Tuesday, January 26, 2016

snow scenes

Perhaps you've already seen photos of the East Coast's recent snow storm plastered across all your various social media platforms. And perhaps you're kinda sick of it - like, 'ok how many pictures of snow can I look at before they all look the same?!?'

But... Well. Oh well, here are some more. Because our entire world is snow right now so it's kinda dominating our landscape. Naturally lol.

First things first tho - all critters two- and four-legged and all vehicles and all homes made it through the storm more or less unscathed. In fact, it's entirely possible that I'm the only one of my little menagerie that cares.... Isabel is clearly indifferent, so long as there's hay haha.
Work let out early on Friday in anticipation of the storm, so I hightailed it over to the barn to make sure all my ducks were in a row - including making sure Isabel had enough supplements to get her though a few days, and zipping all the plexi panels back onto my trailer.
You may recall I took the rear panels off the trailer this past spring to improve ventilation in warmer temperatures. We've also discovered over the course of the season that the zip ties used to hold the panels on have about a 6-12 month lifespan, despite being advertised as 'exterior' zip ties. I guess they just get old and brittle after so much exposure to the elements?
Since some had started breaking over the past few months, I opted to replace the zips on every panel, also as a means to make sure every little nook and cranny was as sealed up as possible before the storm. Coincidentally - this also marked the first of what would be many moments of gratitude that my leg is officially deemed healed now... Balancing on that little step stool was definitely *not* a thing I would have been able to do comfortably a couple weeks ago...
Anyway I also pulled a tarp over the trailer door where there's a significant amount of open space. The idea was to prevent snow drifts inside... but I'm really not super optimistic that there wasn't any accumulation... We will see eventually I guess, bc for now the trailer isn't super accessible haha. 
I actually left my normal daily driver car parked right up in front of the trailer, with the idea that once the car is dug out, the trailer will be automatically dug out as well. But damn, that is a LOT of snow... I have *no clue* how I'm ever going to get to the trailer any time soon, unless the BM takes pity on me and helps dig it out with the tractor.... Fingers crossed bc that clinic we signed up for this coming weekend is looking ........ a lot less likely now. Wah. 
Really tho, the 36-hour storm has mostly proven to be a bit of a vacation. Just sitting at home with the kitties staying warm and catching up on various youtube videos haha. While occasionally peeking out the window to see what world of shoveling pain I'd soon be in...
Because even trying to stay ahead of the storm by periodically clearing out the snow from around my truck proved futile. Every couple hours I'd come down and clear the same freaking section and it'd be completely indistinguishable from the rest by the next time I came down... annoying. 
At least I wasn't alone tho. Pretty much all the neighbors were out and about on Sunday after the storm cleared to dig out. But jesus, just LOOK at all that snow! Sure, it might not seem like an awful lot to those of you who live further north or in areas of greater snowfall... but this is a LOT for humble little Baltimore, with our limited snow removal resources and experience...
Finally, tho, the truck was dug out and I was free to move about the cabin, so to speak. 
And actually I was pretty impressed with how the city handled the snow, as evidenced by these perfectly cleared sidewalks I had the pleasure of using on my little 1.5mile jaunt to the next neighborhood over, bc everything closer to me was closed but a girl's gotta watch her football, right? #priorities
Because let's be honest - there are only so many hours you can spend with your cats before you start to wonder if they'd consider eating you if they were only a little bigger... OG looks for all the world here like he would try a nibble lol...
Most of the main roads are already in pretty good shape too. Sure, there's snow errywhere and the lane dividers are more like a suggestion rather than the rule... But actually getting out to the barn (which itself is on a somewhat main road) was pretty easy. 

It's just crazy tho - there is SO MUCH snow everywhere - just look at these massive piles in font of the houses!!!

