The coldest night of the year...

Dare I say, "So far..."? We recorded 12 degrees below zero, but downtown they recorded 15 degrees below zero. BRRRRR!!

Needless to say, we still won't be starting the truck today. Oh well. I guess I have nowhere to go until tomorrow anyway. Dad & I will stay warm feeding the horses today. They need new round bales, but the tractor won't start when it's this cold, so we'll be rolling them out...

I probably lost some chickens last night - I haven't gone out to check yet. There was one old rooster that looked really bad yesterday afternoon - I hatched him back before the boys were born, so he's getting up there in age. He's my second to last Light Brown Dutch rooster from Brownie, who was killed by the raccoons, along with the rest of my breeding flock. Gosh, that was probably 6 or 7 years ago now! Time flies when you're having fun!

When we went out this morning, we discovered that that rooster did die last night. It was just too cold for too long. Poor old guy...

Dad & I got the hay rolled out to the horses today. I ended up doing most of it myself, since he had to rush to make the dump before they closed. These smaller 4 foot bales that they brought us on the last delivery are much easier for us to move around without the tractor. That's great during this weather!

I also gave the chickens some of the bedding that my parents gave me for my birthday. They sure appreciate having soft, warm shavings underfoot. I also provided them with some fresh water and looked them over to see if anyone else looks weak. Everyone else looks fine, thankfully. They laid us few eggs today, which was nice of them. In this weather I certainly don't expect them to!

I found the Yak Tracks that my parents gave me last winter. They go on the bottom of my boots to provide traction. That is a wonderful thing since even the hardpacked snow is extremely slippery right now! I'm sooooo sick and tired of slipping! The Yak Tracks work GREAT!! The boys are jealous.

We finally got the truck started this afternoon. Jumping it from the Vue didn't work, but hooking up a battery charger helped.

I got the minutes from the board of directors meeting typed up this afternoon. I just hope that I didn't miss anything and that I understood and reported everything correctly!