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.
Looking good..I do mean the guys and girls housing.. not the weather lol.
I just came back in from shoveling snow, it has been coming down non stop for a day and a half now. Some fresh bedding and straw for my girls in their coop, pen cleared from the little snow that blew in. Pop door open and some goodies in the pen for the girls. The temperature is not 2 bad at all so they have been outside already, carefully tip toe so they don’t touch the little bit of snow I didn’t get from the ground LOL They absolutely do not like the snow but are happy to be at least able to get out of the coop when they want, some fresh air does wonders for them it seems :)
Finally getting some eggs again, 3 a day now. Wouldn’t you know it, we had to buy some eggs due to not laying at that moment.. now we have way 2 many eggs for our own consumption, the mail lady is happy, as are the (3) neighbors we have, we give the eggs to them when we have 2 many. It is just me and the husband so we do get 2 many eggs at times.
Hope you and the husband will stay safe and the boys and girls warm )
we’ll be having snow for the rest of the week, but Wednesday.
Stay warm and stay safe! I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but living in south Mississippi, we know what it’s like when we are waiting for a strong hurricane coming, like in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina was far worse than anything we’ll face in the next couple of days. My heart goes out to you that you and your community had to deal with that.
our snow is peanuts compared with what you and yours had to endure during Katrina, my heart goes out to all people that were effected by Katrina.
We are still under normal with the snowfall. It’s just a little of a nuance that it all has to fall at one time, but nothing we can’t deal with for now :) I can sit it out for over a week if needed, we always have a stash of food and water just in case things get bad.
Charlie, I grew up in New Orleans. I lived through Hurricane Betsy in 1965. And like Terry says, this is nowhere close to being as bad as a hurricane. Hope you have a safe summer!
…and hello to all my relatives in south Mississippi and south Alabama!
Good luck.
What goodies are you making to tide you over during the storm?
Maybe just maybe you will luck out like we did a few years ago. They forecasted 2 plus feet of snow with winds over 35 mph. The end of times as you listened to the local meteorologists!!!
Schools cancelled a day in advance, many employers told their employees to stay home, gov’t offices closed I stayed home (I never do for weather). Well, complete forecast bust!!!!!!!!!! The meteorologist here are still butts of jokes for that forecast. We got about 2 inches of sleet….much easier to shovel and plow than 2 feet of blowing and drifting snow.
I’ll be baking bread. The homemade jam is already in the pantry :)
And we have milk for hot cocoa. All set!
I am making bread today and mushroom barley soup, just in case we lose power tommorow, I love a good storm but am dreading shoveling out to the coop in the morning, but i will
Judy
I too love a good snow “storm”. Measured in inches not feet.
Love it when it snows on the weekend. I make my grandmothers beef veggie soup (Allspice is a trick of hers), watch a couple good movies, nap and repeat?
Have been keeping an eye on the webcam and thinking about you in the storm. It’s 60 here today, so I’m sending warm thoughts. Good luck to you.
As Popeye would say`shiver me timbers`… :) In the picture of Pip in the stall, he could be mistaken for a sheep. All these lovely pics of well-feathered and amply coated animals in their freshly bedded abodes along with talk of bread fresh from the oven would `almost` make me envious of you folks in snow storm country. But thanks to all yours and Steve`s prep-work I will get to dream about it from the comfort of my chair here, in front of the computer. Thank-you for sharing with all of us.
Caper still enjoying himself outside Pip seems to prefer to stay in can’t blame him!!. Will Tonka be okay if the weather gets as bad as they say it will? Keep safe.
I Saw you working hard this morning while Pip and Caper played. We are getting a bit of snow and sleet so I decided to make your 1000 Lowfat Recipes version of banana bread. I’ve not tried it before, but everything I’ve cooked from your book has turned out very tasty, so I have high hopes for my tea time! All thoughts are turned north to the residents of Little Pond Farm (and handsome Tonka too!). Take Care.
Hope everybody stays warm and safe!
Here in S. California we aren’t having much of a winter. I think people don’t realize what good weather is, if they never see bad weather.