The barn fared well through the storm too - never lost power and all the horses are happy and comfortable. Another boarder even came out with their snow blower to clear paths to the fields! 
Not bad, right?!? Tho our school horse herd was slightly inaccessible for a couple days, tho thankfully the horses had plenty of hay and water and didn't seem to mind the seclusion...
I like to think Izzy was happy to see me tho ;)
She came right up to say hi (even tho i didn't even have any treats for her!) and hung out quietly while I picked out the gnarly knots that had already appeared in her mane... poor thing gets left alone for two days and already looks like an orphan... lol.
"seriously tho, emma, where are the treats?" - isabel
Even the cats are doing just fine haha. Really tho there is a TON of work to be done in clearing paths and keeping the barn clean and what not (especially since our manure pit is currently inaccessible ugh). So I really only just visited with Isabel briefly before getting to work on all those stalls.... Maybe I'll be able to hop on for a little ride tomorrow tho? We shall see!

Did you get hit by the storm? How did you make out? Does your barn have any neat tricks for snow management and removal? 

38 comments:

  1. This reminds me why I don't like snow. Stay warm and maybe you and Iz will get to play in the snow.

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    1. yea i don't much care for the snow either lol

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  2. Our snow accumulation was barely a fraction of what you got but over 8-9inches in areas was enough to shut us down. We were pretty trapped for the weekend and pretty much everything was closed anyways. Luckily my BO lives on the property. Now we just have muck to deal with as the snow has stated to melt.

    Glad you fared the storm okay!

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    1. 8-9inches is nothing to sniff at - that'll shut baltimore down too, easily. hopefully you're all back up and running again!

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  3. Glad to hear you all faired well!!! I gotta admit I was a little worried when I didn't see a post from you yesterday lol, but I know that when there's ever that much snow shoveling and clearing it becomes such an all consuming thing for a while.

    My best advice: clear as much as possible before it settles and gets wetter/crustier/heavier. I know you're probably crazy tired as it is, but the longer you leave it the harder to move it gets. I wasnt really planning on using my trailer through last winter anyway, but since I didn't clear it out after the first storm, it just got worse and worse (and obviously piled up more after multiple storms which I hope does not happen to you!...or me again) and finally when I did clear it out it was a giant crusty pile of ice. Like I said I wasn't really planning on using the trailer at that time last year, but it still made me really nervous having it be inaccessible (like what if I needed to trailer to the vet hospital?) I wasn't able to get my BM to dig it out with his bobcat until like April ugh, but I bet your BM will be better about that than mine was!

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  4. I am super glad we didn't get the amount of snow you did... because my trailer was still at my house when Jonas came through and there's no way I would have been able to take it back to the barn!

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    1. ugh yea i'm super jealous of your lesser amount of snow too haha. at least we're mostly cleared out here by now

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  5. I stand with you in solidarity here in PA... this was a shit-ton of snow.

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  6. We got so much snow here for a tiny town in upstate SC! I think we ended up with 6"+ of snow- small stuff compared to what you guys got but a lot compared to what we normally get :) Love your snow pictures and hopefully I'll get mine up soon!

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    1. eh 6" is usually considered a fair amount for our area too... hope you're all cleared out tho, and looking forward to reading your post!! :D

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  7. YAY WEST COAST I LOVE THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

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  8. Here in sunny Florida it was the biggest news that we actually had flurries. Not enough to stick anywhere, but you would have thought we had a blizzard by the way the newscasters went on about it. I did my normal and went to ride.

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    1. glad to hear that you were unfazed by it all. flurries in florida tho.... sounds a bit crazy ;)

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  9. Dayum!
    That is a lot of snow, so glad to hear you all survived unscathed and hope you can free the trailer in time for clinic participation!

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    1. ugh way to much snow! fortunately everything is clearing out quickly and easily, but alas the clinic is not to be... boo!

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  10. I remember snowpacalpse in 21012? Literally shut our town dowwwwwn in MO. It was about 15in. insane. Hate it.

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    1. yea we had something similar in 2010 - and honestly i think our city learned their lessons that time, bc the response for this storm has been pretty impressive (thank god!)

