Last weekend, like much of the U.S., we got snow dumped on us. 20+ inches of the white stuff. And record cold, with overnight temps in the single digits and even below zero (Fahrenheit).
The horses loved it.
The goats, chickens and even the ducks hated it.
And us? Ugh! It’s pretty, but what a huge mess.
Paths had to be shoveled. Lots of them.
Most people can just clear off their walkways and ignore their sheds until spring. But on a farm, almost every building has a year-round purpose, whether to hold animals, equipment, or supplies.
It’s the equivalent of having multiple houses to clear. Ugh.
We are very grateful to a neighbor for clearing our driveway, as the temps were so cold that there was no way the diesel tractor would even think of starting.
Even with paths dug out, getting feed and water to all the animals is tough (there’s no running water in the barn or coops). And with this cold, handling water is, well, “fun” and “pleasant” on bare skin when you have to take your gloves off to open waterers or attach temporary hoses.
Murphy’s Law
Murphy’s Law says anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And usually at the worst possible time.
- The day after the storm I cleared off the goats’ platform. I knew Hanky wouldn’t go out, but Fawn likes it. An hour later I heard her crying. I found her in a 3-foot snow drift. Apparently she fell off the platform and didn’t use the ramp. Instead of walking to the ramp, she was trying to jump back up on the platform. Did I mention she was in a 3-foot snow drift? Nothing like trying to boost a 70-pound goat out of a snow drift. The goats are now banned from their yard until the snow level drops
- My laptop lost its mind, or rather its hard drive. (See the sad, frustrating, horrible story below.)
- Chickens waterers have a fundamental design flaw. You set them on heating pans to keep the water from freezing, but you fill them by opening the screw cap on top. Far from the heat. Which freezes and gets ice in the threads. Since the vacuum seal depends on an O-ring, even a thin layer of ice causes a slow leak. 7 gallons of water on the coop floor, which at these temps turned into an ice rink. Ask me how I know this…
- Lights keep failing in these temps. Replacing light bulbs is “fun”, especially when the bulb breaks and you have to use a set of pliers to unscrew the metal piece. Without touching the center and lighting yourself up in the process!
- We don’t have a garage, so the cars are parked outdoors, neatly side-by-side. But with that much snow, they become one giant snow mound. I finally dug out the blue Rav4, but the Prius and Tacoma are still entombed.
- The barn has a nice metal roof. The nice part is that when the sun hits it, all the snow avalanches off. The not-so-nice part is that it lands right in front of the door – which then needs to be dug out.
- And of course, the oil delivery person (understandably) needs a path shoveled to the oil tank fill. Which is behind the house. Through the snow drifts.
What Went Right
To be fair, not everything went south.
- We didn’t lose power. I can deal with almost anything as long as we have power. Of course now that I’ve said that, the next storm will probably be lights out.
- We didn’t freeze pipes or waterers. Yes we have heat. But with temps that low, something might decide it’s tired of holding water.
- Our animals are all hanging in there. Knock on wood, no sickness or worse. Chickens however are notorious for not dealing with stress well, and these temps are really stressful. Sadly, I expect to lose a couple or more once the weather eases. It’s part of nature, but that doesn’t make it easier.
- Nothing else has broken (yet). Let’s hope that keeps on keeping on.
Are We Having Fun Yet?
And there will be more snow to come, it’s only January (yikes!).
Yes, these are funny stories to look back on in future months (or years?). But for now, well, these storms just stink!
Please Learn From My Mistake!
Believe it or not, my laptop is a vital piece of equipment on the farm. Not only does it contain things like home files, tax records, and business files, but it also holds essential farm data.
Daily egg counts. Birds by age. Hale bale inventory. Feed and supply and tax records. All those little nuggets that keep this place running smoothly.
But right after my last newsletter, my laptop started slowing down. And then a couple days later, it wouldn’t boot. It kept getting stuck in “recovery” mode.
Oh I tried suggestions from the internet, but they didn’t work. I finally took it to a trusted computer specialist, who tried recovering files, but the drive is too damaged to read them via software.
It’s a mechanical drive, like an old turntable, with mechanical parts that wear out. And wear out they did.
She replaced it with a solid state one, no mechanical parts. But… all that data is still missing.
She went over and above trying to recover my files, I couldn’t have asked for more dedicated service. But there’s only so much software can do, the drive needs to be taken apart in a clean room and operated on.
I’ve sent the old drive to a data recovery company she recommended that can actually take it apart, and am praying that they can retrieve my files. All 400+ GB of files.
Without those records, I’ve lost my hay counts, my chicken populations and ages, all the running history that helps me plan. When the hay pile gets low, I can recount bales, but there’s no recreating years of flock data when 100+ birds are darting everywhere.
It’s heartbreaking.
The moral – please back up your important files! To a hard drive, to a thumb drive, to pen and paper if you have to. But please do it. Today.
I was in technology for 40 years, and never saw a hard drive fail (though at one point I even worked for a company that sold backup software!).
I got complacent. New technology is better, it won’t fail.
I got lazy with higher priorities. I’ve never seen a drive fail, mine won’t.
I got comfortable. I paid a lot for this laptop with a good name, it should be reliable.
I gambled, and I lost. Big time.
If that company can’t retrieve my files, I’ve lost years of records. Years. There is no way I’m going to be able to reconstruct them.
So please – learn from my mistake. Back up your files before the drive dies. Just In Case.
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Product Spotlight
I highly recommend Western Digital external drives to back up your files (so you don’t get in the mess I did). Here’s a nice 1TB drive at a great price!
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This post is intended for informational purposes only. All information provided does not constitute veterinary medical advice and should not be used as a replacement for professional veterinary consultation. I am not a veterinarian or any other medical professional. Please consult your veterinarian regarding any change in treatment or supplementation for your companion animal.
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