Thick Ice

 It wasn't as cold but instead of snow during the night we had ice.  Mark went out and was shocked at how thick the ice was. Below is our patio door. It looks like one of those frosted bathroom windows the ice is covering it completely. 

Below is a close up of the ice on the door.

Ruth and I decided it was not worth trying to walk. Mark walked over to the barn to remove garbage and fell and that was with his ice tracks on his shoes. The ice is just so thick and hard the tracks don't dig in. Not much after he got back I got a call from a lady that wanted to come see the barn as she would like to book it for her daughter's 16th birthday. I told them about the roads and she explained she has a big 4 wheel drive truck with snow tires and was sure she could make it.  I walked over to do some clean up from last night as the drives were too slick to take the car. That was not fun. I had to find snow that had not been packed down for the ice tracts to dig in so it took probably 10-12 minutes to walk from our house to the barn. Usually I can take the golf cart over and be there in a minute but even walking it only takes 4 minutes...not today. They arrived, looked it over and booked it for July 27th.  I made it back to the house and asked Mark if he could help move a bale in for Lea and Thalia as their bale was almost gone. That meant he had to get his winter coat, boots and ice tracks back on. I had to move the truck out of the way for him to get the bale. Lea and Thalia saw the tractor coming with the bale and took off galloping out of the paddock and into the field. It is nice to see that Thalia is sound on that leg. After the bale was moved the truck was put back in the barn and the short time it was outside the windshield was covered in ice. Mark fell again on the way in. At least both of the falls were in slow motion and he did not get hurt. The rain kept falling and coating everything it landed on with ice. Once back inside another call came in from a lady wanting to come see the barn to see if it would work for a wedding reception for her daughter. She did not want to come today because of the weather but told me Mark put in her furnace and Caleb was out at her house today working on it. She made tentative plans to come tomorrow afternoon if the roads get clear. Not long after that the family that booked the barn for their family Christmas held the first part of January asked if they could book for the same weekend in 2025.  Nice to have repeat customers. Tonight all that could make it were invited for supper at mom's house.  Phil and Anna's family made it as did Anna's parents Gertie and Dennis. We had 11 for supper. Faith came over but then got a better offer so left before it was time to eat.

After supper the games came out. Phil and Braelyn played chess while Anna, Taegan, Kensley, Gertie and I played Mexican train.

It really is nice to be able to get together when the weather is shutting people in. Pretty much all schools in the area were cancelled. It is currently 32 degrees but is supposed to reach 33 and rain most of the night and more rain tomorrow. Maybe that will help get rid of some of the ice instead of adding to it. Not sure if one degree will make much of a difference.