Winter Storm Fern hit the day after we left and caused problems with widespread power outages, dangerous ice/snow, and prolonged frigged temperatures in Tennessee.
Saturday morning Patty reported it was snowing. She said the boys were out running in the back pasture, frolicking in the snow and having a good time. Then they went to the hay bale and started in on their breakfast. Amiga and Zorro came out in the front pasture for a while.
By that night, the ranch barely got an inch of snow, but then came sleet/freezing rain. It was the ice on top of the snow (seen in this photo) that was so dangerous. The fact that it stayed below freezing the whole week, was what made it very tough for Patty. She ended up sleeping at the ranch Friday through Monday nights the first weekend. And this wasn't the end of the bad weather.
Since Patty was pet sitting Maggie, she took her with her to the ranch the first four nights, and again over the second weekend when the next storm (Gianna) hit.
Debra sent this photo of Maggie with Pugsley. The two get along well. Maggie did have a poop accident on this rug later in the week. It happened due to Maggie eating a big dish of cat food that Karen (our designated cat sitter) had left on the kitchen floor, in case she wasn't able to get to our house. Maggie had made a pig of herself when Patty (with Maggie) had to wait for the heat pump company at our Flossmoor house (more on that later).
Patty did chores Saturday through Tuesday and helped Karen with them on Thursday. Debra (seen in photo) helped Patty out several times. She helped tote buckets, feed bins, and even learned a little bit about mucking and using a wheelbarrow. They put hay out, broke ice, and hauled water in the mornings for both groups of horses. They also monitored the chickens whose water had froze. And they did the same thing in the afternoon including feeding the horses. They cleaned up what manure they could, when it wasn't frozen to the ground.
Joanne was able to do chores both Fridays, but due to the combination of the extreme cold and bad roads, Bonnie was 'snowed in' every day except Wednesday/Thursday when it had warmed some and she came for the farrier and helped with chores. Bonnie lives up on the mountain where there is a lot more snow and ice, and basically no snow removal/road service.
The chicken coop, tiny, automatic, battery operated door froze shut, so the large door had to be propped opened a crack to let the girls out, and then closed again at night. Then a few days later, it froze open, so the hole had to be blocked overnight to keep out night predators.
The laundry room door to the ranch also froze shut with the freezing rain. The front electric gate was left open so it wouldn't freeze shut.
Sometime Saturday night the ranch lost power. Patty gave both groups of horses hay in their sheds while it was raining.
Amiga and Zorro were happy together in the big shed, but manure was piling up.
Patty and Debra cooked breakfast on the gas stove and planned to later go to Patty's house to take showers and recharge phones and flashlights, etc. However, thankfully the power was back on by 10:30am so they could stay put. 
The rain stopped, temperature dropped, and things started freezing again. Patty stayed busy topping off heated water buckets, breaking ice off the water troughs, and giving more hay to the horses. One of the days she discovered a heated water bucket in the lower shed, completely frozen. Then she saw the problem, not only had it gotten unplugged, the plug prongs had been completely chewed up. .png)
None of us had to wonder long, as to who was the culprit. For further proof, Patty took this (video) later in the week of Rico licking the ice she had just removed from their big black trough. He is a young and very 'mouthy' horse.
Sleet had turned the round bale into one frozen hay-sickle. The horses didn’t eat much off of it, so Patty had to bring down a bunch of bales from the shop, and feed them that.
Monday morning they put out a release about black ice on the roads in Fairfield Glade. Thankfully the sun came out and melted the ice. Wanda seemed to enjoy the warm rays.
Also the heater in the tack room would not turn on, and those water pipes froze. Patty had brought a heater from her house when she and Debra had made a 'supplies' run on Sunday. Patty got the tack room water thawed out and thankfully there were no broken pipes. She had been checking it every couple hours.
Over the course of the eleven days, Patty continued making hay deliveries with the gator so there was always plenty for the horses in both paddocks/sheds.
The hydrant up at the house remained frozen, so the girls had to keep getting water from the kitchen sink.
Patty took this photo of Amiga and Zorro soaking up the warm rays Tuesday afternoon before she headed home for a break from ranch chores. However, she had to be back Wednesday morning to wrangle horses for the farrier. At least it had warmed up some and they all did well for their hoof work.
As it turned out, Patty did not get a day of rest. Karen called her and said that our house was cold and the heat pump unit outside was making funny noises. So Patty came to our house. She had Maggie (who at this time ate the cat food) with her. The thermostat was set at 64° but it was 55° in the house. She called Affordable Heating and they sent a guy in 15 minutes to look at it. The unit was frozen up. He said the defrosting unit was not working and would need to be replaced. They had to order the correct parts, but at least he got the unit defrosted and put the thermostat on emergency heat to keep it from completely freezing up. He said the house should stay between 50 and 60° so there should be no frozen water pipes. 
I am not sure when this photo was taken.
Thursday the high for the day was 16° and the low was down into the single digits. Patty helped Karen do chores. This is when Maggie had her accident on the ranch house rug.
Joanne did chores Friday, but because Winter Storm Gianna was predicted to bring heavy snow to the East Coast and more frigid temperatures with some snow and dangerous winds to Tennessee, Patty (and Maggie) went out to the ranch (again for two nights, over the weekend).
The second storm, with snow, started up overnight Friday. Once again Patty was dealing with snow.
She said the snow and ice weren't so bad... but the low temperatures (never getting above freezing) just about the whole time we were gone, made it quite unpleasant and difficult. Every thing was frozen; gates, latches, doors to the house, barn and chicken coop doors, bales of hay, water bowls, buckets, water tanks, heat pump, fingers, faces, etc.
Bonnie was stuck at home again, all weekend. Sunday they had a high of 25°, which was better than the high of 16° Saturday. With the very windy conditions all afternoon, it had actually felt like 2° while Patty was doing chores Saturday. She said Amiga and Zorro‘s sheds were full of frozen manure that she had raked to two of the sides because her back couldn't take anymore stress.
When Joe and I were driving from the Knoxville airport home before midnight Sunday pm, it seemed bitter cold. But it was pretty with the moon shinning on the snow. Joe had to go slow in many spots and watch for areas of black ice and snow pack on the road.
All week, sister Carol was having similar, yet worse difficulties in Indiana. She had more snow, colder temperatures, high winds, frozen water pipes, and she was trying to care for bottle baby lambs and the rest of the flock of ewes and lambs, plus the rams.
Joe and I had been so lucky to miss these past eleven days of frigged winter weather.
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