Yesterday and the night before that the bursts of high winds shook the house. Sustained winds were forecast at 40 mph and bursts over 60.
We were thankful that the new snowfall was slight, but the drifts piled up. So this morning there were multiple drifts that formed when the north winds blasted through the tree line on our northern farm boundary. So this morning I used the cross country skis to exercise the dogs. This is great exercise, but much of our field was ice rather than snow. One-year-old Spot attacks the tips of the skis and the pole ends as I go along, which is annoying, but he is hard to deter. In fact, he is hard altogether.
We have a little bell-shaped bird feeder, with embedded seeds, that is attracting quite a crowd, mainly of Slate-colored Juncos and a few occasional Cardinals. A big Blue Jay hops inside the sunflower seed feeder now that the top has blown off in the wind.
In coming days the nighttime temperatures will fall below zero and with the wind chill it will feel like over 20 below zero. We have put up windbreaks for the rams and put out extra straw. We hope it is enough to keep them well. They do have a roof over their heads, but they are more exposed. It’s a good thing they have plenty of wool clothing with lanolin.
No sign recently of the Northern Goshawk I spied hunting the tree line a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps he has moved south with the birds he hunts.
