This morning it was -20, and if there were frozen water pipes yesterday at -14 C –you can bet there were frozen waterpipes in the barn today! Yesterday Garry had watered one side of the barn with the old hose and bucket method, before it unthawed in the afternoon. Good thing I had my valentine to keep me warm.
Today, for the first time the big black pipe that carries the water from the milkhouse out to the water bowls was frozen- before only the lines between and to the bowls froze. Garry and Maxim finally got the water unthawed about 2 o’clock. They took apart all the plastic lines, brought them into the milkhouse and poured hot water over them. Fortunately everything unscrews apart in the waterline- except the main waterline in front of the cows is the 3/4 inch steel headrail- Garry thinks that it may be froze solid in the morning- he says it is partly frozen- water just going though the center. The cows just don't drink enough when the get it going for them again- the ration with all that wet brewers' grain makes them less thirsty. But he's ready to go back to the hose and tub method if needed (he even put the hose in the milkhouse tonight so its thawed and ready)for a few days until it warms up and the headrail line thaws out again.
Seth and Jonah didn’t think it was as cold as yesterday when they went for their morning bread walk today- less wind according to Jonah. This explains why they came home with a little pail of ice cream. The wind is not helping in the attempt to keep things warm - the house is not as warm again- everyone is wearing a sweatshirt or fleece inside except Jonah (he did put on a thermal shirt when it was cold when we first came back- he seems to have a higher metabolism than the rest of us). Maxim seems to be running the little electric heater in his room full blast- the door popped open this morning so I snuck in a turned it down- feels like summer in there- good thing he has a small room. Explains why he never wanted a fan last summer when we were putting the air conditioner in our bedroom.
Yesterday the red and white bred heifer that came with the herd in September calved, she had the second red and white bull calf in a row now- the heifer calf streak is definitely over. Yana is milking the new one, and Garry says she talked to it the whole time she was milking this morning- pretty girl- good cow—and so forth according to Maxim. Sounds like the heifer was no trouble to milk- sometimes fresh heifers are none too sure that getting milked is a good thing and stomp around (or even kick) until they realize it feels good to get rid of all that milk from their udder!
Meanwhile I cleaned the fridge- since we didn’t get to go shopping Sunday afternoon we are looking at a lot of empty space! We bought the European-style one with the fridge on top, freezer on the bottom (last summer when we had so much stuff in the garden we bought the upright freezer next to it. It isn’t quite big enough when we have company, but bigger ones are taller and I have to stand on my toes to reach the back of the top shelf! You can see my winter clothes dryer next to the fridge.
Hope to get into Metro today- or I’ll need to pick up a few things in the village- like butter- and they only have unsalted butter in the stores here in Nikolipolia. We found out during the first October we were here- after a couple months of eating toast that always tasted “off”- that one brand has a line of "salted French style butter” it says that in English even- but we didn’t know to buy it until we were visiting someone! Look for the green and gold wrapper ...mmmm – turns out everything is better with the salted butter you grew up eating. It costs a little more, so we buy cheaper unsalted brands for cooking, and save the good stuff for spreading on bread.
Just got back at 6:30- here's the road going there around 4 pm- this side was better than the way back. A few places the plows had not plowed the outside lane enough- but had plowed the median grass- a little soft to drive on! It was good to see they were out trying to improve things moving some of the banks back- last year they waited until it melted. You can check out the temperature -11 and the road temp of -4on the highway just on the other side of the oblast(regional/county?) line.
We loaded up on groceries and headed home- it was interesting watching Garry drive in the dark- a few places where the snowbanks were high (6-8 Feet)the lanes got skinny- some place one - one and a quarter or half a lane- making traffic squeeze (more times on the return trip), watching out for trucks, slow cars, fast cars and potholes, making us glad to arrive home safely.
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