Winter Necessities

I knew we would be needing some stuff to prepare ourselves for the coming winter, but I had no idea what that would entail. We started shopping early, back in September, so we could spread out the spending and make sure everyone and everything was covered...us, vehicles, house, animals, etc.

Of course, the first thing I had to buy was my winter boots...a girl loves her shoes! I researched online for quality brands and customer reviews and decided on a pair by Sorel. They are useful, but also quite fashionable and go very well with that hip-hop song that my niece sings so well...."apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur, fur....". Yep, they have fur...they had to have fur!

Muck boots on left, Sorels on right

Surprise!...David catching me crossing the street in Republic in my furry boots :)

The Sorels are my "nice" pair of boots and then I needed insulated muck boots because a girl can't possibly wear her "boots with the fur" out to the barn. So, I got a pair of "Chore" boots from The Original Muck Boot Co. and let me tell you that these boots are THE BOMB! They are so warm and they come up higher on my leg than my Sorels. My feet DO NOT remotely get cold even in the negative temps we have been having. If you are looking for a good pair of winter muck boots...buy these! They are so worth it!

The little things we have needed to buy include ice scrapers and brushes. I needed one with an extendable pole so I could reach the top of my truck. We also got Heet de-icing spray, which, let me tell ya...definitely has come in handy because here, unlike in TX, the ice on your windshield does not thaw quickly even after your truck is warm and the defroster has been blasting the windshield for 20 minutes! Sooooo thankful for de-icing spray! After almost busting my backside a couple of times on the driveway, I also got us some shoe chains. These are the coolest thing ever...just like chains for your car tires but for your shoes.


I also researched horse blankets for days on end, trying to pick just the right ones that met each horses needs and my requirements. Scout needed the heaviest one with major rip-stop denier since he is the hardest keeper and low man on the totem pole. Bailey needed a medium weight with serious rip-stop denier too, since she is fatter and hairier than either of the other two and she still gets picked on by Ranger. Ranger, I finally decided, could just make do with Scout's old medium weight blanket with medium style denier since he is both large and in charge. I finally found blankets for Bailey and Scout on the same website...so I didn't have to pay double shipping. I also got name brands at GREAT prices! Anyone looking for blankets try www.jeffersequine.com. I got Scout a Weatherbeeta with a detachable neck cover for a better price than any other site. I blanket the horses as little as possible so they can acclimate to the weather and so their bodies can do what they do naturally. Here's a shot of them from this week hanging out in the pasture in the below zero weather. They have been quite comfy.

The major necessities came when we had to find something to clear the road to the house and the driveway and tires to help us get on down the road without sliding off the side of a mountain in the process. We knew we HAD to have something soon to plow our road and debated for weeks about whether to get a 4-wheeler or a plow for one of the trucks. We finally decided to go with a small plow. It was less expensive than a new 4-wheeler, and we couldn't find any used ones, and it was also less expensive than a big plow. David was so excited when he got to test it out earlier this week. It worked like a charm and is easy to use. A big plow, we decided, wasn't practical unless one of us wanted to plow other people's roads to help pay for it. :) We decided on studded tires and good set of chains for my truck and the tires have worked like a charm. I haven't had to use the chains yet, but I am practiced in putting them on, just in case. It wasn't as easy as the tire store guy made it sound. ...30 seconds per tire?...yeah, right! More like 30 minutes! I know it will get easier, but it took me forever just to figure out how to get the chains all untangled! All in all, we are loving our life here along with all the new things we are experiencing....things we would have never experienced living in TX. God has been so good to us and we are so thankful to be able to prepare ourselves for winter and to be living in such a beautiful place. Hope we get to share it with some of you some time.


Here are a few other random pictures from the past week and our below zero weather....

The truck showing -4 degrees at 6pm-ish a couple of days ago

At dusk looking south, the con trails around here glow so brightly

The river right behind our house, it is even more frozen now...I threw a rock at it and the rock bounced all the way across.