But then there is my "problem child " the waterer by the barn, it is old and the thermostat is funky (has been changed but still) it heats the water too warm and tends to over time melt t he fittings . I have a brass float ball in it which helps, but apparently it overheated again and caused a slow leak, the water trickles down and then when the weather turns really cold, bam! frozen solid. At least I presume that is what happened. I have been keeping a close eye on it and had not noticed a leak, but this morning when I checked it was frozen and there was water inside the base (so if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...)
So while I did try to convince my friend Deb, that I was going to just let the critters go without and she should call her coworkers at the SPCA to rat me out , truth is , thats not who I am . I started packing pails of water to fill a tank(for the critters affected as it was too cold to run a hose 30 + pails later everyone seemed satisfied for the moment , and I jumped in the shower to head for the city for a meeting. While in town I grabbed a couple of these X hoses the link goes to an ad that includes a video. Thinking that in the later warmer part of the day, I could fill a big tank and save packing pails . The good news is the X hose works a treat! Just as advertised and LIGHT!! Which is wonderful because after carrying all those pails, and dragging the tank to the back of the barn I was/am whupped! can barely lift a coffee cup!
I also shop vac`ed the water out of the base of the waterer and had my blow dryer in there most of the day ,but no success yet.It is supposed to be warmer on the weekend so hopefully we will get it fixed.Meanwhile the critters all have water , and I have wine so life is good !
Also noticed while doing the rest of my chores we have a few uninvited guests again.
They weren't actually eating the hay, but ...
Time for Skeeter , deer dog extraordinaire to start his rounds! He takes chasing the deer away from the feed very seriously and as soon as he saw them from the truck he was bouncing and singing his little squeaky " Let me at 'em" song.
That's it for me for now , I am DONE today
As always my friends, stay safe and warm!
12 comments:
Well as long as you have wine...the rest will fall into place!
Oh your deer must be short on feed to be eating your hay it is getting that bad here too.
I am impressed at your skills I have to chop ice every morning a job that I used to do with an axe NOW that I am old and well old I use the prongs on the tractor and I am getting pretty good at it. Thank goodness. We could use that warmup pretty soon don't you think?:) Hug B
We are lucky here to have developed springs or creeks in all of our fields. They never freeze up. Hope you don't have to water all of the "guests" too.
There always has to be one in the crowd...glad you found a work-a-round & some well deserved wine!! You are a good mom!
I see new waterers on the horizon this year! I know they are expensive but so worth it.
Good dog Skeeter! Go Git'em!
As usual, your description of your day makes me need a nap.
I heard a chickadee cheeping his spring song, I told him to give his little head a shake. But the little guys are rarely wrong.
However, I won't believe that spring will EVER get here, until it actually gets here :)
Rest easy, wonder woman!
We don't often have freezing weather or iced over tubs, instead we have HELL for 6-9 months of the year... I'm not sure about that tradeoff.
Let the wine flow. It's medicinal. Yeah, yeah. That's it. Medicinal. Warming and soothing from the inside out. It's all good.
Ya dragging water buckets around for just 3 horses is hard , I couldn't imagine having to crack ice for a whole here. And with the price of hay these days , glad to hear you have a deer chasing dog lol
You must have had spaghetti arms for sure after 30 buckets! Damn woman!! You deserved that wine...hang in there cuz spring is not far away. Right? :)
Oh man...I know all too well how miserable bucketing water is....and running hoses when it's cold. I feel for ya for sure. :-(
Be safe in the chill climate.
You are doing a good job for the horses to get warm water for them to drink in this chill climate.
Happy Valentine Day!!
I don't know, if you can pack rice around the inside of the heater to dry it out, or not, but it worked wonders when I soaked my Ninja Blender right after we bought it! I put it in a pail of rice for a week, and it still worked! I was surprised at how well it worked, (even though I already knew it worked on a phone. lol), but I was impressed. So maybe a few pounds of rice would help? Or would the rice just attract mice?
Hope you don't have any more problems with watering this winter! It's just been entirely too cold! Stay warm!!
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