Wow, Ralph!!! Just checked your weather and see you are at-17 degrees and wind chill of -42 degrees. How do the cattle fare in those conditions? Remember as a youngster when we did the morning milking on a cold morning how warmm the barn was when coming from outside. Moisture from the cows would frost up the windows in the loafing pen. Would snuggle up to the flank of the cows while milking for the warmth. Have to break the ice on top of the milk cans to get the morning's milk for the house.

Yesterday we had a high of 52 degrees with a lot of sunshine and a strong drying wind. Spent 4 hours in the woods with the splitter splitting up the wood I had piled. Getting a pretty big piled up for next year. All good oak, hickory, ash and a little maple. All good wood. Have a lot of black oaks that blew down in the summer storm. Plan to start cutting them tomorrow if not too cold. Today was windy and cold, high of 24, so stayed close to the house till wind died down this afternoon.

Gene

Charlie is having pretty much the same weather we had this morning. Cold and windy. Probably a little snow on the ground there.

Windy was about right for yesterday, Gene.  One location up near the lake shore recorded 77 or 78 MPH.  I do not think we went that high here, but there were pretty powerful gusts.  I have to rewrap a JD H that became half undone.  Did not loose it though.  If I remember correctly, temperature was at 14 F one time during the night when I looked.  Not bad at all compared to Ralph.  No snow on the ground now, but may get a little today.  Not nearly as bad as it could be this time of year.  

Sure sounds like Gene is going to keep the fires going for a while to come.  You might even have enough to take a load of camp wood to Portland.    

Not a whole lot else happening here today so far.  It looks like a good day to stay warm and dry and nourish our cabin fever a little more.

Charlie

Gene, you hae it right. Downright miserable out there and it was -20F this morning. Thankfully a litle less wind and that makes all the difference. Cattle are ok as long as they have a place to get out of the wind. The cow and calf I kept in the open front shelter although she would rather have been out.
Your memories of cattle in barns match mine. With up to ten milk cows in a 40 foot barn there would be tremendous buildup of frost inside and big clouds of steam when the door was opened. I spent years in that barn either milking cows by hand, cranking the hand powered separator or shovelling tons of manure. No need to look for exercise in those days. Here is a picture from 1958 when the barn was only 4 years old and we were all a lot younger .

Looks like a nice well built barn. I take it the tow headed boy is you? Picture taken at a different time of year for sure.

We milked 18 cows most of the time. Did it by hand also. After I went to the Air Force, my dad bought milking machines, a manure loader and a baler. Don't know if it was because of the work I did or the fact he could afford it after I left. Still had 4 brothers left at home. Made it a lot easier for them. Oh yeah, he also bought another tractor, a Case SC.

Turned colder here. Started this morning at 20 degrees and now at 2:30 it is 14 degrees with 27 MPH winds for wind chill of -3. Wind chill advisory for tonight and tomorrow, nothing like Sask.


Went to the woods this morning. Had a black oak I wanted to get cut up. Just took the small saw as I only planned to cut the small limbs and brush. Everything went so well I cut the whole tree up. Be another good load of wood. The trip back on the tractor was cold, but when I got out of the wind it was pretty nice working.

Looks like Charlie is getting snow today and a little wind. Only a couple flurries here.

Checked the anti-freeze in the LA as I had added some water to it at Portland last summer. Tested -7 so thought it better to add a little to it. Thing started right up after setting since last summer. Put a gallon of anti-freeze in it and let it warm up and circulate. Won't have to worry about it for the rest of winter. Going to test the truck this afternoon since I don't know the history of it.

You all have a warm afternoon.

Gene

Just checked Ralph's weather. Wind chill -48 degrees. Don't imagine he is doing much in the shop today. Ohio had a high yesterday of 63 degrees and when I got up at 5:00am it was 63 degrees. Rain overnight and this morning and temp dropped to 53 and uo to 56 at noon. That will all change tonight and freezing weather returning with a high tomorrow of 25 degrees and down to about 10 degrees by Friday morning. Sure is a big change. Started thawing on Sunday and melted all the snow. Heavy rain this morning and back to area flooding now. Have a river across the east lawn and front hay field. Flood warnings out for northwest Ohio. Radar shows the rain is past us to the east now and maybe see some sunshine yet this afternoon.

Charlie is having warm weather too, but likely be getting colder weather in a day or two. Windy almost everywhere in the northern tier of the country. Looks like wood cutting will be on hold for a while.

Been doing some cleaning in the shop yesterday and this morning. Cleaned off the welding table so it is usable again. Did a welding project Monday evening and barely had enough room to work. Amazing how things accomulate on any flat surface.

Neighbors are going to take me out to supper tomorrow night for my birthday. Can't believe I will be 71 years young tomorrow. Seems I was only 50 yesterday!!!

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Gene

Happy Birthday, Gene.  Time flies when you are having fun so you must be having fun.  Great that you are out there getting things done.

You are a pretty good weather watcher as well.  We did peak out at 63 yesterday.  Not bad at all for January 30th.  We did a morning trip to stock up on groceries for a couple of weeks.  That is a good trip for me as I pick up No bake cookies (peanut butter this time) and some other goodies.  I have switched from filled donuts to pie for a while.  Yesterday it was cherry so I will eat happy for a few days.  

