Tracks in the snow ......a story without words...

During the snowy season one of my biggest joys is going out early in the morning with my flashlight and looking to see the new tracks that the night critters made.  There are more rabbits and squirrels than anything else around the house, but every once in a while there will be deer tracks.  They will be in circles and back and forth....just like they were playing a game.  :-)

After this last storm, it was two full days before the animals came out to explore....

This is the area for the outside herd of horses.  One set of tracks going around the dirt pile.  I wonder who it was and what drew them that direction.

 This is the other side of the dirt pile, and more of them joined in the journey.

Brian started digging out one side of the house and he dug me a path to the barn lot.  I dug a path around the house on the other side and met his path.  Then we dug a couple of paths to the barn.  Now that I have paths, I am a happier camper.

 Old wagon wheel in the snow....

Sonic Boom looking all handsome in the snow...

 Ace and Tripp mirroring each other...

 Ace and Tripp are play fighting.  Ace has really matured a lot this past summer.

The whole outside herd...

Zjax with an awesome blue sky in the background...

 Wendigo peeking over Tripp...

Rico nose nuzzling with me...

Ace running in the snow...

Batman kisses....

GOT IT!!!! 

Batman likes to torment everyone and play, even if they are not in the mood.  So I decided to torment and play with him while he was not in the mood.  Hee hee!  He might not be happy about it, but he always comes back for more.  He said that is because he is a mustang, and mustangs don't quit!

Grandma Tandee and Batman...

Nevada...

I took a short walk to check out the tracks while the others stayed at the barn wondering what I was doing...

Wyoming muzzle loving on me...
There is nothing like the smell of a horse muzzle...

Wendigo is wondering what I am up to.

View between Wendigo's ears...

 

Wyoming and Boom running in the snow...

Chase the llama gets in on the action...

Batman thought he would play fight with Wyoming, so Wyoming turns the tables and goes after Batman...

Wyoming with a snowy nose...

Boom...

Time to rest...

Woo wee, that was hard work!  Boom needs a nap...

Today was quite warm and the snow melted a lot.  Okay, not really a lot, but all the new stuff that fell is gone, and the stuff that was falling this morning is gone.  It really is pretty out there.  I know everyone is looking forward to the snow melting, but I am not looking forward to it - all I see is mud in the future.  Ugh!  Oh well, gotta have mud in order to get to the season of flowers.  I am ready for lots of flowers and grass, and am ready to start planning the veggie garden.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Until later...Karen and Tripp who has the sweetest smelling muzzle of them all...

Beauty after the Blizzard...

It is amazing how it can be so dark and dangerous one day, and sun shiny sparkly beautiful the next!  If it wasn't for the pictures and the deep snow, it would be hard to remember what the day before was like.

HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY!!!  WOO  HOO HOO!!!!  If Phil was here, he would not even bother coming out.

I spent more time outside than Brian did, and every once in a while he came to check on me.  It was so windy, if I would have fallen and hit my head, I would be drifted over in a matter of minutes, and he said that nobody would be here to fix him dinner.  Yes!  He really said that!  Ha ha!  When he did come out, look how he treated me!  See that snowball coming thru the air?  I was shoveling a path in the front yard and I hear him say "Hey, this stuff packs!"  I turn around camera in hand because I had a gut feeling, and there you have it!  Then look at the innocent wave he gives me afterwards!  The things I put up with!  :-)

 

Batman with a mouth full of hay - but still wondering if he can sneak by me to share some of Tandee's feed.  

Our winter supply of hay...the plan is to have the row along the panels just in case it is too icy or muddy to get the tractor moving.  Then we can roll them out.  Unless we want to shovel, no rolling is going on here.  I am so glad we put out new bales plus an extra the morning before the blizzard started.

 I threw some squares around the canopy area to spoil them a bit.  Even Boom is eating close to the donks.  He has Brain Freeze too!

This picture is so deceiving.  Truck doesn't look that deep.  The snow in front of the vehicles is smooth.  It all looks like one even shallow depth....until you walk in it.  The snow actually was above the bumper of the truck, and you see what happened to the car.  I had already dug a path to the truck and was trying to figure out my plan of attack for the driveway.  

He Man came out to help.  We got the truck dug out and we were not going to worry about the car.  It would not make it out for a few days anyways.  Then He Man decides he is going to start digging he car out.

 AAARRR AAAAAR AAAAAAR!!!  He Man makes like Rambo and gives the call of the wild while holding a shovel in each hand!  Look how pretty that driveway is now.  :-)

And this is why it is so pretty so quickly.  A neighbor who lives about a mile down the road was out in his great big tractor helping to clear some driveways and trying to clear snow drifts.  He said he got the drifts by his place cleared out but about got this thing stuck, and the drifts the other direction would not be impassable for a car.  We cleared the driveway out and shoveled around the mailboxes, then guess who came down the road?  Yep, the regular maintainers and then we had a 3 ft tall pile of snow in front of the drive and mailboxes.  The guy at the bottom of the hill had just got done with his too.  So we cleared out our drive and the mailboxes again, then headed down to help the neighbor with his.  Thankfully the neighbor came back and helped to clear the neighbors 3 ft pile off and he cleared the rest of his driveway.  Brian and I got his vehicle dug out after the tractor left, and all was good again. 

Brian watching the tractor....don't even know what I did to get this shot, but I thought it was cool.

This is what the road looked like before the neighbor came thru.  So pure... There are critter tracks across the road coming and going a couple of different directions.  I wonder what they were doing and where they were going....

After the neighbor came thru, it was cleared enough to get a truck out, but not a car.
After the maintainer came thru, they took off the snow right down to the ice, and no matter how cold it is around here, if the sun is shining, it still melts a little bit - and it did.  It was a sheet of ice!  This was Wednesday, and it was Thursday at 1:30 before anybody tried going down the road.  They turned around in our driveway and went back.  We 'test drove' it at 3:30 that day and it was a little better.  We would head back to work on Friday.

In the front and to the right of the gray trailer is the flatbed....it is covered.  That is a tire and toolbox on top of it.

Halo and Red dug a path to their hay spot.  We could not get in there to put a round bale, so I have been throwing them squares.  They also have a path in the area to the right.  I have to laugh because they are like people.  They don't have as much room to move around and get away from each other, so they are starting to snipe a little bit. 

Oh yeah, I had to try to be all tough with my snow shovel too.  Aaaarrr Aaaarrr Aaaarrr!!!!
Wait, I think that was the sound of a pirate....

This is more me.  Playing it cool while secretly taking a break.  :-)

Snow around the propane tank.  The clear area was made by the dogs.

Self portrait in the truck window.

The chairs are officially buried!

I love snow shadows....

Tandee and Batman.  Batman did great in the snow.  Right now he follows the path that I made out there - it is a big circle.  The others have flattened out an area at the feeder, so he goes out there too.  When he gets full of himself, he just plows thru the deep stuff.  I went out one day and he had his face deep in the snow and was walking...just like a little bulldozer!  I could not get the camera out quick enough.  Darn it!

Tandee, Wyoming, Ajax and Jester all say to have a Happy Ground Hog day and be safe!

Until later....Karen and Tripp who always has a hug for me!