Back-drafting and Little Bit

Hello all! I didn't want January to get away without a post. It has been busy~busy here and about and time is flying by always!
Christmas was good this year. We slowed down just a little, but not enough for me. We'll keep working on it though :) It was great to see old friends and family during the holidays! Lots of get-togethers and the FOOD was terrific as always.

A few days ago, we got SNOW! Lots and lots in just a few hours. I think we got about 2-3 inches here at our house. BUT..... I didn't get to enjoy much of it while it was here because our wood stove started back-drafting like crazy! I was distraught over it for a little while. OK~~~ ALL DAY. I love our wood stove. I DEPEND on that wood stove to keep us all cozy and warm. We do have other heating, but it is not the same. This kind of heat feels like you have a nice, cozy blanket around you. It is a pure heat. Yes, it's messy and sometimes it smells like a barbeque pit when we burn hickory, but I love it and I plan to burn wood as long as I have it to burn!

I took a good bit of the flue apart, checking for a clog and there was not one. But, it did need a good cleaning, so I cleaned it, hoping for the best. I put everything back together and started another fire. It started to act up again so out went the fire. :(  And another good airing out of the house for the 50th time that day. Now remember~ It is SNOWING this whole time. The kids are outside having a ball and I'm having a melt-down because my favorite winter "toy" is not working! I decide to take a break and go put out hay for the cows and that's when the real fun began.

I bundle up, go get the hay and start calling the cows up. I see everyone except the little bull calf we call Little Bit. We bought him at the sale back in October and I raised him on the bottle. He'd been weaned and was thriving on grass and hay and a little grain every once in a while. We finally spotted him laying in the snow. He was near being in a complete coma, but was still chewing his cud, bless his heart.

I had taken pictures of him and the other cows just a few hours before. They watched Hailey for the longest time build a snowman. He was perfectly fine then and now he was dying. Brad and I snatched him up and took him to the warmest spot I could think of..... my living room.

 Yes! The living room. It's cement anyway. No harm to the floor. I just rolled my big rug up and we started bundling Little Bit up with old blankets. We put down plastic and paper to keep things cleaner. We tended to the little thing and did everything we could to help him. He just couldn't shake it and finally gave it up.

When you have animals you will lose some. I think it gets easier to deal with over time. I probably couldn't have handled this when I was younger, I had such a emotional tug with animals. Now, years have passed and many animals we have lost to death and it does get easier to deal with.

Needless to say, our first big snow day of the year was an eventful day. We were quite exhausted when it was all over with and fell into bed late that night already asleep I think!

I'm looking forward to the next snow! My heater is now fixed and I've got wood stacked up and ready to go! I'll be keeping an extra eye on the cows and hopefully catch it the next time one gets sick.

Blessings to you all,
Melissa