Woke up the roar of the wind. I looked out the window and saw, even though it was still dark, snow moving sideways. I reminded myself that we live up on a hill, so it’s worse here than it is in the horse pen. They also have a shelter as do the goats and chickens.

Still, when winds are this high, the cabin trembles, and this makes me nervous. I hurried up and got dressed then stepped outside. The wind had blown yesterday’s snow onto the steps and across the path to the goat shed.

Shadow etting a ride up the hill

It was then 10˚F, so the gusts didn’t feel as cold as they might have. The upper quadrant animals were, of course, on edge. Quite a while back, we had a wind turbine on the top of the adjacent cabin, appropriately named The Black Hole. When the wind was strong, it would screech. The sound was deafening up close, and just plain annoying at the distance. Our neighbor Jim remarked that he could hear it at his place. Of course, the goats hated the sound.

The wind turbine finally blew off its stand. I was relieved that I was not close by because something that heavy and with three sharp blades could kill you. And I was glad that neither I nor the animals ever again had to deal with the thing. Pete has not replaced it – he says that it wasn’t generating that much power. I asked him how this could be, and he said that in order to get power, you need to have a constant wind, at about 28 miles per hour.

The solar panels continue to work quite well although the snow has to be knocked off of them after a storm. This, to me is small price to pay for what we’re getting, an ongoing electrical source.

The path down to the horses had snow drifts on it. No problem with this, the problem was that it was sheer ice underneath the snow. I fell near the outhouse.

The ponies were just fine; although, I noticed that Tinni’s manure was a bit gloppy. This was stress related. Last night, at midnight, our clueless neighbors set off fireworks. I sensed that they were going to do this, so I was there when they set them off. The mares were actually more jumpy than Tinni.

I gave everyone treats, and then when it was quiet, I headed back up the hill. As soon as I started out, the fireworks went off again. I went back down to the pen and again hung out with the horses some more. I ended up doing this three times.

The wind had, this morning, blown snow over most of the poop, so I had to dig for it. And upon locating it, I had to chip it out of the ice. No fun.

All day the wind blew. I did not get the horses out. I instead worked on my book and sorted through books.

It’s now night and wind has picked up speed. It’s supposed to let up tomorrow evening. Well, then, I suppose that we’ll again have to deal with below zero temperatures. I think we’ll look back at this winter and remember it as being one of the tougher ones. Hawaii here I come.

Next: 2. 1/2/22: A Letter to Mother Nature