For millennia, equines galloped across the steppes of Asia. About 5,000 years ago they began to live in concert with humans. Soon people couldn’t live without them and horses spread with us across the globe. We began to selectively breed horses to make them even more useful and amenable for life with us. It wasn’t that difficult. There’s a reason that we ride horses and not antelope. Horses are peaceable herd animals that form deep friendships. Horses bond not only to each other, but to other species. Like us. They are built for traveling, have a back that can carry weight, and can find forage in a wide range of places. It took a few thousand years, but horses became stronger, larger, faster, and more suited to the tasks required by humans. The domestic population surged, the wild dwindled, and now there are no truly wild horses left in the world. (Herds out west are feral, not wild.) Recent DNA research confirms this. Even the Przewalski horse is descended from domesticated species.

Still, there is something of that wild steppe equine in our modern horses.

Does Tonka have an ancient memory of snow-covered Mongolian plains as he makes his way around the paddock?

The horse’s head is designed to shovel down into the snow, the upper lip wagging back and forth to push snow away, looking for hidden grasses.

Wild Horse.

Before I get to the main part of this blogpost, many of you have already commented about this morning’s temperature. Yes, the thermometer really does read -2° F. That’s -18° C. That’s bitter cold! But, no, the chickens don’t need a heat lamp. Here they are this morning, eating and doing fine. It’s not windy, so they do go outside. Soon the sun will be shining on the snow, making it bright and welcoming. For more about cold weather care, read this post. I’ve also written about frostbite here.

Yesterday was spent digging out. One son’s job was to uncover the minivan. There it is to the left of the garage.

Here is the run before Steve shoveled.

This is why I write in my Coop Design FAQ that large windows and height are essential. Imagine if I had one of those small, low to the ground, only one tiny window, coops. Or a coop in which the feed is outside and under the run. The chickens would have been in the dark. That means that they wouldn’t have had anything to eat or drink for 24 hours. My hens have light and space. They laid eggs despite the storm. Still, Steve had work to do! The Ladies ventured out as soon as the door was unblocked.

Steve shoveled a path to Phoebe’s potty space. That’s where she and the goats have a confab each evening. We cleared the area so that they could continue to have their nightly discussions.

Shoveling out the goats’ paddock was difficult. The snow blocked their door, so Steve had to reach over. Awkward!

The goats squeezed out as soon as the door could be pushed open a sliver. They were chagrined to find a wall of snow in front of them.

Steve kept shoveling.

The goats provided encouragement.

One difficulty with all of this snow is the problem of where to put the used bedding and manure. The compost pile is well back in the yard – now quite a trudge through three feet of snow. There is an area for compost in the goat pen that I haven’t filled for awhile. It is back in use.

While we were digging out, someone else was digging in. Phoebe is making a snow cave. I wonder how far in she’ll go?

A big thank you to everyone who sent cocoa and coffee! Without your support, I couldn’t keep the cams up and running.

Where I live, the snowstorm qualified as a true blizzard – high winds, no visibility and a lot of snow. Thirty inches! But, it could have been much, much worse. The temperature was lower than predicted so that the snow was fine and dry (dry as in light and not sticky, of course it’s frozen water, which will ultimately make for quite the mud season!) Such snow doesn’t stick to trees, bending branches and causing power outages. It was dramatic to watch the storm swirl and the snow to cover the pond, and then the benches, and then the fence…

This is a before photo:

Here is the after:

To share the fun with you, Steve made two time-lapse videos.

This one is a view from a second story window.

Here is Phoebe’s view of the storm.

Please share these. The move viewers, the merrier!

Late last night the Blizzard of 2015 began in earnest.

Deep snow is more of a challenge for some than others.

It’s colder than expected, which is actually a good thing. Although that means that there’s more snow (physics!) it’s lighter, so it’s not sticking to branches and bringing trees down, and it’s easier to shovel. Still there is a lot of it. This morning, for the first pass  to make our way out to the barns, there was already two feet. We expect another foot before the storm peters out.

The goats say Good Morning! You’re late! Where’s the hay?

Thank you for your comments. It’s nice to know that you’re thinking of us. Not to worry. Weather like this is a challenge, but we’re fine! Also, thank you to everyone who sends me “coffee.” (Which, if you haven’t checked it out, is $4 via PayPal.) The cams are expensive to maintain, and I couldn’t do it without support from my viewers. I love sharing my bit of the world with others, and I appreciate the contributions that enable me to do that. Today, I think, I should change the coffee icon to hot cocoa. We’re going to need it! In all honesty, that we is actually Steve and the boys. I’m sending them out to shovel, while I wave from the window.

By the way, Steve is making a time-lapse video of the blizzard. It’ll be posted when this storm is over.

In the meanwhile, Scooter and Lily have the right idea.

So it looks like all of that storm prep that I did a few days ago was just a practice run. This is the most recent map of the impending blizzard. Do you see the bright yellow splotch to the right of Worcester? I live there, right in the epicenter of the storm.

Once again, I’ve cleaned the coops and added fresh bedding.

The goat stall was a particular mess. The goats eat second cutting grass hay. Not timothy. Not alfalfa. Not first cutting. Second. We recently bought a few bales. We were told it was second cutting. The goats tell us that the hay dealer is wrong. They tell us by looking miserably at us when we put a flake in their manger. They emphasize their dissatisfaction by stomping it into the ground.

They won’t starve. There’s plenty of good things to eat in that hay pile. But it is wasteful. I shoveled out all of the mucky hay and gave them a nice deep bedding of dry shavings.

No doubt unwanted hay will add to the cozy stall while the blizzard blows in. But, in the meanwhile, while I work, the goats play.

My sumo-built rabbit is looking forward to the blizzard.

Bring it on! says Phoebe.

Please note that ITGuy has added windspeed to the live cams. It should be rather dramatic here tomorrow! Please share my site with your friends – the more people who watch, the more Steve’s work pays off! Hopefully, we won’t lose power and we’ll be able to broadcast all day.