Bring It ON!!!!

Crikey Authentic you scared the beejeezus out of me...those eyes staring out ...it reminded me of those kids who are all wrapped up and cannot move hen they fall over in the snow..(a Christmas Story). We must be sitting in some nasty pocket in the back of Armstrong. We were -18 this am..picked up my hose to fill one of the troughs and the silly thing just broke in half!..so off i go to get another one-frozen...off to the hardward store to get rubber hose..down in Armstrong city temp was only -7...balmy
Me, in my long johns, heavy fleece pants and a great set of insulated overalls that are cordura material..? muck boots with 2 prs of socks and those cool ice walker things strapped to the bottom so i don't do any headers. Roosters water is frozen despite moving the light right over top of it...so will move a big pail in there today, then the light can get closer. While out doing other chores Luka the guardian puppy ate two other hoses!-why not just one hose...why two?
i think we are ready for winter...and if not, it doesn't much matter because it is here
Husband works outside all day long with cattle-he wants a fudd hat with fur lining...

Schipperkesue wrote:
How can it possibly be that cold in Osoyoos?  I was there in the summer and it was like a desert!

well we actually live about 30 - 40- min drive away from Osoyoos up a massive hill on top of which is a ski outfit, we are at approx 3300 ft ourselves and the mtn is over 5000. It does get hot in the summer though, talk about extremes. We are in a semi-arid climate so yeah, very desert like. 42 degrees C I think might have been the hottest this summer, can't imagine what it was in Osoyoos because they are anywhere between 3 and 10 degrees warmer always. I was there one day and walked out of an air conditioned room in to the outside air, opened my mouth and could feel the moisture evaporating as I made a b-line for my car. That was after work at about 5.30pm, 45 degrees C. Never experienced this kind of warmth before.

Our property is in a little pocket, wind is not such a big deal but down in Osoyoos they are in a sort of wind tunnel which goes all the way north up to . . . well up :-). At least as far as Penticton and beyond. I have been told that Osoyoos and the Okanagen valley is the top part of the Sonora desert (starting down in Baha, USA??) and the climate is different to the west side of the Cascade Mtns where it seems to me, more sub tropical rainforest sort of deal. When I left Osoyoos at 8.30am this morning it was about -11. They are experiencing some nasty wind chills down there, I would rather be up here with -30 and no wind chill.

Wow, you sure have extremes in temperatures!

I was in Osoyoos a couple years back in the summer. Beautiful, but I would not have imagined those winters!

Bigrock, I am laughing a little at all your layers. We wear less than that - must be true what they say about our having a "dry cold" - we don't bundle up as much as you!

We flew into Vegas today - cabbie lady informed us we were nuts in our hoodies. She was dressed like an Eskimo as her coworkers told her this morning - in her light winter jacket with a fur lined hood - no toque no mitts no scarf on her neck.
It is +8 here with a howling wind but still far nicer than home. I will take it if only for a few days. I really love my house sitters at home. They are caring for my critters in the bitter cold.
Have a super day folks!

The cold can go away now. It warmed to -16 today with a low last night of -22. I spent most of the day outside loading 10 pigs and a steer. Neither were much trouble, but we had to fix the loading area for the steer and get out a new bale of very frozen hay. We should have done the loading area fix when it was warm, but the past summer was addressing the issue needing attention at the moment.

Karaandblue wrote:We flew into Vegas today - cabbie lady informed us we were nuts in our hoodies. She was dressed like an Eskimo as her coworkers told her this morning - in her light winter jacket with a fur lined hood - no toque no mitts no scarf on her neck.
It is +8 here with a howling wind but still far nicer than home. I will take it if only for a few days. I really love my house sitters at home. They are caring for my critters in the bitter cold.
Have a super day folks!

I hate you a little.

authenticfarm wrote:

Karaandblue wrote:We flew into Vegas today - cabbie lady informed us we were nuts in our hoodies. She was dressed like an Eskimo as her coworkers told her this morning - in her light winter jacket with a fur lined hood - no toque no mitts no scarf on her neck.
It is +8 here with a howling wind but still far nicer than home. I will take it if only for a few days. I really love my house sitters at home. They are caring for my critters in the bitter cold.
Have a super day folks!

I hate you a little.

just a little.......

coopslave wrote:

authenticfarm wrote:

Karaandblue wrote:We flew into Vegas today - cabbie lady informed us we were nuts in our hoodies. She was dressed like an Eskimo as her coworkers told her this morning - in her light winter jacket with a fur lined hood - no toque no mitts no scarf on her neck.
It is +8 here with a howling wind but still far nicer than home. I will take it if only for a few days. I really love my house sitters at home. They are caring for my critters in the bitter cold.
Have a super day folks!

