Dog Tales

The severe cold snap in the weather proved a challenge in making sure all were sheltered from the life threatening wind chills. All had good access to shelter but for the always – on – the – job guardian dogs….Sampson and Belladonna. Sam uses his doghouse frequently but Bella frankly refuses shelter, preferring to, at best, bed down in the downslope trees.
Thus, we decided to build a windbreak for Bella which was quickly claimed by Sam..and progressed into a two chamber shelter. ..then a tarped 2 chamber.
Finally as night fell and double digit temperatures kept falling with the wind gusts rising…and noone was using the architectural masterpiece..we decided to attempt bringing them in the barn for the night. Sam made himself right at home. Bella definitely did not appreciate being in, paced the floor, and escaped thru the gate to play ‘catch me if you can’ for a bit but both the barn and the dogs survived the adventurous night.

The Weekend

A challenging weekend…

— battled wind (20 to 30 mph) and snow (honestly have lost track of how many inches) to feed and tend the flock
— windchills of -12 to -17 degrees turned water to slush in a matter of minutes; fumbled around to get insulated sleeves on the rabbits’ waterers but then the little ball bearings in the tubes froze
— blowing snow closed the church road several times, but the Ranger once again proved to be a determined drift buster, and we were able to make it over to the other pasture with hay for Saul’s breeding group
— celebrated every single time the sun weakly peeked through the snow-laden clouds
— managed to trudge back to the fiber room and get a couple more lambs’ fleeces skirted and finished another piece of contract knitting {happy dance}
and last but most definitely not least…
— discovered that in an emergency, pink insulated underwear makes an excellent winter face mask!