveway, done.
Workshop cleared, barn cleared.
Headed back up the hill to finish in front of the Van, crap... hard to push again.

Broke the second shear pin of the day, back into the house to get the shear pins again, luckily I bought a 1/2 dozen last time we needed them.  I backed the machine down the driveway, found the hole and quickly replaced the shear pin.  Off I go up to do the front walkway, then the RPMs start dropping on the motor, that's odd.  I checked the oil before I started, checked again, it was dirty, I hadn't changed it this season, oh well, so I drained and changed the oil in the motor, fired it back up and it ran fine, though this time I noticed that it was only when I started the auger that the motor RPMs slowed down. I limped the machine around the house and parked it, I'll have to see if something got bent or if the Auger needs lubrication.  I don't know, we're done for not except the roof raking later once I warm back up again.

When they are running good there is nothing better, but when they aren't...

Yes sir, we're having fun now...



 

Stargazers - Must See Events In 2013

OK, Enough of the Snow already!

Winter Wonderland it's not!

We've got some major cleanup ahead of us folks!  Wow,  we had 4-6 inches last night when I went up to bed.  I woke up at 6am this morning to a major snow event! We have at least 24" inches on the ground and they're predicting it to continue until at least 1pm, another 4 hours...  

On a positive note, it looks like I'll get to try out the Snowshoes I got last Christmas and never had a chance to try out.

 6am ish...   Chloe first thing this morning...

 That Wire Fence you can see in the background is 36" tall

Chloe says yeah, this is fun...

Now I'm cold, can i go in?  Harley covered in snow...  We're having to sweep snow out of the doorways of the house.  I opened the front door this morning and had to push the 2 feet of snow away with the door.