Worse and worse...

I awakened at 6 a.m. to find our water pipes frozen. It turned out they weren’t frozen between the well house and our dwelling—a 14’ wide trailer we bought to live in until our cabin is built—as we initially thought, but that some critter tunneled under the skirting alongside the pipes, exposing them to overnight 3 degree temps and freezing them solid. John used a hair dryer to thaw the pipes (an act he never expected to do again in this lifetime) while I fed and by the time I was ready to tote buckets of hot water to the animals, I could fill some.

Everyone seems to be faring well. However, we ran out of our thought-to-be winter’s supply of rectangular bales of grass/legume hay yesterday morning just when everyone needs lots of hay. And apparently the goats think the fancy, $6 a bale Tifton 44 Bermuda grass hay John bought at the feed store stinks. I fed them enough bagged alfalfa to keep their rumens generating heat while they decide it’s the gourmet Bermuda hay in their feeders—or else. To complicate matters, four of the last load of big bales are too coarse for sheep and goats and packed with foxtail. Oh joy.

Temps are up to 14 degrees this afternoon but a strong wind (will it ever stop rocking the trailer?) is pushing wind chills to -4. Tonight the actual temperature is supposed to be zero. Too cold!

The animals, in fact, are holding up better than we are, though Bon Bon’s adolescent twins, Jadzia (pictured above) and Curzon are mightily tired of being shut in the dairy goat shelter. The coats of the ones like Meegosh (to the left) that live in Port-a-Huts, are as fluffy and thick as plush toys.