Is it just me, or has this winter been colder, with more snow and ice? We've had a very rough time keeping water for the outside animals. Smokey, who loves to play with her water, and "wash" her food, has not been able to enjoy these activities. She has a bowl that is frozen solid with just enough fresh water added each day. Both Smokey and Roseanne have sheets of ice on the bottom of their cages.
Last week we were hit with the ice storm. We got about an inch of ice all over everything. We lost power for 3 days and had several branches come down in the yard. One almost took out a section of fence around the chickens and ducks. Fortunately, all the animals are fine and power has been restored. Things are back to normal (for us).
During the power outage, we were asked several times if we were staying home during the outage. Well, yes, we stayed home. The fact is that we have 4 kids, 4 dogs and all the outside animals who need daily attention. So the fact is that we can't just pick up and leave for a few days if we loose power. It doesn't help that we are gay have some issues with family over that. See Donny's Blog for more on that one.
To that end, we now have a small propane heater, and a portable generator to keep a few essentials going in the event of the next outage. Now, when we get the new property, we will need a backup generator, since being without power is likely to last longer than 3 days. We will likely use electric fencing for some of the animals too, so power failures won't be an option.
Next winter, we need to have water heaters so there is no need to break up ice daily.
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