Seriously?

M was up early yesterday trying to get the replacement heifer calves moved down to Richland to make more room at home for the new calves.  He was hoping that things had frozen up overnight and the road wouldn't be so muddy.  It didn't freeze hard so he had R go ahead of him with the tractor in case he needed a pull.  As they were heading out a neighbor from the north called and said he was stuck just north of our house with a truck and loaded grain trailer.  Not sure what he was thinking trying to take a loaded truck down that road.  M told him they were coming with the tractor and could give him a pull.  In the meantime, M realizes he has a flat tire on the stock trailer so calls me to come get him at the main road.  I had just gotten up so didn't even get my morning tea!  He rode the tractor with R up to the neighbor and helped get them chained up and I picked him up and we headed to Richland to get another tire for the trailer.  R had to pull the neighbor for at least a quarter mile and now we have ruts in the mud a foot deep.  M was not happy!!

We get a tire and jacks and go back to the pickup and stock trailer.  As we pull up to the pickup we see a black and white barn cat on the flatbed of the pickup.  Uh-oh.  It had apparently hitched a ride from the farm.  It's usually pretty friendly but was out of it's element and wouldn't come to us.  We set about changing the tire which wasn't as easy as it sounds.  First to find a good place to place the jack.  Then the first lug nut gets stuck in the socket and we can't get it out.  Finally, we get the tire on and then try to catch the cat which had crawled into the undercarriage of the pickup and wouldn't come out.  I crawled under and managed to push it out of it's spot but it moved to somewhere even more inaccessible.  We could hear it but not see it.  So, it took a ride to Richland or some point in between.

I went home and finally got my breakfast and then headed to the farm to try to bottle feed a calf.  M thought I might have more patience with it.  I hadn't been over there in awhile and couldn't believe how bad the road is.  I told R that it sure seemed like a long two miles!  R and I tried to feed the calf without much success and then R lost interest and had other chores to do.  I worked at it awhile longer, but it couldn't figure out how to suck.  Just when I thought we were making progress it quit trying.  After M got there we tried to tube it but didn't have much success there either.  R had four calves to tag and move to higher, drier ground.  The corral is a soupy mess, and we're running out of places to put the new calves to try to keep them dry.

J and his cousin came out to get the dozer tractor so that it didn't get snowed in at the farm since it was scheduled to have some work done to it on Wednesday.  They came in a 2WD pickup and weren't sure how they made it.  The cousin, who is 13, was nervous about having to drive it back.  J assured him it was mostly downhill on the way back and he'd be fine.

M and I came home for lunch and just hung around the house.  By then it had started to rain and then snow.  M left about 5:30 to go check on the cows again. Soon after he left the storm really set in with snow and wind.  There is not good cell service over there so I sent R a text message telling him that his dad should just stay there and not try to come home.  R agreed because he had been out helping a friend and barely made it home.  So, I'm home alone again.  This time I don't even have Pete for company because he went with M.

I woke up during the night, sometime after 3 am, and realized the power was out.  I had a feeling it would happen and it finally did.  So then I laid there thinking about all the problems that could create.  No water for the cows was the major concern because I knew M would freak out about that, and I wasn't with him to calm him down and make him think rationally.  If the power was out for any length of time, the phone would go dead and cell service at the farm isn't good.  Then I thought about the heat in my house.  I contemplated staying in bed until power was restored.

I had had M bring the generator home two storms ago.  He thought I was being kind of silly but brought it home and showed me how to hook it up.  So, this morning I get up and decide I'd better get it rigged up.  First, I need gas so I find a jug in the garage, get bundled up for the storm, and walk out to the gas tank.  As I'm trying to hold the jug with my feet while I'm trying to fill it, it gets away from me and the wind takes it.  Great.  Back to the house to find something else.  I find two more plastic jugs and head back out and successfully get those filled.  Next, I need to find extension cords.  I know that one long one is stuck in the ice outside, but I think the shorter one outside is accessible.  Wrong.  It is stuck in the ice also.  I try chipping away at it, but finally give up and luckily find another one in the garage.  I was soaked by the time I was done with the sticky snow blowing all over me.  So, I gassed up the generator, started it up, ran the cord to the furnace and had success!  I went back upstairs to check the temperature in the house because I didn't want to waste the gas if I didn't really need to, and the power came back on.  Oh well, now I know that I know what to do and am ready in case we lose power again.

I should be in Arizona with my sisters and celebrating my great-nephew's 2nd birthday, but I can't get to an airport.  I just hope Mother Nature doesn't have too much more in store for us.  We really need some warm and DRY before we catch some tropical rot.......or M's head finally blows off.....or M and R get really tired of each other.