Sunday Round Up ( Jan. 24-30)

 Last year (like the Christmas before last) Hubs got a retro arcade plug and play game. Which has Pac Man on it. After Dad showed him a few times, Pac Man is about the perfect skill level for a 4 year old. He would have played for hours if we let him. Needless to say it disappeared that night, to come out another day. But it was fun to watch how much a game that we grew up with could still be so much fun, to someone who's never seen it.

Meow meow, somehow managed to worm her way into the house today.

Actually I kept seeing her sitting in front of the goat barn spying on them through the crack in the door. It occurred to me she's not actually that interested in the goats, she's probably after their heated water. Which means the dog water is either frozen or Jasper's being a jerk again, and won't let her anywhere near it.

So she got let into the house to make sure she had access to water.

Speaking of the Dog's guess who's also in the house tonight?
The temps have dropped drastically again. But with all the melting in the last week all the melting has caused some massive humidity. When Maggie met me in the driveway tonight she was soaking wet and covered in frost at the same time. Considering the temps are suppose to drop to minus 29 tonight our buddies are getting treated to a rare night inside. No Coyote duty tonight. Yippee!!!

Actually the whole week has been pretty wrecked, since everyone has come down with one heck of a cold!

Poor little monkey spent an entire day miserable on the couch.

(it's so strange when he goes from 60 to 0 instead of the other way around)

My only big project around here this week was the start of the operation de-clutter the kitchen. I've decided it's time for a massive overhaul, where everything in the house MUST have a permanent home or be re-homed! So far these are the donate boxes just from the kitchen cabinets. We're closing in on 2 years here, and most of this stuff has sat untouched in the cupboards the entire time. I don't know if it's just cabin fever, or if it's the fact we have "normally" moved at least once in every 2 year span up until now. The moving always forced a de-junking, and without it I had to wait for the urge to purge.

- Not bad so far-

ENOUGH!!!!

As soon as we managed to tunnel our way out of the snow, we were faced with an entirely new problem. The temps. have dropped drastically, with most days ranging between -24 to -30 during the day. With wind chills, its been feeling like -38 C more than once.

Late last night, I had to go in to Edmonton to pick up Chris coming back from Fort Mac. The Van wouldn't start. There was no way it was turning over. I cussed a blue streak. Then I plugged it in for about 45 minutes and crossed my fingers (that's a story in itself since it took me about 4 tries to find a extension cord that would both reach and fit the plug). I was venting on Facebook claiming I was ready to give up and move to Florida.

But honestly, the worst fight of this cold snap has been the animal water.

Cars can be coaxed to life.
Snow can be trudged through and packed down. (or in the worst case shovelled)
Hay can grudgingly be hauled.
Heat lamps can be run 24 hours in the barn to keep the goats snug.

But try as I might I can't keep the water from freezing.

We have heaters similar to this one that float in the water pail. They are supposed to keep the water thawed at the very least. With the temps. as cold as they are, these beauties are freezing solid, right in the middle of a giant bucket shaped ice cube.
I'm at the point where I just make a trip to the barn several times a day with HOT water hoping to melt the ice a bit, and give the goats enough water to drink for a few hours at a time.

I was glad when Chris came home and could break apart the ice, freeing the heater (for all the good its doing), and making the bucket able to hold a maximum amount of water. Tonight, we're going to try an experiment with 2 heaters in the same small bucket. I hope that 2 heaters will be able to keep the water above freezing.
*sigh*
I'm not sure how else to fight this battle at the moment.

around here

It's nearly 9 o'clock. It is completely dark outside. And my crazy Husband is still out mowing the grass. If I could make all his chores as fun as riding the "tractor" this place would be looking amazing!

This is also the third day in a row the goats have not left their pen.
So whats the score now something like 6-3 for the goats?
and I've probably totally jinxed us by even bringing it up.

I think tomorrow will have to be about securing a hay source for all winter. Chris just took (another) new job on Friday and expect he will be gone A LOT for the next while. Therefore all the bails of hay will have to be here and secured before he leaves. I just don't see myself figuring out how to singled handedly wrestle a 1200-1600 pond bail off the back of a truck...hmmm...I may have to talk to a few of my sources. and find out if there is a way we could reverse a boat lift to take bails of hay off a truck. I've seen several free boat lift ads lately. and it's got me thinking...

And now that the chicken side of the barn is empty, maybe we can start getting all the insulation up against the wall. We bought a monster "package" of Styrofoam to use as insulation in the barn. but until the place has been cleaned out and chicken less we've had that project on hold. Keep your fingers crossed we can get it at least on the go this weekend.

I was also hoping to get the waterer, made over. As in painted, cleaned up and all the wires reattached. And although I'd still like to put it together I'm thinking we won't be using it this winter anyways. We don't have a water source close enough to the goat pen that won't freeze in the cold weather. My original thought was it was only about 20-30 feet that we would have to run a water line. This seemed like a good weekend easy project until I realized we weren;t talking about digging a foot and half down. We're talking more like going a good six feet down to get below the frost line. yeah. 30 feet by 6 feet doesn't sound like a quick weekend job any more. I guess I'll be back in the want ads just looking for a submerseable de-icer that I can drop into a stock tank. rather that using my ever so cool waterer this season.

Quick Road Trip

I've been dying to get one of these water tanks for the goats. I'm loving the idea of not having to worry about their water freezing all winter, But I wasn't loving the price. They start at over $400.

So I found a used one (where else but kijiji) and took the kids on a road trip most of the day to go get it. (the human children not the goat kids) The Area up around Saint Paul is so picturesque.

It's in rougher shape. Needs a good cleaning. and some wires reattached (funny we know an electrician ~My Dad) and a new hose.  But for $100 instead of 4 I figure we've still done better. Although Chris is really starting to love my cheapness...me cheap = Chris has ANOTHER job.

Since it probably need a paint job anyways. I'm thinking of painting it matte black on the outside. I read a blog a few days ago saying that by painting all his watering tanks black one guy had managed to cut his energy consumption considerably. Since the black absorbs the UV rays and naturally heats the tank quite a bit on its own. Hey if you have to paint it, might as well do it in a useful color.