Here in South Texas this Winter strom is really kicking our butt's down here, we have not gone threw this in almost 10 years in Seguin and its really taking a toll on us Warm Weather Texans.. I dont know how you guys up north do this every year...This is like the winter strom we have in the Rio Grande Valley ( way down South on the Mexican Border) back in the 90's that took out all our Orange Groves/Orchards.. 

Oppps I have the date wrong for the winter ice storm we had it was in the mid 80's.. 

All I know is, is that I will be sooo grateful when we make it through to Friday without incidents!  Had 3 power interruptions in the last hour already. Only a minute or so. But that scares me for tonight and tomorrow. Low tonight is supposed to be 9°F, and tomorrow's 3°.... 
stay warm and safe everyone!

well, apparently Ercot is entertaining rolling outages starting tonight and may continue the over next 48-72 hours... could be anywhere from 10-45 minutes.... guess i'll have to put the buddy heater in the LQ when we go to bed. The tanks are basically empty, but we didn't drain the waterheater because I have a spaceheater in there.... ugh... Is it Friday yet???

Whats giving me so much grief is breaking ice on all the water buckets and trough's out here, my hands get wet and man they start hurting, so have to come in and thaw them out for a while and start all over again, I have gloves on but they get wet, I guess I need to find some water proof gloves, but since we are not suppose to have this kind of weather I dont have any, lol.

I'm with you Cranky I am so done with this and its not even Monday yet!!!! We have all week to get used to this I guess

Oh NO!!!!

Put on some plastic (medical type) gloves under your regular warm gloves to keep your hands from getting wet. 

Southeast corner of Kansas here.  We are like the rest of the country, record setting low temps.  So far electric has stayed on, as long as we don't get ice I think it will stay that way.  I broke down and blanketed two of the horses and I never do that.  Our barn is 45 x 90 with 1/2 of the 45' being open sided on the south but the wind is whipping in under it something fierce, Plus these two are our leanest of the 4.  My other two has stalls that open to their lot so they have a wind break and they are fatter then toads and acting sassy.

Our utility room toilet water line keeps freezing up but thaws out really quick.  I'm trying to find a heat lamp to put under the floor (crawl space) just enough heat to keep it thawed.

Prayers for everyone and all their animals this week.  I'm afraid it is going to be a long week!

This actually works! Just come in from blanketing and feeding our lott and had the nitril gloves under my leather ones, hands are nice and toasty!!

So much fun! Only having 3 decent blankets and 4 horses.... all of them started shivering, so I out them in the barn ( which is only 3-sided with the East side open) with lots of hay and 3 of them with the mid-weight blankets. Nr 4 is wearing a liner under his Back on Track blanket. Hopefully that will be enough for the next couple if days... no where to get another one right now, and I'm not driving anywhere anyway...

But I will be ordering 1 more blanket just in case we get more of this crappy miserable crazy weather!

I have also put plastic shopping bags over my socks before pulling on my muck boots. It helped keep my feet a bit warmer and certainly keeps your feet dry in case your springs a leak -- which has happened to me in the past. 

I used to do that in my tall boots when I was riding English! Now I just wear Merino wool sock in my muck boots. I also have a new pair sitting in the closet (they where on sale...) so if they start to leak I can pop inside and switch over.

Oh my gosh, I would have never though of that, you are so awesome  THANK YOU!!!!! I will do that tomorrow, I just came in and had to thaw OUT AGAIN, Man I'm just not made for this cold, wet stuff, I'll take my South Texas heat over this miss any ole day, lol... 

I feel so bad for cattlemen who have herds to feed in this miserable weather.  My sister knew what she was doing when she moved from Arkansas to the Villages in Florida.  

And with all the breaking of ice so their cattle can get water and thats brutal right there!!! When my father in Law had the Dairy going it was really hard when we had that ice storm back in the mid 80's, 900 plus cows had to be milked in the am and pm (twice a day) thank goodness he had some hard working hands that keep the milking going, I think about these Dairys up north, that have it really rough too.. 

Honestly, there's a definite difference between the cold I know from living in northern ND and Minnesota and here in Texas.  I go to Northern Minnesota at least once a month.  I swear to God, minus 10 up there is more tolerable than 20 degrees down here.  I very rarely wear even a light jacket in Texas.  Nobody is more tolerant of cold than I am, but 22 degrees with wind and sleet was brutal today, even with full winter gear.  Even when it's not raining or windy, cooler temps are more penetrating down here.  
Thankfully, we have a full 150 gal tank of propane, so that can keep the fireplace going for at least 6 days or so if we lose power for any length of time.  I just hope we don't have any busted water lines coming into the place.  

This cold is insane... it's 10 degrees here right now and feels like -5.  Had steady snowfall since about 0800 this morning.  Got into work at 1500 and it's been a dang madhouse.  Wrecks everywhere... I'll be glad once we get above freezing again sometime after Thursday this week. 

I planted some fruit trees week before last so I'm more then sure that they are toast along with my fruit trees that I planted a coupled of months ago. I had no ideal that this was going to happen with this winter storm, out winter has been so mild and I thought that winter was pretty much over, WRONG!!!!! 

I'm making my 5 stay in the barn most of the time.  They hate this.  They pretty much think the barn is for eating/peeing/pooping and then they want out.  I've put tubs of water in each stall, keeping hay in front of them, doubled up their alfalfa pellets, only turning them out if there is no rain/snow coming down.  One was shivering this afternoon so she got a blanket and put up in the barn a little earlier than the rest.  She was stressed still after an hour so I turned her back out.  PROMPTLY, within 5 minutes, she broke a leg stocking stuffer her blanket running and kicking and playing.  "Can't have nothing nice."  LOL.  Keep checking the water troughs and tubs for ice every few hours.

Turned all the faucets on outside, one or two inside, set a small heater up in the LQ, opened the faucets and the cabinet doors, built a teepee over the water well and put spotlights on the well head and the tank pipes, filled the bathtubs up with water so I can still flush a toilet if the electricity goes out.

Feeling pretty good that I've made it two days but the worst is still yet to come so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I would never make it in Montana because I HATE cold weather.

More and more owning a Generac sounds like it could help take the anxiety out of these storms.  

I just told my husband that wearing surgical gloves under my regular gloves was the best idea ever.  Even at 25 below zero, my hands stay toasty.  Plus the gloves come on and off easier, when you need more flexibility.   I can get hands wet and stick them right back into the gloves.  I don't go out without them.

We are sending prayers for all those affected by this unseasonable bitter cold.  Even when you are set up for cold, this late in the season is brutal on babies.