Still Doing Great

The weather outside is intense, but we're doing well.  O. and I crawled (literally at some points) over deep drifts of snow to truck water and firewood to the appropriate places during chore time today.  A. went out too to feed the animals, but she couldn't manage bringing stuff back in the weather.  Definitely three layer weather outside, and the outside dogs are inside.  The bunnies are covered in two layers of blankets.  So far so good with the goats, though I worry about them in this sort of weather.  

Regional weather reports say we have temps in the twenties, but our thermometer reads in the teens.  Today it got as warm as 20˚F, and then dropped back down to 15˚F (-10 C)  That's without windchill, and it's blowing out there.  At least we haven't seen any ice.  Yet.  It's supposed to arrive.  Regional weather also tells us that the storm warning period has been extended until 10am tomorrow, and to expect another 2"-4" of snow.  Well, it looks like a lot more than an additional 4" out there to me, but it's not like the conditions are significantly tougher out here because of the added accumulation.  That may change if the deck or roof decides it wasn't designed well enough to hold the snow load.

Living on a hill with few neighbors is definitely not for the faint of heart.  We've been in touch with all three of our neighbors and everyone is doing well.  The across the road neighbor has a light four wheel drive vehicle with chains and has been commuting okay.  The uphill neighbor is fine.  The downhill neighbor was out of town until recently and called about road conditions.  I gave him the skinny, and he decided to go for it since we didn't have any freezing rain and he's a very experienced snow driver with a four wheel drive vehicle and chains at his disposal.

Lights flicked off several times today, but came right back on.  We're snug and fed and not worried despite the fact that our vehicles are buried.  I hope everyone is doing okay.  Hang in there!