Mar 2, 2015 3 min read

Finally, a warm-up! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be calling temperatures in the upper teens and twenties a “warm-up,” but such is life. The entire month of February was one extremely cold day after another, and that makes farming seem, momentarily, like a poor career choice.

It has been so brutal that keeping our animals supplied with water has been quite a challenge. The cows that are due to give birth have been taking turns being locked in a 20-by-40 pen in case, as occurred last week, they need assistance giving birth. The water hauled to them consistently freezes and needs to be broken open if they don’t drink it right away.

The same goes for the troughs in the fields. Despite having water flowing constantly through them, the sub-zero winds have repeatedly frozen them. My husband is therefore required to break the ice off of the top several times a day. Using an axe, he has smashed, chipped and chopped through inches-thick layers of ice and dragged the chunks of frozen water out onto the ground.

It has been quite a pain in the butt.

To be honest, there is ice everywhere, not just in the water sources. Our sidewalk, driveway and even yard is coated in ice from the rain, freezing rain and snow accumulations that continuously bombarded our region in the last few weeks.

One day last week, my husband and I had plans to spend the day together. We were planning to make some deliveries of corn and straw before enjoying a light lunch together and doing some grocery shopping. If we were ahead of schedule, we were going to go to Home Depot to browse.

Totally romantic, no?

We completed the morning chores, loaded up the corn and went back to the house to grab wallets and phones. We tiptoed down the sidewalk, cautiously placing one foot in front of the other to ensure that we didn’t slip.

Once I passed the bottom section of concrete, where the ground levels out and dampness tends to accumulate (and freeze), I was confident I was going to remain upright. I began walking with more certainty, or as my kids would say, like a boss. I increased my stride for the last few steps to the driveway, and just as I made it to the front of the truck, it happened.

I barely had time to feel myself slip. The next thing I knew, my feet were in the air and my backside was on the ground. I remember thinking two things: That’s going to leave a mark, and thank God I didn’t spill my coffee.

As my husband helped me regain my feet, I noticed that there was a huge spider-web crack in the ice where I had landed. I pointed to it and told him, “Look, honey, I helped break ice for you today.”

And I can assure you, that was a pain in the butt, as well.

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.