Another Scary Happening

That's Sonata ↑ who is JR's mom.

Do you remember my "snow slide off the roof" story? http://northstaralpacas.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-near-death-experience-0r-avalanche.html

Damn! It almost happened again. Same scenario - 45 degrees, rainy, I'm digging little trenches to drain the water away from the barn, and rumble, rumble, down comes the snow off the roof. There wasn't nearly the snow pile this time, but it's really strange that this could happen twice while I'm out there. What are the odds?????

Family news!!!! I just got off the phone with son Rob who teaches at Scranton U in Pennsylvania. He just got tenure! Congratulations, Dr. Smith.

Saturday Storm - Much Ado about Nothing

We were supposed to have 5 to 7 inches of snow today. The 7 a.m. picture above shows a nice quiet morning before I went to do chores. It was nice enough that I was able to shoo the horses out with a little hay while I mucked their stalls. I checked the weather map when I came in at 9. The storm is about an hour away in this map. I am in Ithaca - the very middle of the mitt.

Here we are at 3 in the afternoon. Not nearly as nasty as predicted, but I'm glad the 'pacas and horses are snug in the barn.

This is what the weather map looked like at 3. Way worse on paper than out the window. The storm was coming from the south and swirling around so that the wind was from the north east.

And here is the barn at 5, just before I went out to do evening chores. We got only about 3 inches but I will have to shovel out those doors in the morning to get the horses into their paddocks.

....and here she is.....dear, sweet Cassie, who is actually a ham about having her picture taken.

My Path to Humility

The definition of humility is "the quality of being humble". I became humble this morning when my snow blower wouldn't start. I've been a little proud and feeling "just a little bit superior" that I can get my snow blower going and stuff plowed out before the neighbor guys get around. You know, that "I am Woman, hear me roar" stuff.
Well, she wouldn't start this morning and I asked Ben who was plowing my driveways with his truck if he would take a look at it. Well, duh, what I thought was a choke is actually some sort of prime thingy. Using the correct little choke lever, it took right off.
So above is my snow blower path to humility and the barn......

A Beautiful Michigan Morning

I don't understand the weather this morning. It was 10 degrees and the surrounding schools had fog delays. Everything is covered with that beautiful white frosty snow/ice. The dogs and I took a walk around the property to enjoy. The pictures above and to the right are about 200 feet from the back of my house. The deer have been in there and all the hot wire fences are down. Will have my work cut out for me in the spring. They have never foraged in my little wood lot so I'm thinking they must be hungry. All our snow must be taking it's toll. I heard on the radio that December had the record snowfall for Michigan - EVER.
Remember, you can click on these pictures for enlargement - especially if you want to see my dear Cassie under the trees.

Of course, I had to give you a shot of the barn. It's so nice to have energy left over after feeding and watering in the morning. Josh is working out incredibly. He is coming 3 days a week and I, surprisingly enough, am having no trouble leaving the poop hauling for him.

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I think the Heat Gods must have been angry at me yesterday. My furnace quit and I had to call a repair man. Of course, being Sunday, it was considered an emergency visit - $s. But I'm happy someone came and fixed it. The humidifier had leaked and dripped all over important things. Scott repaired it and I'm not using attached humidifier. Actually, I have a little cold air vaporizer that I'm running.

I keep a small heater in the tack room in the barn and that decided to also quit yesterday. Will have to replace that soon because I understand that we are in for some really, really cold weather later this week.

