Grandpop and Grandma Joan came out to visit over our Brown Eyed Girls birthday weekend. Just in time for a good old fashion Colorado blizzard.
There is one thing I have learned about snow accumulation and wind living out here in our Little House on the Prairie - 8 inches is equivalent to about one foot drifts.
So when the weatherman starts tell me to expect two feet of accumulation with 30-40 mph winds, the wheels start spinning in my head. I start pulling off my socks so I can use my toes to calculate approximate snow drift heights. I begin planning for the worst.
Friday morning we woke to a winter wonderland. A beautiful blanket of snow. Large fluffy flakes continued to dance to the ground where a mere 8-10 inches had already accumulated.
After breakfast, we took advantage of a window of opportunity to go play outside before the winds really picked up and the accumulation confined us inside.
We built snow chairs and a snow road.
Snow roads were needed for short legs to get through drifts.
Brown Eyed Girl ate a lot of snow.
Boji tried to find buried sticks we threw.
Once our cheeks were rosie and cold we trudged back inside for hot drinks and naps.
It continued to snow.
And snow...
And snow...
By feeding time, I bundled back up and headed outside to asses the horses and barn situation.
The drifts were growing.
It was apparent we had a bit of a situation on our hands.
I have 50 foot runs off each of my stalls. At the end of each run there are water tanks for the horses. Unfortunately, there was a growing snow drift that had now swallowed the water supply to the first stall which creatively was sheltering 2 horses - I have a four stall barn. I have 5 horses. When weather becomes challenging, sometimes we have to snuggle.
Thank goodness for Daddies!
My Daddy came out in his snow gear to help me dig out the water tank heater that was trapped below this 5 foot drift! (He's the itty-bitty thing on the drift to the left of the pine tree.)
Plan B consisted of a small muck bucket I use for watering turn out horses and the tank heater. Thank goodness this heater had a cage on it and was safe for plastic tanks.
I also made a mental note to keep an eye on the drifts accumulating near the stalls. Thank goodness for the 8 foot overhangs off the end of the barn.
Saturday morning I waited for it to get light to look out my bedroom window. This was the sight.
The snow drift over the water tank had surpassed the fence and was now more than 6 feet high!
Handy Man's car was also pretty much under snow.
The horses in the first two stalls had done a pretty good job of packing down the snow at the mouth of the stalls so they could still get outside.
Unfortunately that third stall on the right looked a little drifted over since Jack was closed inside (unfortunately when it snows like this, the wind tends to circle the snow around the barn and dump it right in that third stall. I have walked in to find a foot of snow inside my barn and a very chilly pony standing there. So it's best to just close Jack in and dig out later.)
And when I say "Dig out." I mean "Dig out!"
This picture says it all!
Notice the huge drift over the water tank to the left and my old gray mare to the right. The drift makes her look like a Shetland Pony.
We had a LOT of plowing and shoveling to do!
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