Brrrr!

Right now my phone tells me it’s 7° outside. It’s supposed to be 0° by 8 o’clock tonight, with an final low of -7 by the time the day is done. The irony of having livestock is more extreme the weather the more time you have to spend out in it.

Despite a canceled church service yesterday and no school today I got up early to check on the animals first thing both mornings.

We have a heated waterer for the dog, cats, goats, and the lamb, but it still has to be checked because in these extreme temperatures not even the automatic heat works every time.

They also eat a lot more food in extremely cold temperatures!

The back entryway is a mess! The chickens waterers must be brought in and thawed so I can exchange them throughout the day. Lizzie takes her bottle twice a day by the back door, And the rest of it is littered with mud boots, scarves, hats, gloves and old towels to soak up the melted snow.

It took me 30 minutes this morning and will require another half hour tonight to make sure that all of the animals are fed and watered. But just imagine if instead of a handful of backyard animals you had a whole farm full of livestock that your livelihood depended upon!

Today in this freezing cold weather many farmers and ranchers will be outside almost all day providing for their livestock. They’ll do this today, tomorrow, and even on Christmas morning!

So thanks to all the farmers who provided my Christmas ham, yams, and eggnog!

And Merry Christmas!