My Near Death Experience 0R Avalanche in Flatlands of midMichigan

I am obsessing about this experience so maybe blogging about it will free it from my mind. Christmas Eve Day turned warm and rainy here and I was out in front of the barn digging trenches to try and drain water away from the barn. I heard a little rumble and took off running (well, as fast as I run). The snow that you see in this picture came off the metal roof up above. It would have smooshed, broken, and buried me completely 'cause I was standing right in the middle. (Remember you can click on this pict to see how massive it really was)
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My first question is "What are the odds of this happening while I was standing there?"
The second is "How did my body know to move out of the way?"
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Of course, now I'm a little giddy thinking of newspaper headlines-
Alpaca Breeder Dies under Tons of Snow
Snow Breaks Every Bone in Senior Citizen's Body
First Known Avalanche in Michigan's Farmland
Widow Joins Husband in Untimely Death
Animals Survive but Caretaker Meets Death After Storm
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Do you have any headlines to add to my collection?
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How about this from my online friend Zuleika originally from Bermuda, now living in Edinburgh, Scotland:
'Freak Alpaca Farm Accident Makes for an Icy Grave'
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My friend Sharon Winsauer suggests:
"Death from Barn Chores"
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I was waiting for Beth to get home from the U.P. because I knew she would have some great headlines:
"Snow Slides....Granny Dives"
"Loud Cursing Sets Off Near Death Avalanche"
"Santa Makes Emergency Landing on Barn Top: Grandma Gets Runover by Cascading Roof Snow"
or how about:
"Metal Roofing Sends Barn Owner Hoofing"
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Just in from daughter Terre:
"Snow Avalanche Makes Alpaca Granny Move Her Fanny"
"Alpaca Granny Finds Get-up-and-go Because of TwoTons of Cascading Snow"
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From Friend Kathy down in Jackson at Luka's Alpaca Ranch
" Spinning Lady Spins Out, Saving Herself by a Thread"

Another Storm Blowing In

Another storm is blowing in today but I didn't have to shovel to get in to the animals in the barn. They are all cozy with food, water, clean bedding, and listening to Christmas carols. A lovely surprise while out there - about 8 o'clock Dean, my across the street neighbor, popped in to offer any help. He shoveled a path to the outdoor poop pile and dumped my wheel barrows for me.
The picture above is Max, my Sheltie, and Cassie, my Golden Retriever. They are just on their way back inside this morning. Max is a little short so I have had to keep a path shoveled off the deck for him.

First Snow Storm - December 1, 2008

We got about 6 inches of the really heavy, sticky snow that turned my morning trip to the barn into a true winter wonderland.

Beautiful! yes, but look what I needed to move before I could clean. I left a show shovel outside last night thinking that I would need it, but it's buried somewhere in that drift by the barn door. Thankfully, I had that other one inside. I moved Cord and Ivan out so that I could clean their stalls. That's Cord peeking over the fence.

The alpacas were just too funny when I let them out. The young ones had never seen snow like this and were jumping and running and body slamming each other. Each of them had to drop into the white stuff and take a roll. The 4 alpacas in the left picture are (left to right), Orion (Slammie), white Pollux (Luxie), naughty gray Gunny, and our handsome dark fawn, herd sire, Polaris (Lars). On the right are crias with little Junior in his purple coat. He's up to 20 pounds now, but not growing like he should. Vet Russ will be here tomorrow and I will have him examine and do a blood draw. Maybe we will get some answers.

As I was finishing up my chores about 10 o'clock, I heard a snow blower. Dean, my across the street neighbor, blew out my house driveway and this path from my house to the barn. Aren't I the luckiest woman in the world? Actually my son, Rob, was here for T'Day and showed me how to run the snow blower, but I'm really glad that Dean did it for me.

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As Dean was finishing up, Ben, the young man who farms my property, arrived, got the tractor out, and cleaned out the barn driveway. I'm in great shape!

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Changes

23. I realize that I can't do EVERYTHING by myself and am so grateful and thankful that I have folks to help me out.

Close Your Barn Door

I wonder if I said "Close your barn door" to a little boy if he would know to zip up his zipper? or does this really give a clue to my 65 years?
What we did this morning was not closing barn doors but opening them, all 10 to let horses, sheep, and alpacas out. We had a really big storm yesterday which produced 11 inches of snow, very high winds, and huge drifts. I had shut all the critters in and this morning it took us about 4 hours to hand dig everyone out their own door. In fact, husband is out plowing on the tractor still. A couple of the drifts were 5 feet high.
The above picture was taken from our deck off the kitchen. On the left is Fiona, husband's new Haflinger pony, my big gray Ivan guy, and if you look really close, you can see an alpaca above him.
Left click on pictures for enlargements ☺

This is the side of our property looking out my bedroom window about noon. Love those long shadows heading north. Today is an awesomely beautiful, after the storm, sunny day.