More snow and more cold

I wish I knew how much snow fell during yesterday’s storm.  It’s the lightest, driest, fluffiest snow I’m about ever encountered. Combine that with 20 mph winds and an accurate tally is impossible.  In places I can see bare ground and a few feet away a drift is 3-4 feet deep. My best guess is that 7-9 inches fell.

This morning the temperature was -3 at the cabin, with a predicted that might, just might, reach double digits.  From my vantage point, this cold is only a hair better than the much-touted polar vortex of last week.  And what might make this cold worse is that the temperature won’t reach freezing again for at least a week. That vortex cold dissipated after 24 hours.

Today I am digging out, checking the chickens (so far okay), letting the faucets drip so the water pipes don’t freeze and doing assorted other cold weather chores. Puppy Skye was just getting used to going outside to do his business and now I feel it’s too cold to let him out.  He’s not thrilled with the idea of using paper, but I don’t want him to get sick, either.

The day before the latest snow arrived, the weather was balmy, as is typical before a storm.  So the chickens were out and enjoying their freedom.  After enjoying wild bird seed kicked out of the feeders, they figured out they could enjoy more of it if they jumped up on the feeder table.  Chickens are pretty smart when it comes to food, and mine are no exception.  And after all chickens are birds, too, so why shouldn’t they use a bird feeder?