It's Still Cold

I think our seven year drought might be coming to an end. We have had snow on the ground for almost a month now. That hasn't happened in my recent memory. There is over a foot if it had stayed in one place, but since it didn't, there are drifts almost knee-deep in places. Temperatures have been hovering around zero at night and +20 during the days. I do hope we get a January thaw, though. I am finding it hard to stay upright as I go about feeding the horses and cows.
It was nice to have a white Christmas for a change. I spent Christmas Eve about 40 miles away with my niece and her family. The kids got sleds for Christmas, so they were sledding. My niece has a Brown Swiss milk cow that she milks. That cow is so tame, she would follow Mandy in the house, if allowed. I told her to let her in and call the entryway a "milking parlor." That way, she wouldn't have to milk out in the cold.
I made the pies for the celebration, pecan, pumpkin, and apple-blueberry, and Glimmer, the cow, provided cream for real whipped cream on the pies. Yumm. Thank you Glimmer.
Glimmer is a very special cow and a gift from God. My niece, who has three young children, and loves everything about country life, wanted a milk cow to provide milk for her family and several sheep, goats, and pigs. There were lots of other things she could have spent $1,200 on other than a milk cow, but she figured the cow would pay her back in the long run, so she went to Colorado, bought a milk cow and brought it home. The cow promptly went off her feed. Simply refused to eat, so no milk was to be had. Mandy called the dairy where she had bought the cow. They said the cow was probably just lonesome, but they offered to replace the cow, since it had dried up. Mandy went back to choose another cow. This time they chose one that had been penned alone before. All went well for some months, and Mandy was getting used to having fresh milk, cream and butter, when suddenly this cow became ill. Mandy works at a vet clinic, so she rushed the cow to her vet. The cow died in the vet clinic. The vets told her it had died of a broken heart, because these cows are very social and don't like being alone. Mandy and her husband were just sick over the loss of this cow and the money they had spent. Unbeknownst to them, their vet friends took up a collection at the clinic and went back to the same place and purchased another cow for them, only this time, it was a $1,700 cow instead. This was Glimmer. They surprised Mandy when they drove in their yard with a stock trailer with Glimmer inside. There were happy tears. Glimmer was actually the cow's registered name, and Mandy decided it was appropriate, as she was her "glimmer of hope" for having a milk cow.
Glimmer calved soon after she came to live at my niece's, and in fact, had twins. She seems to be quite happy now and adjusted to living with goats and sheep instead of cows. She was even letting the goats nurse, but Mandy had to put a stop to that. Glimmer doesn't even have to be tied or hobbled to be milked, she just stands there.