Winter Solstice '08

Yep, that is almost 23" of snow between the house and the barn.
We currently have a couple of drifts this deep to go through getting to our barn since last Thursday's storm. Most of the snow depth around the ranch now is actually running between 11-12" deep.

We have now had a week of celebrating the Winter Solstice of 2008, even though yesterday was the first day of winter. Everyday for over a week now we have had subfreezing temperatures, and some amount of snowfall.

As you can see during this time we have not had much of a desire to sit around our outdoor fireplace.

We have enjoyed being "shut-in" after dark this past week with our eggnog, apple cider, and the Canadian BV.


We have had a few reprieves from what seems like a constant snowfall: morning, noon and night. There has been a couple of days, this past week or so that there was a break between the a.m. snowfall and the p.m. snowfall.


Even though Goldie has been bred x Rusty, she finds her best horsey friend still to be Nugget.

I received an email from my sister in Charleston, S.C. this past week saying their weather forecast was calling for temperatures to reach 80º and she would like to see some winter for a change.

Today I sent her a few pictures of our '08 winter, and hopes she will get into the spirit of cold and snow. We have!
Some of our daytime highs have looked something like this outside the kitchen windows.

It is sometimes hard to believe that horses love this temperature when in their winter coats. Since we have been having snow almost everyday, almost all day long we went ahead and put blankets on our herd last Wednesday before the blizzard came through on Thursday. Not a problem... I put on my Santa Claus cap about 9:30 that morning and went on my merry way. Thursday we had our regular school bus run (on a 3-hour delay) and part of my morning country route was driving through a whiteout. By Thursday afternoon's route delivery run we had an additional 3-5" of snow throughout the area, so that made driving even more fun. Friday schools were closed, which made an early start for our holidays. School bus driving is not a bad occupation, for someone living life around a herd of horses. ;>) Many days I feel like ole granddad chauffeuring kids around, and some days I really have fun teasing the little ones and some days the big ones.











Temperature at the barn during the brightest part of the day. Do you see the reflection of the sunlit bluff?

















December's irrigation utilities are now on hold.












Snow is this deep on the roof, and the snow guards are working well on our slick new metal roofing.


We found that we have a weak/old circuit breaker in the barn power system, so we have only been able to heat one inside-the-barn water trough on this circuit. We have a new circuit breaker coming to town on Wednesday. Outside the barn we have a heated water trough for the goats/ponies and a heated trough in Rusty's keep.

Horses are now being fed four times a day - 7:30 am, noon, 4:30 and 9:00 pm.


Yesterday the first day of winter, Kittee and I stayed close to home, with only about 3 hours out with the horses. Coming soon to the McKusterRanchLife YouTube Channel I will be posting the video of the herd romping and running as we let them change pastures and play in the snow. With blankets on now, we have to be very careful not to let them get overheated. Horse blankets, like a great single malt Scotch are a luxury, as well as an unnecessary evil for a horse... A blanket can make a horse sick and create sores so we looking forward to taking the blankets off soon.

With all the snow we have been having, I am out 3-4 times a day clearing snow from the front and back door porches. Saturday, as I went out to sweep off the front porch there was a large white flutter that left the corner of the porch. Kittee saw it as well, and I thought it was a snow white dove... beautiful bird, sitting on the front porch. Yesterday in our comings and goings to feed and play with horses we found a snow white bird next to the haystack in our barn. The bird was definitely in distress, so Kittee tried to give it some sweet COB grain, it ate very little. We saw the bird was not going anywhere, as it sit huddled in the loose hay next to the haystack, so when we came back to the house we place the bird in a box and brought it back to the house with us. Here we gave is some wild bird food and water. The snow white bird continued to eat for the rest of the day. Apparently this bird was nearly starved with only snow cover to feed upon.
Yesterday we found that Walter was not only a beautiful snow white pigeon, but he was wearing a leg band. Now we are interested to find out where he may have come from. Currently we have called the local vets and humane society to put out the word that we have found Walter, the pigeon that is.
If you have any knowledge of how to help a homing pigeon find its way home, please let us know.

Well as I am about to close this posting for today, I look outside the office window and see that once again it is snowing...
FTR --- Doc Doug Corey came by this afternoon and gave Goldie her first Rhino vaccination as she is now 5-months pregnant.
NOTE: I do use my blog postings to help me keep a running record of events around the ranch, changing of the seasons, as well as a log of the comings and goings of Kittee and myself. It is fun to look back at the recent past, I hope you might enjoy these posting as well.

With this, I shall close this blog posting and wish that all who read it; a safe and Happy Holiday Season...

HO, Ho, ho, and a
Winter Solstice around the ranch --- Dale