Oh yeah!- awesome picture of the Goats! :^)
I have been following your weather back here in ” the got it easy U.K” and will be looking in to see how you get on. I know you are well prepared and hope it won’t be too bad for you.
We are also re-designing our coop in spring using your barn design but slightly smaller shed size. I have 8 bantams that like to perch high so they perch on high perches on their patio and I lift them down and put them in the coop each night. We will use a full hight shed with your ladder style perches and pop hole and hopefully train them to put themselves to bed. I am using all your barn ideas but just on a smaller scale.
Thank you for all your information and good luck with the storm.
BRAVO Terry-tres bien-well prepared!! Good luck for you and your family-and your animals-Tonka too. Stay safe. I am with you in my soul
Gizi
I’m watching from here in slightly less weather-challenged California.
Dear Ms Terry: My class is watching intently as the storm approaches. We also sent you a personal e-mail wishing for your safety and hoping you, your family, and precious animals will stay warm and safe. We will be watching again tomorrow when the storm arrives. Thank you for putting the windspeed on there —the students noticed it right away and we had another wonderful lesson on wind speed.
Stay safe!
Ms. Sibilia and Florida Class!
Tell them not to worry about us. We’ve seen worse. During the Blizzard of 1978, The front door was blocked by snow, and I had to exit a house by a window!
HI Terry, I’m glad to see you and the animals are all safe and tucked in for the incoming action! I long for proper snow here, we are forecast for 2 hours of sleet on Thursday :o( . Hope everyone comes through it and stays warm, see you on the other side!
Always love pictures, live or still, of the boys playing. The snow is almost done here. It wasn’t quite as bad as expected – no wind – but the snow is soooo wet. All the tree branches are coated with inches of snow. It is pretty. And I’ll be taking pictures before it gets dark. But I worry with it being so heavy and wet already out here in western PA. If this holds together, you guys out east are going to be having a whole lot of no fun. My daughter is in Philly, but she lives within walking distance of groceries and has a fireplace. (See, I’m thinking positive thoughts as hard as I can.) I’ll be keeping everyone in my thoughts and sending as many good vibes your way as possible.
We’re slated for mere 10″. A cake walk! I have a big pot of chili on the stove, and good smells fill the house. Wishing everyone well.
Hope the cam is up tomorrow… My 2nd grade students will enjoy watching the blizzard in real time.
Enjoyed these pictures very much. Sorry to hear about your NE storm, our NW winter had been mild so far, and our five girls are happily free ranging in the sunny backyard.
Wow, and here in Portland OR my goat girls are starting to shed their winter fleece already. They have never done this so early. Maybe that means a very mild winter for us because over the weekend it was 60 degrees! Hard to believe in the end of Jan.
Terry, I’ll be watching from here in FL. I love to watch the snow fall on your cam. I get my snow fix….LOL!
Wish you well – for the next few days in particular. The animals look to have no need for concern anyway. Stay warm, stay safe.
They won’t care if the power goes out, but we will!
It is 4:24 PM, Jan 26 2015 on the East Coast. A light sprinkle of snow is showing on the hencam. Good luck to you all. Phoebe is outside. She looks thrilled.
Phoebe is delighted!
Watching it snow right now on your cam. Hope your power stays on throughout the storm.
Feeling sorry for the NE but also feeling blessed MI is having a mostly mild winter this year. After winter 2013/ 2014 we have earned a break. I tuned in this morning at 9:20 just in time to see the girls in the coop all filing out the door and down the ramp. Then they all promptly turned right back around and headed back up the ramp. But the leader stopped on the ramp and then there was a traffic pile-up, each chicken rear ending the gal ahead of her. There they stood, looking puzzled and frustrated. I said to myself I bet Terri has locked them out for some housekeeping. Sure enough, there were some tall rubber boots working away. Once that door opened back up those girls couldn’t get inside fast enough, LOL. I just love peeking in from time to time, seeing how the girls behave in all kinds of weather and how early they turn in to roost in the evenings. I have finally got my little group of local (township) political friends working towards allowing backyard chickens in our community. I tried on my own last summer with nothing but a pffft from the board. Then I got hooked up with a little group of rabble rousers to fight a 19mil bond proposal. Now we are utilizing a community facebook page to organize a fight for legal chickens. We collected 27 letters from residents to present the planning commission, and have had others calling or e-mailing the board as well. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile I raise chickens vicariously through Hencam. :) Best of luck weathering the storm!!!!!
