Luckily, we got a bit of snowcover partway through this cold stretch, so the plants have a blanket over some of them. Winterkill has been terrible the last few years with very little snow. We had a couple of small storms with little wind so the snow stayed in the fields instead of getting blown into the woods.

No animals to keep warm besides the kids and the cat, so that’s good.

Now all we have to do are the taxes and get the equipment and plans ready for the spring.

Mad Greek - Thanks! We’re not mentioning which half - okay?

GW - Almost everything eventually gets done - sometimes! How’s everything in the Maritimes?

Like imalgmf says (sort of), if you do all of the periodic maintenance that SHOULD be done, then there’s not much time left to do the actual farming.

Niki - Ahhhh - I’ve been having one of those days for the last few years. The folks who comment here have helped me maintain a sense of humor through some very unfunny times. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I feel a bit guilty for being unable to reciprocate by visiting blogs, flickr streams, or emailing - but I simply haven’t enough hours in the day. And calving’s around the corner. . .

Hey Tommy - welcome.

Weese - Fortunately, there usually are cold beers in my fridge - and spare vehicles - in differing states of disrepair.

Justin - You never fail to crack me up - Thanks! Sometimes I think that we know too much about imbibing here in MT. . .

Nancy - Thanks for visiting - I will drop by!

Imalgmf - I learned about PM back in the days when I worked for the Sanitation Department. We had a team of mechanics to keep all of our equipment running. Come to think of it, that’s where I learned about PTOs, too. I learned about bourbon long before that stint. . . For the most part everything I do here has been through the classic “baptism by fire”. And for the most part there is no we - just me. My feeder truck may be a classic - but it’s feeding.

Moosekahl - Oops is a oft used word here, I’m afraid!
Linda - too many acronyms. . . PM - could be Perimenopause, postmenopausal, prime minister. PTO had some good explanations on flickr - Pull This Out - was my favorite.

I work on airplanes for a living and I spend more time just doing periodic maintenance than anything else. It is usually while doing periodic manitenance that I will find a cable that has begun to fray but not yet failed and to get it replaced before failure.

I know things are busy on the farm, but maintenance is one of those things we can’t avoid.

It seems I spend more time working on my tractor than mowing with it.

Good luck with your feeder, I hope you don’t have any more problems with it.

Spring is just around the corner.

In order for that to happen on a feed truck, the operator would have to be laying underneath it, not sitting in the cab. The worst injury that could likely happen from a cable breaking is that a person could inadvertently punch themselves in the face when it turned loose, but if they were yanking on it that hard then it’s no wonder why the cable broke in the first place.

Oh yeah, sorry to be such a know it all, but I also feel compelled to tell Weese that this is Montana, no need to go to the liquor store. Beer can be purchased almost anywhere in these parts, grocery stores, gas stations, practically anywhere that serves food, and is often served at snack time in most reputable day care centers. I always took that for granted until one day long ago when I wandered the aisles of a Nebraska supermarket for the better part of an hour before asking a young clerk where the beer aisle was. He looked at me like I’d just stepped off of a space ship, and didn’t even try to hide what a dumb ass he thought I was as he gave me directions to the nearest liquor store. Shows that I don’t get out much I guess.