I hate you a little.

just a little.......

Karaandblue are you going to take in the rodeo?

Sorry guys - I will send a few photos on another thread if you want
Buff yes we bought tickets for Tuesday night. High up in the nosebleeds but I've been told there's not a bad seat in the house.

Supposed to get colder, -17 last night, yesterday daytime was -10. Brr...I don't like cold. Have a wonderful and safe day, CynthiaM.

.

I also despise heat. I do not see tropical vacations in my future.

I get more done on -30 days than on +30 days!

authenticfarm wrote:

Magdelan wrote:Heck Authentic, that is pretty cold looking.  Did you make your scarf?  Looks home done (nice  ).   

Yep. I actually made it for my husband, but he doesn't wear it, so, YOINK! It's got some Alpaca wool percentage in it. Super long, so I can wrap and wrap and wrap.

Magdelan wrote:How are your nipple waterer thingies working?  I have finally set one up and it goes well but when it gets down below near -20 at night they freeze and I have to get the hairdryer out!  which freaks everyone out  -  they aren't used to it yet I guess  -  they are just going to have to toughen up and lay straight!  Takes only few seconds on each to set them right.  

They're good! The ones I have with the better de-icers have stayed thawed. The one with the crappy de-icer from UFA is froze up. I ordered some more of the better de-icers, so as soon as they arrive, I should be good to go for the rest of the winter. I did the hair dryer thing during the last cold snap, but I put my back out on Tuesday, so bending over is difficult right now. I am going with a rubber tub that I smash the ice out of for the one pen with the crappy de-icer.

Authentic where are you getting your good de-icer's from?  Amazon?  

I have spun some alpaca mixed with merino and silk but I find it difficult to work with, no elasticity in either silk or alpaca and if I am not careful I spin rope!  So I have to slow myself down and spin softly and not too tight.  It is a test for me.  Therapy even because if I'm wound up like a spring then I tend to spin yarn that is that way.  Not nice to knit!  I like alpaca though, you probably already know it is a hollow fiber like angora and possum so it is much warmer than wool, and soft because it doesn't have the scales on the fibers that wool does.  I hear about quite a few "guard-dog" alpaca's around here, they are supposed to take their job fairly seriously and keep those coyotes, even cougar away  -  can spot an intruder from a long distance and sound alarms  -  if I had a flock of sheep I'd definitely have one.   That insulating fiber must be the reason they can stay so warm in this environment.

Back on topic, I think I can handle the heat fairly well. Once I get used to stinking and sweating I can march good. I prefer heat to real cold, not that keen on frozen hands which don't work well when cold and because I like fine motor activities I like to have my hands fairly free of gloves if poss. If someone offered me a trip to NZ right now I'd be in like flint! Get someone who I could trust with my bockers out there and the cats - I'd be gone to the land of the long white cloud to smell the sea, eat fish, chortle all night long with my family and go fishing with my Dad. yup. I'd be outta here!

Yep, Amazon.

which ones? I need names :-)

Don't know. Search it!

authenticfarm wrote:Don't know. Search it!

ok. the reason I asked was because you said you had a good one and a not so good one so wanting to avoid getting the crappier one I guess. amazon has fairly good consumer reviews so will have to go with those.

Yep. Get a higher wattage one. I don't recall the brand name or seller name and they haven't come in yet, so I can't check the box.

thanks Authentic. Maybe I'll wait and hear what brand it is when you get it - and see how it compares from your experience? Do you mind?

Magdelan, they arrived today!

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I think I've seen these at Princess Auto and Buckerfields. Looking forward to hearing your review.

thank you Authentic! very exciting. The hen coop bucket with the nipples was almost empty today with layer of ice on top and I poured some warm-hot water on top and it melted the ice and eventually freed up the nipples so that was interesting but dang it all, wouldn't it be nice to not have to fuss at all. can't wait to hear how this new de-icer goes and will take a look for it on amazon, maybe see if I can get one that doesn't have to be shipped. thanks again.

Can this de-icer be used right in a rubber tub? Or does it have to be for a specific waterer? They look very interesting.

I'll take heat any day over this awful cold weather.

It says safe for plastic on the box. I put them right in the rubber bucket.

I already have one like this that I have been using and it works great. Just needed two more for my other pails. They are heavy and therefore sit on the bottom of the pail, which helps keep the nipples unfrozen. Lighter deicers do not work as well.