Later in the day I got outside and secured a couple of tarps which became disarrayed in the last 70 mph winds that blew.  With high winds promised for last night and today, that was a chore that could not be put off any longer.  As I did not pull the batteries from the zero turn and the Polaris Magnum, I started each of those and let them percolate for 15 minutes or so to move some gas and charge the batteries.  If I had been able to get about five more things charged up it would really make me happy.  

The honeymoon with the warm weather is over now.  We are at 30 F  and still dropping with just a trace of new snow on the ground.  Winter is back.

Again, Happy Birthday, Gene.

Charlie

Gene, congrats on another birthday. Guess it is an achievement to reach another one these days. And your weather watching is scarily accurate. -35F here this morning and I am not looking forward to venturing outside the door.

Thanks for the birthday wish Charlie. Going alright so far. Did some more shop cleaning. Think I will stay in now and keep the fire burning. 18 degrees here with 35 MPH winds and chill factor of 0 degrees. Had a skiff of snow this morning, but the sun is out now.  Nothing like Ralph has. He is at -29F and chill factor of -55 F. Don't envy him at all. Looks like you are getting some pretty strong winds there. Hope the tarps hold down. At least we are getting more daylight now, so may be some hope.

I have to stay away from the sweet stuff or my blood sugar goes up. Especially have to stay away from the peanut butter as I am mildly allergic to nuts. Peanuts and cashews give me muscle and joint pains. Hate that as I really like them.

Glad you were able to get the chores done during the brief spring like weather.

Gene

Ralph;

You beat my post by one minute. Thanks for the birthday wish. Hope you and the cattle are fairing alright. Has to be brutal even for you. Just think of all the bugs and flies the weather is killing off. I don't think that even hibernating mosquitoes and flies can survive that. Hard freeze will make the spring tillage go better. Hardest part for me is getting dressed in sweatshirts and Carhartts and boots and then 5 minutes after I go out realize I have to make a nature break and do it all over again.

Have a good day if that is possible.

Gene

I guess I need to get up a little early to allow for the extra time it takes me putting on all those layers of clothes. It would be interesting to weigh them some time. Its a necessity though as I can't stand the cold at all. Got through another day of severe wind chill although there wasn't much wind to speak of. Cattle seem to handle it well as long as they have the shelter and the trees to block the wind. This is the kind of weather I really appreciate the trees. I took this picture of the calf yesterday morning and he seems to be ok. I keep him penned up in the shelter with his mother overnight and they don't have any objections. I go out there last thing every night now with the flashlight to check and they are all resting comfortably in the open front shelter.

I used to say that if I tipped over with all of my winter clothes on, I would be like a turtle on it's back.  I wouldn't be able to get back up.

Charlie

Don't have to dress quite so warm today. Started the day at 28 degrees and this afternoon got to 48 degrees. Most of the snow has melted except the drifts and shaded areas. Now just have a soggy ground. Nice sunshine all day. Pleasant day to be outside.

Split wood back in the  woods this morning till it started thawing. Worked about 3 hours splitting some of the big hickory I blocked uo on Monday and Tuesday. Got about half of it split. Have 2 nice piles. I managed to split all of the big blocks, some 22inches in diameter. Pretty heavy but managed to get them all on the splitter.

Looks like ralph is getting more snow and wind. A little warmer so maybe has the 40 out with the snowblower clearing the roads and feedlot. Charlie should be getting warmer weather tomorrow and may melt some of his snow.

Gene

Gene, sounds like you are working harder than me.
It looks like the weather forecast was wrong for you too. We never got the snow they predicted. Just a little bit hardly worth mentioning. I probably need to blow some snow off the drivewy but didn't get inspired to do it today. A cloudy day will do that PLus it is hard to see my driveway when there are no shadows. Like the song says., the sun will come out tomorrow. Probably get both tractors going then.

We rose this morning to find a little "Ralph" weather.  Started at -2 deg. and soon after daylight dropped to -3.  (Anytime we are below 0 here it is commonly known as Ralph weather.)   (pick pick) That and the seven inches of snow accumulated over Friday PM and Saturday AM lead me to think that winter is not over yet.  According to the calendar, winter should not be over, but a guy can always hope.  Like Ralph, I have not been moved to plow the driveway and may not at all as we are heading to above freezing today and more tomorrow.  The first two inches of snow after it changed from rain were so wet they seemed to weigh 50 ounces per pound.  The rest on top after the temp. fell are feather light, so it is easy to drive through.  We cleared the patio yard and walks twice to keep ahead of things.  Yesterday PM my fine SIL came by and shoveled the back walk and around the cars. That guy is a hard working roofer and he works like the devil himself is after him.  He's a strong man.  I think Ma Nature will take care of the rest of the snow.

At the moment the sun if fully shining, so with snow frozen on everything out there it is a pretty sight to look at.

Charlie V.

.

Our weather changes so fast here I can hardly keep up  . So warm today I had the window open on the truck while driving to get a tank of water. It was up to the thawing point and sun shining. Spent the morning with the Cockshutt and snow blower opening the driveway and figured I'd better take advantage of it to fill the water tank. Sure enough, snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. Combined with 70 kph wind gusts it could get interesting. No rust on my snowblower this winter.