Tuesday, January 26, 2016

2016 Jonas winter storm - Fun on the Farm!


The Wife started a Hi-Vis pics / with equipment on her Meadow Creek Farm FB to keep all her friends smiling during the last few days of the 2016 Jonas winter snow storm. After 3 days of plowing over 24" and being snowed in - yes it's now time to play. It's easy to start to find happiness with the simple things. Ready for summer - Not yet.  I'm just starting to get warmed up to this weather. Thankfully we did not lose electricity all and all it was just snow and lots of it!

Finally on the 4th day we saw our first county equipment cleaning the road. Of Course me and the neighbor with his skid steer did most of our section of road. Sometimes it's best to rely on yourself to do what has to be done. This machine while it cleaned the road did one heck of a mess! So of course I cleaned it up. 

The storm came in hard Friday night. Hitting us till late hours. I spent most of my time plowing to say on top of the snow. I was out with out Side x Side with the plow and snowblower. I did all of our farm then the neighbors. Hit the bed at 3:30 am to get back going around 8:30 am Saturday. Only to get my Side x Side out of the barn then drop out of gear. So spent the next hour pulling and pushing to get it back in the barn. Then it was on to the skid steer with the heated cab, windshield and wiper. Saturday was the hardest day of snow blowing. I was extremely happy I had spent the money to have my windshield repaired and back on the skid steer. I never use it and normally keep it off the machine. But with winter I figured it was time to put it back on. So happy I did!

The skid steer and the single stage MTD 2 stroke snow blower helped keep our farm nice and tidy. We  have a 22 acre horse farm where we care for 10 horses. Being able to get to one place to another is key with Feeding and getting water to four leggers. 






Exhausted horses after 3 days of snow. Now time for a horse naps! Buddy is at the gate and Cheech is getting a drink of water. 

Our neighbors called asking us to come sledding on Sunday. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The round saucer was the best ride.




Piling snow up some place can always be a challenge. (photo at our barn road side 1 photo up) Last year the installed guard rails. Which make it hard to push the snow over the hill. Now I have to lift it over. 

This was on sunday looking down the road towards our farm. Rockin Walls Training center is right on the right hand side if you see the sign on the tree - to the right you will see the 4ft freestanding wall then all the snow mounds are palleted stones covered over.


The wife having fun Sunday feeding at upper field. 

The walk up the hill to feed 4 of the field care horses. 

Knee height snow.

Happy Teresa in upper horse pasture at feeding time. I can't say what was making her smile so much. 

Looking out the skid steer from Saturday's plow of the road. Look at all the deer tracks. CRAZY!


The wife Teresa taking the hose up the hill to get water in the tub for the upper horses. As she tackles 24" plus snow walking up the hill. FUN!!!




All things break when plowing snow. Thankfully Sunday was the clear and all work had been finished. With a little investigating a simple fix was to remove the 14' chain next to the seat belt. I believe the dash was not able to recognize I was sitting in the machine with the safety switches not registering. Replacing a 5 amp fuse and removing all tools, chains... from the right side of the seat seemed to make everything work like normal. Thank God. I was a bit frustrated after the Side x Side failed Saturday morning. 




K & H Heated cat houses (they make everything you can think of heated for animals)  for our outdoor barn cats. Only the best for all our furry animals! 


Just another day at the farm.