Bitter Weather

Ice along Concord Creek

Like most of the rest of North America, Meadows of Dan saw some bitter temperatures and high winds yesterday. I watched the thermometer drop to nine below zero through Monday night but the preparations I made for myself and the animals kept us all safe. The dogs have been very patient with the extremely short walks we've been taking and I suppose they instinctively knew that the weather was dangerously cold. The chickens spent yesterday in the coop with the windows and doors closed, and they got extra visits from the coop co-op while I was given a ride up to take care of them during the morning hours.

The highest temperature for the day that I saw was 10 above, but the van started and I was able to go over to the shop and collect more wood when I tended the chickens in the afternoon. While everything was fine in the house where I live, there was a problem over at the farm where the shop is. The water to my sister-in-law's house froze down in the spring house. This has happened to my side of the system before, during the winter we had so much snow, so I imagine I know what happened. When my part froze, it was because the water was turned off on Sue's side. Their pipe froze back into my lines. Since I turned off the water to the shop in November, I imagine that the same thing happened, in reverse, when the bitter cold hit Monday night. My brother came over when he saw me stacking the wood and we went down in the basement to turn the pump off. Going into my basement is an adventure, because the stairs collapsed awhile back and I need to use a ladder. Since I only go down there about twice a year, I haven't been too worried about replacing the stairway. I'd like to do some remodeling of that part of the house but finances haven't allowed yet.

I left my poor brother fighting his way past the briers into the spring house. Been there and done that numerous times myself, so I headed home to tend the fire and take Knightley for a short walk before it got so desperately cold again. My brother is a bluegrass musician, Sammy Shelor, so this will give you a peek at the glamour of a musician's life. Someday I will have to tell the story of the day I went to pick him up after he had been working on the band bus exhaust system.

Several people had frozen pipes in their houses but as far as I know most people managed OK during the cold. It is unusual for us to see such cold temperatures here in Meadows of Dan, although the year I moved into the house on the farm we saw 18 below zero and every pipe in that house shattered. Today things have warmed up a lot and we're supposed to see much warmer temperatures and rain for the weekend. Much easier walking dogs and tending chickens when that happens!