Snowed Home Alone

Yesterday Ethan was at the Practical Farmers of Iowa conference. He is speaking a bit there today but was planning on driving the hour back last night to do chores in the morning and then head back to the conference.

Last night, however, we got a bit of winter weather. He was on his way home, but I encouraged him to stay in a hotel rather than risk the snowy, one lane 30 mile an hour drive home.

So today I got to wear my Farmer's Wife hat . . . or should I say boots. Here's what my day held:

- Checking on the livestock first thing in the morning to see how they made it through the wintery weather. (They looked just fine.)
- Bringing in wood for our wood stove since our indoor pile got used up yesterday.
- Watering the cows by bucket
- Watering the pigs by bucket
- Throwing corn to the pigs
- Feeding the calves
- Feeding the cows by fetching and pushing a load of hay in our lawn cart through the snow
- Moving the wind break for the cows to the North side
- Taking care of the dog.
- Carrying out the black trash bags to the road since today is garbage day.
- While I was at it I also spent about 30 minutes cleaning up the yard and taking things to the shed that really needed to be inside

Inside there was still plenty to do:
- Taking care of our 4 year old son, 3 year old daughter, and 7 week old baby (I did the outdoor things with the older two and continuously checked on our napping baby.)
- Prepared meals
- Cleaned up after meals
- Put away laundry
- Caught up on laundry that needed to be washed
- Put away more Christmas decorations

My plans for this evening are:
- Cleaning the house since my parents are coming tomorrow to celebrate my birthday. (I know they wouldn't mind a messy house, but a little mess is a big mess in a small house.)
- Giving my husband a haircut. (He is WAY overdue and can't put a hat on while he gives the messages at church on Sunday.)
- Giving our son a haircut (He is getting some major bed head/hat hair!)

I really don't mind taking on extra responsibility, and I love being able to be outside a bit doing chores. The one thing I don't like is staying home alone at night. I'm a big weenie when it comes to that. My sweet husband, who has never wanted a big dog, has actually been looking at big dogs for our farm just for that reason. (You can head on over to his blog post about big dogs if you have any suggestions to drop.) We do have great neighbors around us who keep an eye on our place too.

Anyway, I hope I did a good job today keeping the fire burning. I will be glad when Ethan gets home though, and so will the cows. I don't think I can push the lawn cart through the snow and weeds to get to where the next closest hay is, and I haven't learned how to use the tractor yet . . .