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Monday, January 11, 2010

Scary winds

Scary winds here today. The kind where you're afraid to go outside, but you know you have to go check on all of the livestock. The front that hit us was a line between a major high pressure front and a low pressure front, and it just didn't want to move either. It started yesterday with winds in the 40's to 50's. Last night it started to roar, and by today I was watching several weather station locations on Wunderground that were getting 60-70mph wind gusts. I'm sure we had that here too. The gusts were frequent and hit hard; there are so many things missing off the porch and around the farm right now, I'm sure once the winds stop we are going to have an awful lot of looking and picking up down the hill below us. All the doors on the house were dead bolted shut to keep the winds from working them open. The goats were locked in the barn and the big barn doors were all locked, leaving me the small man door on one side to go in and out of. And today was the annual blood draw day with 35 goats having their blood drawn by our vet and sent off to WADDL, as well as 5 Nubian blood vials sent off for preg checks. It took us 2 hours to get it all done, then I went around and filled everyone's water buckets with warm water and threw everyone their hay and grain, and fed the dogs. The winds were so relentless today that chips of ice, gravel, and sand were also pelting the house and me when I was outside working. It's blown so hard that the hardened snow was still sheared off and clouds of snow were whipping across the hayfields. Trees were bending so far over, it's amazing we didn't loose even more of them. Incredible wind storm, it's now settling down to 40-50mph gusts and it is predicted to let up after midnight some time. I sure hope so, and I know the sheep, goats, and dogs are hoping it does too!

4 comments:

Cynthia said...

We live on a high ridge in Wisconsin and experience exactly what you are going through and thus have great compassion for your heart-thumping moments.

Be careful, stay safe and relax in the remembering that it can only last but so long.

Alaska Shetland Shepherd said...

Or that I'm only gonna last so long!! LOL! Just nerve-wracking Cynthia! At least the gusts are getting further apart. Thanks for posting. :-)

Alaska Shetland Shepherd said...

BTW, how has your weather been this winter? Are you in the cold snap there?

Jenny Holden said...

Oh gosh, look after yourselves, it sounds horrendous. Hope it blows over soon x