Blizzard Coming

I mustn't spend much time posting this morning. There are so many things to do all of a sudden. We had a heat-wave lasting all of yesterday; the temperature soared into the upper 30's. The sun was shining, too, meaning there was quite a bit of snow-melting going on. That sounds like a good thing, but what it really means is now we have ice all over the place again. The deep-freeze has returned this morning, and our farmyard between the house and barn is like an ice-skating rink again. There's a downhill decline between the house and barn, so this morning I shuffled slowly and carefully out to do my calf chores.

A roaring northwest wind has picked up, and blizzard conditions are forecast for this evening. Great. After milking this morning, Husband asked me to help with bedding the heifers out in the cattle shed. That meant I opened and shut gates or held them while he drove the skid loader back and forth hauling big round bales of cornstalks into the shed. He opened the bales and spread them around so the livestock have a dry place for lounging.

I was about frozen solid by the time we were finished; my heavy canvas Carhartt coat felt like a thin nylon windbreaker. Seriously, I really appreciate the Carhartt coat-----I invested in it awhile back after spending many years wearing everyone else's cast-offs. It seemed expensive at $90, but its definitely worth it in weather like this. I also spent $60 last fall on "Muck Boots", and I really like them, too. They are rated to keep feet warm down to 20 degrees below zero----last week they reached their limit on a couple of the coldest days.

After scraping the cow's area in the barn and chatting with the milktruck driver, I'm now about to head to town to fill our son's pickup with gas. At 15, he has just a school permit for driving, meaning he can drive only the route from home to school and back. Unfortunately, the gas station is not on his route. So this morning, I had to let him take the Envoy to school.

My son's life right now seems to be running parallel to Jeremy's in the "Zits" cartoon in the newspaper. They're both 15 and have started driving and have had girl problems recently; my son has been trying to break up with his girlfriend, and she's not too happy about it. Oh, my, the drama of high school romances.......my marriage was the result of such a youthful romance, but was never very dramatic, not as I remember, anyway. We never ever "broke up", so I've never experienced such a thing. Like Jeremy, my son is the last child at home, putting up with his "getting older and more tired" parents, who have lost most of their enthusiasm for school activities and such, and have seen most everything there is to see. Been there, done that. Ho hum. So it goes.

An aquaintance from town just phoned and asked if he could buy 3 bales of straw to bed his dogs' houses, so Husband threw those in the pickup and I'll drop them off, too. I wish I didn't have to go anywhere.....the wind is getting stronger by the minute......the sound of its roaring is giving me chills!