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Blog Entry 9 of 41 Kim's Blog
Kim's Blog about ranch life and work and all the things that make her happy (or not so happy whatever the case may be).

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~Kim

Snow's Eye View on the Plains

Contributed by: Kim Price   on 12/20/2006

We get a little excited about moisture of any kind around here. This amount of snow is a wonderful gift. And just to share with all of you what a snowy ranch looks like here are some pictures to prove it.

The LRL (or large red lawnmower as my Toyota Matrix is known) is pretty much buried. The snow shoes are out of the bunk house (it really is the old bunkhouse where the hired man used to sleep) and hanging next to the back door ready for action...I haven't had the pleasure of using my snow shoes in quite some time. Hopefully the legs are up to the challenge.

The husband stacked hay bales in the yard yesterday before the storm hit. They are strategically placed everywhere - by the old grainery, by the barn, in the middle of the yard - everywhere. If we get much more snow there will be quite an obstacle course to navigate in the yard. I should note that these are not just your ordinary small, square hay bales. These puppies are approximately 6.5 to 7 feet tall and weight anywhere from 1,400 to 1,700 lbs. Good doorstoppers.

The old army truck does double duty - it can go literally anywhere and the water tank in the back of said army truck is very useful if the wind doesn't blow for several days and we need to haul water out to the cattle and the buffalo. The water tank can also be used in the event of a pasture fire. This happened on our place several years ago and what a scary event it was!

The fire rolled along at 35-40 mph. consuming everything in its wake and sucking away the oxygen as it went. If a vehicle gets too close to the blaze, the engine will stall because there isn't any oxygen to keep it running. All the neighbors and the local volunteer fire deparments showed up from miles around to help - everyone with water tanks like ours arrived in order to fill up the fire trucks when they became empty. Our fire was stopped by I-76, but not before closing the highway due to the heavy, black smoke that obscured visibility for several miles. We managed to get all the cattle out of the path of the fire except for one bull. He wasn't burned, but the smoke damage to his lungs was more than he could sustain and he died a few days later. Cattle due not have very large lung capacity for their size and any damage to their lungs is usually fatal. Other neighbors showed up with food for the fire fighters, it was quite a production. Several miles of fencing was burned and had to be replaced, but no buildings were lost. If I remember correctly, 4,000 acres of pasture burned that day.

The old ranch house is also shown here all snowy and white. This belonged to my husband's grandparents. They homesteaded the place and my husband's parents live next door to us (no over the river and through the woods to grandma's house we go on this ranch!). The old 3 room farm house was burned down about 10 years ago because it was falling apart. Back in the distance is the barn where 3 of the horses are hanging out inside out of the weather. The rest of the herd has to make due out in the pasture with the cattle. But they are hairy and fat and actually seem to enjoy the colder weather.

The peacocks and turkeys are hiding under the old army truck trying to stay dry. Peacocks really aren't cold weather birds (they are originally from India) and several of ours are missing toes from frostbite. They roost in the trees at night, but are occasionally picked off by coyotes.

Santa and his reindeer appear to be stranded in our front yard. The blow up Christmas snowman and santa are buried under the snow somewhere. I doubt they are going to see Christmas until next year!

Well that's the Snow's Eye View on the Plains! Stay safe and warm everyone!


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Bill Boucher
posted on 1/3/2007 @ 9:53:27 PM
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Awesome.
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kim Price

Sedgwick , CO

Kim Price has posted 41 blog entries and 201 comments since joining on 12/6/2006. Kim Price 's average blog rating is 4.99.
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