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greenstormWell, I may not be doing well generally, but I do feel more like myself whenever I spend some time outside.
The difficulty being, today was between -24 and -20, plus wind chill in the afternoon which takes it to "frostbite in minutes" according to the weather report. So I kept hopping out for anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour, hopping back in, warming up, and hopping back out. Everyone got water twice, food twice or three times, and fresh straw.
I also hammered and sledged ice away from the tap so I could fit the buckets under it again. Each time a drop splashes outside the bucket it builds up another layer of ice, like a candle, until the ice on the side of the house is so thick the bucket doesn't fit anymore. It's a problem.
The muscovies got a heat lamp, which because the cord that runs out there got its plug frozen into the ice, meant running a chain of three extension cords out there. Then when I was fiddling with the heat lamp I had out there, the cold caused the casing on the heat lamp cord to snap in two places, so I needed to get a new heat lamp too.
I'm concerned about the pigs. They seem to be ok-- they aren't shivering in the mornings, and there are so many of them in those pig houses it stays pretty warm in there. But every time I give them straw they just pack it down under them instead of burrowing under it and using it as insulation. I guess they don't need the insulation yet. I keep giving them straw and they keep packing it down, though, it feels like a waste? Maybe after the butcher there'll be fewer and they'll go under. I don't seal up all the holes in the houses because the moisture needs to vent, to avoid frostbite -- but normally there's a lot more snow up against the sides of the A-frame as external insulation at this point, and then I go around with a shovel and heap some up against the walls of the square ones. I'll inspect in the morning and see, as usual. This really would be a whole different experience if I could just rest and be sure that everyone out there was doing well, but each winter there's a different set of situations during the cold spike.
This cold means super dry, which means my fingers don't freeze to things. That's good. It also means I touch metal things, which is bad: metal really does feel like it's burning at these temperatures.
It would be nice to have someone around who is familiar with these experiences. It really is very different from anywhere else. Yet another set of experiences that, when I describe them to people, they just look at me funny. I guess that's kind of my whole life.
The difficulty being, today was between -24 and -20, plus wind chill in the afternoon which takes it to "frostbite in minutes" according to the weather report. So I kept hopping out for anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour, hopping back in, warming up, and hopping back out. Everyone got water twice, food twice or three times, and fresh straw.
I also hammered and sledged ice away from the tap so I could fit the buckets under it again. Each time a drop splashes outside the bucket it builds up another layer of ice, like a candle, until the ice on the side of the house is so thick the bucket doesn't fit anymore. It's a problem.
The muscovies got a heat lamp, which because the cord that runs out there got its plug frozen into the ice, meant running a chain of three extension cords out there. Then when I was fiddling with the heat lamp I had out there, the cold caused the casing on the heat lamp cord to snap in two places, so I needed to get a new heat lamp too.
I'm concerned about the pigs. They seem to be ok-- they aren't shivering in the mornings, and there are so many of them in those pig houses it stays pretty warm in there. But every time I give them straw they just pack it down under them instead of burrowing under it and using it as insulation. I guess they don't need the insulation yet. I keep giving them straw and they keep packing it down, though, it feels like a waste? Maybe after the butcher there'll be fewer and they'll go under. I don't seal up all the holes in the houses because the moisture needs to vent, to avoid frostbite -- but normally there's a lot more snow up against the sides of the A-frame as external insulation at this point, and then I go around with a shovel and heap some up against the walls of the square ones. I'll inspect in the morning and see, as usual. This really would be a whole different experience if I could just rest and be sure that everyone out there was doing well, but each winter there's a different set of situations during the cold spike.
This cold means super dry, which means my fingers don't freeze to things. That's good. It also means I touch metal things, which is bad: metal really does feel like it's burning at these temperatures.
It would be nice to have someone around who is familiar with these experiences. It really is very different from anywhere else. Yet another set of experiences that, when I describe them to people, they just look at me funny. I guess that's kind of my whole life.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-19 06:48 pm (UTC)i saw your IG post about plastic snapping from the cold - i didn't know it could do that! does it happen rapidly, or over a somewhat longer exposure to that kind of cold? here, the UV from the sun makes plastics brittle very rapidly (sometimes in a matter of days; invariably in a matter of weeks) and they get weak and then shatter at any time of year - outdoor quality plastic is its own specific thing and kind of hard to find.
i am not looking at you funny but rather, interested in understanding your lived experience of our very different climates. :)
no subject
Date: 2022-12-19 07:29 pm (UTC)The temperature thing with plastic is just that the chemicals in it which are supposed to make it supple are only designed to work down to a certain temperature, and we're below it right now. I have some special -40 extension cords that are perfectly supple and lovely because they have more or different softeners in them. It's not quite the same "feel" as UV brittle sensation (we get that too here) because the plastic still feels substantial and it doesn't have that corroded feel to the snap when it goes. This is more like... have you ever put licorice ropes in the freezer or left them out to dry? Or maybe like drying pasta?
no subject
Date: 2022-12-19 08:23 pm (UTC)WOW about the steam freezing onto the birds themselves omg. that is some powerful cold. i think i have never experienced temps colder than maybe -10F at night when i lived in Alamosa Colorado many years ago - cold enough that the wind made my eyes tear up and my lashes froze to ice when i went out walking in it, but otherwise i was fully bundled up against it and came to no harm. i was a college student there so not responsible for any animals (not even a housecat for half that time). due to global warming now i understand Alamosa doesn't get that cold anymore - my friend there says it snows a lot now, when it used to be too cold to snow much.