Monday, December 24, 2007

Winter weather - a snowstorm

a real snowstorm (not our alpaca Snowstorm). We had some snow on the ground, then Saturday night it rained almost all night, with really strong winds. We were lucky we did not lose power, as many did. Sunday the temp dropped below freezing and all the slush froze. Then it snowed and snowed. On Sunday morning when I went to feed the alpacas it had no yet started to freeze. Snowstorm was digging away the slushy snow to eat grass in the pasture, though it seemed like he was eating more leaves than grass. By evening when I went to feed the alpacas there was a thick sheet of ice and a couple inches of fresh snow on the ground. Zack fell at least 10x while walking to the pasture due to the ice. In the barn I could see the snow was blowing into the openning and onto about 1/2 of the area the alpacas lay in. I put more straw on the side that wasn't getting the blowing snow and encouraged the alpacas to lay there overnight. But really they do not seem to mind the snow. All three of them had a coating of snow/ice on their backs. I've been told their fleece is so warm that they stay warm even in these conditions. I am anxious to get down to the barn this morning to see how they did overnight. We got more snow throughout the night, along with lots of wind. I'm sure they are fine but curious to see how much snow blew into the barn. It's still dark outside and I do not want to walk on ice in the dark. Plus almost all of us are sick at our house so I need to make sure the kids are set before I head out to the barn. I took Zack with me last night so it's Emma's turn this morning. I'll head down soon.

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