Kelley's Dairy Week of February 11. 2008

    This has been quite a week, very stressful and long.  Started off with a snow/sleet/freezing rain/ice storm with thunder and lightning throughout all day Monday.  We lost power around 7:30 p. m. Monday evening and lightning zapped my fairly new phone system.  Power came back on just after 9:00 p.m. but then was gone again right around 11:00 p.m.  Power was restored soon after that though. 
    Headed to milk around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and everything seemed normal, just ice covered and slick and treacherous walking.  When Glinda got to the barn just after daylight she reported that we had a power line down in the yard.  I am not sure if it was down when I left the house that morning as I was concentrating on merely standing up and walking down to the barn. (AND IT WAS DARK).  When I got back to the house Tuesday morning after all the chores were done I saw that the power line she was referring to was the line that led to the hay barn where the tractor is stored and the cattle waterer is.  The line had been broken by a falling limb from one of the maple trees she had planted years before but since it was broken from the main pole the line was safe. 
    The biggest problem that the broken line  was giving us was that there was now no heat for the cattle waterer or the tractor heater.  If the diesel tractors are not plugged in they can be a real chore to start when it is cold. Luckily for me and the cows it warmed up just enough around noon for me to be able to start the tractor with no heat or ether so that I could feed.  I tried calling Gray/Mac but their secretary could not get to work so the messages I left were unheard until Wednesday morning when Eddie received them.  He quickly called me and told me that they were having troubles getting around and their trucks were already called out but that he would be by in a while to check and see what he needed and would climb the pole if he had to. The power went off again around 10 a.m. for a few minutes.  It started warming up real nicely, the sun was shining and the ice was melting when Ed came by and evaluated the situation.  He left and said he sure needed to get the truck to get up there and would try to get it and be back, meanwhile I went to feed again and luckily the tractor started again.  I took hot water down and thawed out the waterer so the cattle could drink. I think it took about eight trips - 2 gallons of hot water at a time. I got back to the house and was waiting for Ed when all of a sudden we lost power again around  1:15 p.m. It was still off when Ed arrived with the truck ready to hook the line to the hay barn back up.
 Below are a couple of photos I took of him repairing the line.


    Ed got it back together but we still did not have any electricity so we could not test it.  I went to school with Ed (he was one grade ahead of me) and his brothers and we have been friends all our lives.  I sure appreciate him going to the trouble to come out and repair my line.
     After he left I went back in the house to warm up before time to chore.  My brother-in-law Lonnie came by to visit a while and as he left I headed out the door to hook up the power generator to the tractor so I could warm Mitzi's house for awhile before I would have to unhook from her house to start the evening milking.  We got her house warmed up and hooked the generator to the barn so we could milk.  We were almost done milking when the power came back up.  I was sure thankful for that because when we got done I was going to rewarm Mitzi's then head to my son Jacob's house to warm it up and let them run some water before I would be able to take it back to my house and warm it up.  I was not looking forward to a long night of moving the generator between three houses all night long staying around an hour at each.
     Wednesday morning and we still had power - wonderful I thought but I knew lots of people were still without power.  Mitzi, Jacob and I are all on the same main line so if one has power we all do but if ones loses power we are all down.  My son Francis was not as lucky as we were.  His power went off around 3 a.m. on Monday morning and was still not back up Tuesday afternoon when a friend of his took him a small portable generator that would run one of his furnaces and lights.  Francis did not get electric service again until late Thursday afternoon.
     Bingo had to be canceled Thursday morning for Thursday evening because the parking lot there was a sheet of ice.  We lost power for just a few seconds Thursday morning and gave my 'puter fits and I lost a lot of info. 
    Marvin's parents, Mary and Clarence lost power for about 4 hours on Thursday. Marvin came over Thursday afternoon and we added sound to four blogs.
    Then Friday (this morning) when I left the house and went to get the cows in for milking I found two fresh heifers.  Neither heifer had ever been to the barn. One of the heifers calves was dead and didn't make it and I had to get the tractor to haul the other and put it in the hay barn where it would be warm and dry. But the heifers did not know they were supposed to go in with the cows so I had a heck of a time just getting them into the first lot.  When I got through milking the others I got those 2 in and tricked them into the barn to milk them.  They were little angels though and let me milk them without a fight.  The new calf is doing great.  We were able to go to town because we had a "Color Ceremony" on the square to attend (you can read about it here) and get feed, beer and groceries today. 
    Then tonight just when we started milking we lost power again.  I called the local co-op to find out if it was temporary before heading for the generator and they assured me it was and it would just be a few minutes and sure enough it was.  We were able to get the heifers in again tonight and again they were angels.
     We have a dinner to go to tomorrow at the Mtn Grove VFW.  It will be a great stress reliever and sorely needed.
Cheerily
IJK

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