Cold & Snowy

Over the past several days, the lows at night have been around -4 without the windchill added in. It has been COLD!! I think to the woman of yesteryear. Many of them living out on the prairie. Shut in small cabins with everyone. No car to hop into or no place to really go in those cold temperatures. I can see where you would have to plan so that cabin fever would not get out of hand. They spent time as families doing inside chores. I am sure there was sewing, spinning, mending, candle making and many other chores. The men would have to go out to care for the stock. They could sit inside and mend and polish their harnesses.

My house has stayed fairly chilly. It was not meant to go through temperatures this low for an extended time. We have one frozen drain in the house. The water in 2 of the barns does not work. It has created a lot of extra chores. Hauling water to cows is no small deal. Then to top that off, we have been fighting a nasty cold. Michael's is much worse than mine, but so far his has stayed in his head. He does not do well when they move down into his chest. Mine has been very minor and has mostly been in my chest. However, there are still chores that have to be done, including hauling water to cows. The calves get a 5 gallon bucket in the evening and in the morning, the neighbor boy tops off the bucket. Yesterday, my dear sweet husband hauled 30 gallons of water to the cows and today another 40 gallons. We are hoping the water in the barn comes back on soon. =)

Even with all that though, we have it so much more easy than those pioneers did. They were hardy stock. Many of them died and many of them lost children due to the extremes they endured. I need to not whine about what needs to be done and praise the Lord for all the conveniences that are mine. We are glad about the big freeze though. We needed a good one to kill off the bugs and other yuck that did not get killed last year.

It is snowing again today. We are supposed to get up to 2 inches more. If you look in the bottom picture, you can just barely make out a bright red cardinal sitting in the tree.