The Girls know that after I’m done tidying up that there will be new bedding to peck through, so that’s why they were so eager to get back in :)
by the looks of it the snow is falling pretty steady.. same here still. We hope by tomorrow that the snow stopped falling.
Oh my gosh, that Phoebe looks like a chinchilla covered door stop! All kidding aside, she is such a beautiful rabbit. And just looks so warm and soft! (And solid!). Healthy bunny.
Love the action shot of Caper and Pip. I do believe I actually witnessed you taking your photos earlier today and laughed out loud when I saw Pip was cutting up in front of you! Love those boys. Stay safe and warm. Sounds like you’re fully stocked up and ready to weather the storm. X
Glad to see you are ready as you can be. The tribe looks happy and content. Here in the East TN mountains some snow , rain and cold. We have the wood stove fired up and are cozy. We will be watching and hoping you don’t get 36 inches. Stay safe!
Looks like you are all set for the blizzard :-) Phoebe is such a cutie and she really does look like a Sumo bunny…how cute. It’s over 100 degrees here in Australia….we sure would love some of that snow :-) Stay safe and warm and hopefully it won’t have to climb out through the window by the morning :-)
Just watched the news for Boston and NY looks quite bad. I used to live in Alberta Canada near Alaska so know how deep snow can get, we used to have to regularly dig ourselves out. Keep warm and cosy, but above all keep safe, thinking of you all. lol
Ayyayyay-it’s deep:((
It’s only getting started!
6:20AM, 27Jan2015, It is still dark. All I can see on the hencam is snow! Lots of snow!
7:24AM 27Jan 2015, Wow! Daylight has come and the camera may have stopped working moments ago. It looks like you have 3-4 feet of snow (best guess).
Not so bad :) Currently at almost 2 feet, and very light – which bodes well as it’s not heavy and bringing down trees.
Yikes! That’s a lot of snow, even by Vermont standards. It looks like light fluffy stuff, and hopefully you won’t lose power. Stay safe.
A woman who knows her snow! Yes, it’s light, but there’s more than expected. So far, no load on the trees, so I’m optimistic.
I think you’ve got a lot of digging!!! All the best lol
the cam still works for me, I see the snow coming down still. That is a LOT of snow ugh! Thoughts going out to all that have to deal with this bad winter storm!
We have a light snow after a brief period of no snow. Nothing even close to the amount Terry (and others) have to deal with though. We are not even on 1 foot of snow (getting there though).
Hang in there Terry, good luck and stay safe.
The camera came back on as soon as I made that comment. It is now 8:01AM and the screen is about to be overcome with snow.
Keep an eye out. Steve is working his way out there to shovel it out. Wave to him :)
High five for Steve! That’s a lot of work but needs to get done.. poor Steve (giggle). Do you have the hot chocolate at hand for him Terry?
Eggs and toast!
Good girl lol.. he will need it after he is done. Thanks Steve, thumbs up :)
I just saw on the news that for a lot of the area, the blizzard shouldn’t be as bad as they thought it would be- except in your area apparently. You’re supposed to still get a lot of snow! Overall though, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be as big as they were warning it might be, which I grateful for even though I’m not going to be living through it. This makes me remember hurricane Sandy- my sister lived in NJ at the time and I remember her and everyone she knew not being worried or prepared for Sandy. I’m glad that everyone was braced for this storm. :)
I love your blog and such, your photos are lovely and your animals are wonderful. Stay warm and enjoy the view from inside the barn windows. Spring is coming!
WOW…….what difference a day makes. Keep safe and toasty