Snow Day 2.021

by Rachel KennerlyFebruary 15, 20213 min read

Another snow day. Who would have thought that we’d have 2 snow events in one winter? Not me. We get snow like once a decade, but within weeks of one another? Never! At least not in my lifetime. And we’ve got good accumulation on the ground – 3 – 4 or maybe even 5 inches.

We trekked out to check on the chickens this am. There were frost accumulations on the door from their breath, but the heat lamp in their coop seemed to do pretty good. Their water as slightly frozen over from last night, but it didn’t do so again today, and our temps never cracked 20. The chickens have stayed inside all day. For all the grief I give them about being stupid, their sense of self preservation is still pretty strong. (Which is more than I can say for a lot of Americans these days). And in spite of the arctic temperatures we still got 14 eggs today! We have checked on the chickens throughout the day, and their water has not frozen over again, so the heat lamp must be doing its job. Don’t know how well it’ll do tonight when we are projected to get down to 7 or 8.

On the downside I discovered I had lost another hen. I have had the chickens penned up in the chicken yard for the past two weeks after losing one of my favorite hens to what I assume was a hawk. I let them out yesterday knowing the snow was coming, and now I’m down another chicken. I guess they will just have to stay in their chicken yard until the hawk threat is gone. And maybe that stupid hawk will freeze to death tonight. 🤞🤞

After checking on the chickens I looked & saw my poor trio apple tree bent almost to the ground. I was hoping & praying that none of the trunks or limbs had snapped off. So far they all look intact. I brushed off as much snow accumulation as I could, but it was still drooping pretty low. I don’t know if that bag will be able to save my apple blossoms from our impending single digit temps. I really don’t know how well my cold weather plants are doing, because there was a solid coat of snow over them. Hopefully they can survive a day or two without sunlight.

We humans are doing okay. We still have power, even though a lot of Texans are experiencing rolling blackouts, or just plain old blackouts. Snow cream & a nice toasty fire have been bright spots on this bitterly cold day. I was 7 or 8 the last time I had snow cream, so making & sharing that treat with my son & husband & mother-in-law was an experience I’ll treasure. Honestly it tasted *almost* as good as Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla – without the lysteria, of course.