The Season of Freezin'

So far, we have successfully survived the season of freezin'. We have had over a week of below freezing temperatures. In fact we had three days in a row where the temperature never got above freezing. This is Texas. This is not supposed to happen here. But fortunately, the weather gurus gave us some warning, and having learned last year that freezing temperatures and pumphouse pipes don't play well together (see purple fingertips and running water), Foxfire and I rigged heatlamps in our pumphouse, left water running from several faucets and propped cabinet doors open to allow heat to get underneath the sinks. So far, we still have running water. Though there is more freezing weather predicted, so things could still go horribly awry.

Although we never lost running water indoors, the outside faucets did freeze in spite of being covered. So for several days, Foxfire and I had to refill the horse and goat troughs by lugging gallon jugs of water from the kitchen sink out to the troughs. It was beyond tedious. I was thrilled when the weather warmed up enough to thaw the outdoor faucets and we could fill the troughs without having to come indoors. It still took another couple of days for the water hoses to thaw, so we still had to carry water from the faucet to the troughs, but we could use buckets and didn't have nearly as far to walk so it was a vast improvement. I did a little happy dance when the hoses finally thawed. Of course, they are undoubtedly going to freeze again later this week. Sigh...

I am really tired of this freezing weather. (How do people in Montana cope???) This is Texas. Just a couple of years ago, we had 68 days of 100 degree and above temperatures. It was almost a record, but in some earlier year there had been 69 days. We regularly have temps in the 80's on Christmas. So what's with all this ice and snow? Yes, we actually had snow. Snow is nice when you're on a mountain in Colorado. But it's just wrong here in central Texas. Oh well. We've survived thus far. Hopefully, we'll survive the coming week as well.