Drastic Measures

We are so thankful that it is warming up a bit. The bitter cold of the past few days has required us to take some drastic measures. 

Yesterday morning we noticed Alice was acting a bit lethargic and refusing her grain ration.  This is very out of character.  I suspected the cold might be getting the best of her given her sad looking wool coat (which if you remember she has mostly scratched off).  I sent Ian and the boys to the thrift store to find her a suitable sweater in hopes of bundling her up a bit.  While poor Alice has to endure the indignity of a very ugly sweater and took a few bunts from Abbott after we put it on her (to express his dislike for her new fashion statement apparently), she is now up and walking around.  I also saw her eat some hay and pee, all good signs.

Alice and her silly sweater.

The cold has also caused one of my outdoor water faucets to freeze up.  I find it aggravating to have to lug buckets of water around the backyard and so was quick to attempt my tried and true method of using WD-40 to fix this problem (WD-40 is almost as handy as duct tape on the farm).  Unfortunately no luck.  It is frozen solid.

The extreme cold has also been affecting our heated water buckets for the animals.  I try very hard not to bring barn stuff into the house.  It is usually messy and stinky and is simply best left outside.  However, frozen water pails are no good to anyone and thus, I have resorted to bringing them inside to thaw out.  It is messy and stinky but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Bad.

Worse.

Terrible.

I am very much looking forward to the +1 degrees C that is expected tomorrow.  Here is to hoping my tap unfreezes, the water buckets can remain outside, and we can take off Alice`s silly sweater.  I suspect that she is hoping this too - at least the sweater part.