counting the days til my last set of holidays for the year....

starting on saturday...i have 3 weeks off to catch up on a bunch of stuff around here....the shop, (again) but mostly just getting ready for winter (heat taping the outside water lines...finding and getting ready all of the outside water heaters and extension cords, hauling in hundreds of pounds of salt and setting the buckets up...and does anyone know where we put last years brand new electric hose?????

i am also thinking i should move some of the sand/gravel piles to somewhere under cover so we have easy access to both before it starts icing up. the drainage this year is better in some ways (but worse in others) so i already know where the ice problem areas are going to be...plus i need to find and set out the snow shovels, store a ton of 5 gallon bottles of water for when the barn pipes actually will still freeze despite the heat taping.

i have heard that we are expecting the worst winter in over 50 years...so i am thinking i should store extra feed, shavings and hay too in case we get snowed in up here for a couple of weeks.

oh...and someone remind me to get chains for the tractor in case my van can't haul feed to the barn....i wish we could afford a plow for the front of it but that is almost a couple of grand more (it needs some special frame attached for a plow.) oh well...but instead i better find the number of the guy who came here previous years and plowed us out.

winter is hard up here...a hard winter will really suck...i am anticipating some days too when staff and volunteers can't get up the hill so i need an emergency plan in place for that too.
in my job, we are expected to come to work...the weather is not an acceptable excuse so i am worried that i will already be gone by the time that i find out no one can get to saints on any particular day.

what we will really need on top of regular staff and volunteers tho is some folks to help with the snow shoveling so everyone else can still do the absolute necessary barn work.

i worry about so many things...animals daily happiness, health and quality of living...i worry about outstanding bills and being able to meet payroll...i worry about doing all of this right and not messing it up..but with winter coming i really start worrying about the snow, the ice, the cold and the early dark.

if it is going to be that cold this winter..should i figure out a way to heat the barnyard birds houses?...hmmm..i think maybe i should...before it is too late. and i do remember some frequent power outages previous years too...where the heck is the generator and how do i use it???? no power, no lights....no heat....no pump so no water...that could really suck big time too!

this last set of holidays is going to be full of not only doing but also a lot of thinking and planning and prep work too...we were spoiled with a really easy winter last year...and i am truly afraid this year we are going to pay double it back for last years nice winter.....all of the things that can go terribly and deadly wrong...quite simply because of the weather just scares the crap out of me.

it so sucks to be a worry wart...but hopefully we will be well prepared for winter at least.