Snowmageddon!

The prediction...

Initial snowfall reports started at 4" to 8". Then, were revised to 6" to 10". And, finally, 8" to 12".

The countdown...

I made a quick trip to town Monday to pick up the essentials: groceries, filters for the wood furnace and toilet paper. 

Bill had already laid in a good supply of wood.

The onslaught...

...began early Tuesday morning. Bill readied his tractor: bale fork on the front to feed round bales to the 11 heifers, bull and one cow/calf pair; snow blade on the back.

By mid-afternoon when we bundled up and went out to take a short walk, Bill estimated the depth at about 8 inches. But it was difficult to tell due to the blowing and drifting. 

The next morning we woke up to this...

...a sun dog—an atmospheric phenomenon creating bright spots or arcs of light on one or both sides of the sun that sometimes look like short pieces of a rainbow;

...and 13 inches of snow! Although depth was hard to determine because of blowing and drifting. 

Digging out...

Bill bladed snow away from the barn so he could get the mini-truck out to feed cattle, and also cleared a path to the pasture.

Then he hauled buckets of grain and a couple of square bales out to the cattle. They also have round bales to munch on. You can see the tops of those feeders over the backs of the heifers.

Before he could put out the square bales of hay, he had to shovel snow out of the feeding "bowl"—a former stock water tank that sprung leaks.

When Bill finished feeding cattle and clearing out our driveway and walking path, he left to blade neighbors' driveways. 

When he was blading our driveway, he unintentionally created this snow fort where he pushed the snow.

When Bill returned from clearing neighbors' driveways, he told me about the drifts on the east/west road that ends near our house. The county had bladed the road, leaving the drifts, almost 5 1/2 feet tall, on the north side intact. 

Weather predictions call for more snow this weekend, but no significant accumulation is expected.

Later in the evening...

Bill relaxes with Moly Bolt and the seed catalog.

Ahhh, Spring!