One thing I will never get used to, as a lifelong desert rat who thought “winter” meant putting on socks, is freezing weather that lasts more than a day. Add actual ice and snow, and I am completely out of my depth. Phoenix did not prepare me for this. Phoenix prepared me for sunburns in February and steering‑wheel branding incidents, not frozen gates. I never in my life imagined I’d be layering clothes like I’m prepping for an Everest attempt, much less buying clothing that’s literally heated by batteries.
Our “arctic blast” rolled in last Friday, and by Saturday the entire property looked like it a solid sheet of white. Gates were frozen shut under several inches of ice, and we couldn’t even leave because every entrance was sealed by thick layers of ice. Thankfully, a few gates were mounted high enough above the 4+ inches of ice that we could still reach the animals. Small victories.
Watering the animals became a ritual. Fill the 5‑gallon buckets with warm water from the kitchen sink. Step outside into the cold that bites. Haul the buckets across the ice, careful not to anger whatever spirits govern traction. Pour the water. Check the tubs. Repeat. Always repeat. Especially for the pigs. Pigs, the world’s most dramatic dehydrators, cannot go long without water, so I was constantly making trips to keep their tubs thawed and full. I easily spent five hours a day carrying water and checking on everyone.
Between that and my “day job” as a virtual admin assistant, social media didn’t stand a chance.
But the weather is warming back up and we made it through with sanity mostly intact (though when all this ice melts, the mud is going to be EPIC). and I’ve probably logged a solid five miles with all that walking. Now, we’re living in dread for the next round of icy weather.
