April Showers Bring........SNOW?!?!

[4H kids and mom]

Well. What a day I have had. Stupid Wiscconsin weather! <<Gggrrr!>>

Anywho, it SNOWED a little last night, but no big deal. Barely covered the ground. I looked at it as I went to check the chicks and thought "well, with how warm it was yesterday, this sould be melted by noon...."

I get the kids off to school and about an hour later (well, 8:30) the power flickers and then goes out. No biggie, I think. I go on about things not realizing something VERY important! About 20 minutes later I was looking out the window at the coop, but couldn't see it well in the snow, when my eye cathes sight of the CORD that runs to the coop, when I shreaked "OMG! The chicks!"

Keep in mind, that it is now roughly 30 degrees and is total white out conditions. I grab my coop shoes and coat and the biggest box I can find. Of course its full of crap, which I immediately dump onto the floor as I run out the door.

The wind and snow are STINGING my face, and I realize I havent even had my coffee yet! Here I am, sludging through VERY WET snow out to the coop while the wind is pulling at the box and trying to drag me with it. "Nasty, nasty APRIL FOOLS joke!" I scream at the sky.

The lock on the coop door is coated in ice, so I have to chip away at it with a key from my pocket. I finally get in and hear.....nothing. Eeiry quite and still, and completely dark. I am used to being greated at the door. This is scarey for me. I have to squint in the darkness and can barely make out their shapes. All huddled tightly in the far corner. Not making a sound. Poor dears. Must be scared out of their minds.

I gather as many as I can cram comfortably into the box, fold the flaps over, brace myself for the walk back, and carry my scared little travlers to the warm house. Good thing I still had the brooder box set up! I made three more trips to get everybody safely in the house. I gave them all food and water and eventually they perked up a little.

Now I'm keeping them overnight in case the power goes out again or something. They are quite stressed, but seem better now. I even gave them a little Mac 'N Cheese tonight to cheer them up! They LOVED it!

 

[Freebie]

I know what ya mean. Those of us in SW Michigan are feeling it with ya. It snowed a few inches this morning then rained all afternoon. But the snow is still on the ground.
What a spring!!!

 

[demonique]

Tell me about it. We got 6-8 inches last night all of a sudden. Most of it's melted off, but... man, what a spring.

 

[MoonGoddess]

Oh, wow. Man, see this is the reason I want to move to AZ. I'm in Philly and I don't have it HALF as harsh as that and I want to pitch a fit everytime I see a white flake fall.

I'm sort of cat-like in that way. I can't STAND being cold and wet. Worse thing EVER. *shudders*

 

[2mnypets]

Here in Illinois it hasn't been much better. We had a mix today with rain, snow, sleet and ice. The wind at times was blowing up to 76 mph. Power flickered but decided to stay on. At one point the chicks were roosting on the side of the brooder box after I took the safety lid (made with wood and chicken wire)off and proceeded to fly to my Newfoundland dogs for additional warmth. Wish I could find a warm, hairy coat that was big enough to wrap around me.

Kudos to you mom for saving the day. I hope you got your cup of coffee along with a nice snuggle from your babies.

 

[chickenranchwife]

I know what your going through as in South Dakota the weather has been doing the same. My chicks are still in but will be going out this weekend. We've really had the rain and snow, but very thankful for it as we were in a drouth last year and weren't able to do any haying other than C.R.P. late in the fall. Congrats for saving your babies. Good luck the storms going to be over in a couple of days.

 

[4H kids and mom]

Yea, looks yucky tomorrow, but then sunny upper 60s the rest of the week and into next. I guess Mother Nature decided we all needed one last snow!

 

[2mnypets]

Ok, I'm starting to think that Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor. I awoke this morning to a couple of inches of snow with at least a half an inch of ice on top of that. It was so much fun trying to get the dogs outside this morning. I'm grateful though that the chicks are still indoors. Hope everyone is staying warm.

 

[4H kids and mom]

The crazy thing about it is that we have snow today, but Friday calls for sunny and upper 60s which will last through the next week and then warming up to mid 70s the following week. Bizarre!

The snow storm was such a freak thing! Not to mention how unprepared I was. I had just packed up all our winter clothes and put them in storage (our icky creepy old farmhouse basement.....eeewww! lol). I put the kids snowpants, boots, and warm winter coats away too, because I thought "who needs snowpants when its 60s?" So, that morning to get the off to school on time was a real challange! Digging out warm shirts, coats, boots, etc. while still trying to motivate the kids to eat, brush their teeth and hair, and watch for the bus...lol

Now I have the boxes put away, but within easy reach, should it decide to snow in July or something! lol

 

[justusnak]

4H.....you poor thing....running out in the snowstorm without you first cup of coffee....saveing babies..(chicks) ...you are a good momma...but then to have to go back to the basement....for kids winter clothes! UGH! My kids are raised now...but when they were little....when the time came to put winter away...I would keep one smaller box, with 2 sets of winter clothes for each kid, in the top of a closet...close for those " just a reminder Mother nature can" days. Hope this wintery stuff is all behind you now.