The Slowcook at Spydog Farm The Slowcook at Spydog Farm

Any Goat in a Storm

February 14th, 2014 · 2 Comments · Posted in rural life

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We got seriously spanked by the nor’easter that’s sweeping up the east coast. The snow’s still coming down this morning–as much as three inches per hour in some places. There have been reports of nearly two feet of snow in parts of the greater Albany area.

We haven’t gotten nearly that much, but we have been humbled. At 3:30 a.m. I went out to make some tracks in our driveway with the pickup truck. The first pass went okay. But an hour later I tried again and couldn’t make it back up the hill. Even with studded snow tires and four-wheel drive, there wasn’t enough traction to get me back to the house, so the truck is stuck at the bottom of the driveway by the road.

School is cancelled. The local roads may just be impassable. We’ll have to wait for the plows to do their job before we can go anywhere. And we’ll be trekking through deep snow to the truck and back until our friend Howard finds time to plow our driveway. The snow is supposed to let up around nine this morning.

Meanwhile, the animals still need to be fed and watered. I stocked extra hay in the shelters, so the critters should be good through the morning. Fortunately, our outdoor hydrant is working again, but I doubt the troughs need much filling with all this snow.

Oh, did I mention we lost power last night? As we gathered flashlights and searched for the crank radio, my wife started formulating plans to move into the Hampton Inn in Bennington. Then she discovered her iPad was running low on power and that just can’t happen. So she pulled on her boots, coat, winter hat and trudged out to the station wagon and plugged the iPad into the cigarette lighter to recharge while the car belched exhaust. How’s that for fuel efficiency?

I, meanwhile, imagining myself lifting buckets of water out of the old spring-fed well we no longer use down the hill. You know, bucket on the end of a rope kind of thing. Assuming we could locate the well with all the new snow on the ground. Daughter, meanwhile, was messaging friends on her iPhone via Instagram and quickly learned that the blackout was affecting everyone for miles around. That made us feel a wee bit better. She went back to reading an old Nancy Drew mystery using a battery-powered head lamp when, two hours after they went dark, the lights, television and computer all sprang back to life.

So here I sit at 6 a.m. with news of the storm reaching me via the television int the living room, total blackness outside my office windows, my footprints on the front walk again filling with snow. In another hour, night should be yielding to day. The extent of the storm will reveal itself and it will be time to start the usual chores.

I wonder what the chickens are doing right now.

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  • Gypsy

    The two goats in this picture have such sweet faces. What breed are they?
    I have a nubian and a toggenburg. Here in north central Florida, snow isn’t an issue but the weather can be a big one here. I am the only one so I get to do all the care taking…no time for Nancy Drew and I love to read. now its the TV for news and weather. I just got 4 new 6 week old pullets. 2 B.O.’s and 2 lorps.

    I really enjoyed you story, thank you.

  • Ed Bruske

    They are Kikos, a meat breed originally from New Zealand