SNOW ON ICE ON MUD
Lovely. And the day just kept getting colder.
This was our first nasty winter day of the season and the weather gods held nothing back. 
Yesterday we were wondering how the ducks would fare in below freezing temperatures. Well we were below freezing all day and they spent the whole day paddling in icy puddles until they melted them then they played in the icy water until their feathers froze into icy muddy messes.
They certainly did not hide inside all day like the chickens.
I had to break into the chook house as the door was frozen solid. I never was able to get in the barn door to Molly. Instead I climbed the gate. Climbing anything was a bit dangerous yesterday with ice covering everything and getting thicker over the course of the day. 
At least the excoriating wind died down by late afternoon. 
This is Boo doing his bucket guarding. He does not like the chickens to eat the food that does not belong to them. So, without being asked he sits on guard beside any unattended bucket full of feed as I go about my chores.
He takes this self appointed chore very seriously. Sometimes he will even guard Wai’s food as he is eating it. Glaring at any chicken who tries to steal any.
We still have a little snow falling. But the storm is over. I think we only got the edges of it. I was glad I was not traveling. 
It is still very cold. But as we all know it will get colder over the course of the winter so I am not complaining – I just wear layers of clothing.
I believe we have already reached our high for the day! And the sun has not even risen. Down we will go.
I hope you have a good day.
Celi
S
30 Comments on “SNOW ON ICE ON MUD”
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Oh, those chilly pink piglet bottoms… it’s a good job those babies are building a nice layer of tasty fat and have a wonderfully cosy cornstalk bed to snuggle in. The photo of the ducks is beautiful, the colour is so monochromatic that it looks like an old sepia photo.
I am working hard on getting those little ones as fat as possible – they will be using up fat to keep warm. And they need all the warmth they can get. Same with Jude. More food more better. Luckily they are all good do-ers!
Oh and it IS snowing – sigh.
Those ducks are hardy😀 I think I might be seeking shelter with the chooks or those fat piggies. mind the ice. Time to attach your cleats/ crampions(sp) to your boots. Laura
Yes I have them. Though I was hoping not to have to get them out IN NOVEMBER!!
Woke up to a couple inches of new heavy very wet snow, its covered and sticking to everything, and its snowing hard.. they say it will keep on snowing all day and all night, and I am told it will add another 4 to 8 inches to what we already have. Its grey-blue overcast snow blowing but its sure pretty out there.
Yours looks wet/cold/mucky.. is it froze up solid, it does not look like it.. layer up and stay dry!
Frozen solid – and now being covered in a light fall of snow. Nasty stuff
Loved the duck photo, too. Ducks are self-insulating, I imagine.
Sort of living proof that down vests/jackets/comforters really do keep us warm– those ducks are showing off for us 🙂
You go Boo!!!!……Love Those ducks
Aren’t they entertaining!
Ice. Miserable stuff – already this year I am spreading ashes from the wood stove everywhere I have to walk and down the driveway to the gate.
For frozen latches or locks….we keep a propane torch at the back door (the kind you would use for soldering plumbing) and take it on rounds – light it up and melt the ice. Climbing gates is a good way to get hurt 😖 (speaking from experience), and god forbid should there be a fire you need to be able to let your livestock loose.
Though I imagine I would be the one setting fire to the barn with the propane torch – it would be good for the gates though.
Fire terrifies me – especially with Jude being under his heat lamp. Which is secured three different ways and hangs directly above a metal cage but still it makes me nervous.
Snowing here now lightly to the sounds of neighbors scraping off their windshields. Stay warm miss c…t
Too funny about Boo! I think it’s a Blue Heeler thing, as Dolly is definitely in charge of what the other animals do here, whether it be eating, resting or moving from place to place! She must be ‘in the know’ about it and approve of it! 🙂
chilling photos….Boo is such a great dog! And a lucky dog to be with you!
I’m with the chooks … I’ll stay in the barn. Freezing cold, gray and miserable in the city too. But at least our work is indoors. Stay warm as you can.
Can’t help but think you need some help on your little farm! Just seems like so much work for one person. 🙂 What ever happened to your Wwoofers?
It all just got too expensive and with John retiring I am doing some belt tightening
Boo is a gem!
I’m thinking of the day you got Boo at the fair. Seems a long time ago.
Some great photos in there, Celi. I especially liked the first shown.
Aw, Ceci! Loved the title of this blog – makes it sound like a fancy frozen parfait! Laughing at the ducks… aren’t they truly our friends in ‘fowl’ weather?! Loved your photos, Trooper C! Be careful!
I guess that’s why the saying ‘lovely weather for ducks’. And my Mirrhi does the blue heeler thing too…….one of my cats gulps her food down and then goes to steal someone else’s, but Mirrhi knows and won’t let her do it…a gentle nose boof and that cat is stopped in her tracks.
Greetings from stormy Sydney Basin which received more than a month’s rain in 1 1/2 hours this morning in huge thunderstorms . . . worse to come . . . at least I still have my electricity here! Methinks the Weather Gods are trying to tell us something . . . wonder whether ducks can get colds 🙂 ?
OMG! I thought it was chilly here, but the sun shone all day and got to about 18 or 19ºC. I wished I was outdoors instead of being inside a cave most of the time, painting a wall sky blue.
Ducks are quite hardy, which is why their feathers are popular for duvets and pillows.
Those ducks! On their bare legs and feet, just wading about in the icy puddles. I guess there is a reason duck meat is fatty. Because ducks must carry quite a bit of insulation. Still, if they were having fun I guess I shouldn’t feel sorry for them.
Such weather is so fascinating. Well, it is to me. We get no such weather here.
While changing a tire where we stayed in Oklahoma, the tire got away from me an rolled away, which would have been no problem, except that it rolled out onto a small frozen pond, where it fell over and stopped! I had to walk around the pond with a hose to wrap around the tire so that I could drag it in.
That is a funny story. What a conundrum! The hose was a good idea.
Lovely images Celi … what a wonderful eye you have! Stay warm …