Sheep and donkeys are desert and mountain animals, they can handle storms, but I always wish I could do more for them than I can really do. The Pole Barn has shelter on three sides and is quite deep enough for the animals to stay out of the snow, ice and wind.

They don’t like to be warm, and they don’t like to be restricted inside, I just hate to think of them out in the kind of cold we’re getting and much of the country is getting.

Tonight and tomorrow, we’re expecting between 15 and 20 inches of snow. Monday, the high temperature will be 0 degrees. There will be freezing rain and  high winds, so there will be a good chance of a power outage.

We are filling the bathtub with water, hauling buckets into the bathroom just in case. The cars are set up for plowing, windshield wipers up. Shovels and roof scrapes are out, ice melt by the back porch. I plan to help paint the bedroom as soon as I get the storm stuff all set up. Maria is already priming the bedroom wall, we plan to paint the bedroom while the storm  rages, unless the power goes.

Then, in that kind of bitter cold, we’ll be sleeping downstairs, by the wood stoves. Tonight, the menu is grass fed hamburger beef cooked with light Spaetzle noodles. We got a bottle of red wine. I’ll check in later, as long as I can.

There is a sweet coziness to all of this, I’ve got to run to the hardware store to get Maria a drop cloth and paint roller holder.