We had such a lovely fall season this year, and the gentle temps that seamlessly flowed into December were just plain balm for my soul. I loved it! On the downside, though, the lady bugs were out in full force. They would show up in my sun-warmed kitchen window, crawling willy-nilly, without any real sense of direction or purpose.
One day before disposing of it, I watched one. It crawled left, then right, then went up, then went down, then went in circles. Then I spotted three others crawling in the same fashion. They drove me batty.
The other issue caused by the warmer, wet weather was the area around our silage bags. It became rutted and slippery. With the warmth and those douses of rain we received, it was a mud fest and made it difficult to scoop the feed up and into the bucket. I struggled to get a foothold with the skid-steer. As all that rain was falling, it dawned on me that if that had been snow, we’d be head over heels in it.
My daughter keeps talking about how we’re having an El Niño year. I looked it up online and came up with a bunch of information that made my head swim.
“El Niño is a complex weather phenomenon that occurs irregularly in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean every two to seven years. When the trade winds that typically blow from east to west in this region weaken, sea surface temps in the east and central tropical Pacific start rising. Some El Niño events are strong, some are mild, and they can last anywhere from seven months to two years. But El Niño events typically push up global surface temps and bring heavy rain to South America, drought to countries in the western Pacific and warmer winters to the United States.” (http://www.vox.com)
Blaming it on El Niño or not, with the warmer temperature and the rain, the yard became furrowed and uneven and then all of a sudden everything froze. The journey from the silage bags to my outside heifers was traumatic at best. It took me forever to cart three buckets of silage to the heifers. I had to almost literally crawl. One morning I did not feel well. When you’re slowly getting jostled around inside the cab of a skid-steer on top of not feeling very well, well, it is not fun.
Now that there is a blanket of snow over our yard, it has become a winter wonderland. I’ve discovered I rather like it. Winter in Wisconsin needs to have some white in it. When I take the skid-steer over to my heifers, the snow has filled in the ruts, so I’d say that is an improvement.
This year is the first winter with our “new” skid-steer. We bought a gently used one last spring, and oh my goodness, I am loving it. It has an enclosed cab, complete with a heater. The first time I needed to put the heat on I smiled all the way over to my heifers. It is quite lovely. Would you think a girl would describe a skid-steer as lovely? No more freezing on these cold winter mornings, I don’t get wet, cold or silage flung in my face if the wind is whipping around. So yes, I’d describe our skid-steer as lovely.
Bring on the cold and snow or keep it balmy, Lord. Me and my skid-steer are ready for whatever You decide to send. El Niño or no El Niño.
(“By His power He made earth. His wisdom gave shape to the world. He crafted the cosmos. He thunders and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightning, launches the wind from His warehouse.” Jeremiah 51:15-17, The Message Bible)
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