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  11. The past two years we've had ice storms that shut down Austin for several days at a time, so I am happy to report that this weekend it was in the 50-60s and I enjoyed grazing my horse in the sun. It's so pretty when it first falls, but man snow is a hassle! Lol.

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    1. ice storms are the freakin WORST ugh. jealous of your sun tho lol

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  12. Replies
    1. you can have ours!! i'm alllllll set for the rest of the year, thankyouverymuch!

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  13. Those snow blower paths to paddocks are AMAZING. I lived in upstate NY for too many years and several feet of snow at a time was pretty much the norm. I don't think we ever really did anything special. Probably because we were all crazy.

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    1. aren't those paths perfect?!? and yea that was pretty much the same story when i lived in rochester. but then again, rochester new how to handle the snow on the roads and how to plow and how to do all those basic little things that make life livable, whereas baltimore is still learning lol.

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  14. I moved from the prairies to get away from the neverending snow...but now I kinda miss it! Have fun :)

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    1. ha it's fun for like, a DAY. then i'm eager for it to get gone again.

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  15. Replies
    1. it's pretty darn close, at least for our area!

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  16. I honestly don't miss this aspect of living in Michigan.

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  17. We got the less serious side of the storm. Lots and lots and lots of rain, sometimes freezing, mixed with sleet, sometimes mixed with snow, sometimes actual, real snow. It was wet. Overall, we accumulated quite a bit, but the plows out here were on it fairly quick. The only difficult night was Friday because that was the one night where they weren't quick. Of course, my dad decided that I would be the one driving to school today, and that was an adventure. Basically had to create new lanes because there was no where to put the snow :/ Oh well, now for another week of ice and puddles.

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    1. glad to hear your storm wasn't as severe - still tho, freezing rain and sleet and uncleared roads aren't any fun at all... nor are puddles errrrrywhere ugh

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  18. Oh, we had snow, 24". I have a 2 mile dirt driveway that the state does not plow, so I have snow removal equipment. The plow truck was like "No thanks" regarding the snow. It'll do up to about twelve inches at one go, but there was 20 on the ground when I got up Saturday. :( So, I fired up the dozer (our 1972 500c IH crawler tractor) because it will push huge balls of snow that are way bigger than it is. Twenty inches of fluff is nothing for it. The dozer would go neither forward nor backward. :( It was running when I parked it a month and a half ago, so wth? No clue. I gave up and phoned for help on the snow removal front. Help came and hit the road well enough to get a 4wd in and out while I researched the dozer problem on the internets. The dozer transmission fluid was the color and transparency of a creamsicle (it's supposed to be a clear, ruby red color). I drained the dozer transmission, replaced the filters, and put brand new HyTran (which, at $83 a five gallon bucket, is likely made from the blood of virgin peacocks) in it, whereupon it ran like as if nothing had ever been wrong. By then, though, the road was all melted out to dirt because my narrative above skips steps like "How to jack up the bulldozer so that you can access the belly pan" and "The access plate near the front of the dozer is not the one for draining the transmission fluid... but since you've already drained the engine oil, why not put fresh in?" and so forth. If I ever have to drain the dozer transmission again, it'll take about a third of the time that this effort took. Anyway, it runs fine now and I learned a lot in the process, so that's something.

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    1. ugh that sounds like quite the ordeal! and not too different from our barn's experiences (minus the whole 'dozer won't run' thing...). the state *does* plow our driveway, but apparently were too busy to do anything but a cursory single pass through with a front loader - which, let's face it, was completely insufficient. they got the path low enough for vehicles to come through - but it was too narrow, and a couple times my truck slid sideways into the wall of snow on either side and got stuck... ugh!

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  19. I had a laugh at your further north comment. We still have nothing. I do not envy all your snow.

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    1. um yea you can totally have our snow, thanks lol. we "southerners" don't much care for it! ;)

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