Easter Blizzard (a little early)

This was the view from my kitchen window almost all day Monday and Tuesday this week, as a big storm system blanketed the state. Wyoming nearly always has a bad spring blizzard around Easter time, and it hit a little early this year. Or, at least I hope this is it and we don't have another. Sunday was calm and the temperature was about 70 degrees when I got home from church, but all the weather reports said we had a bad storm coming. So I hurried up to ride the horse I am getting ready to sell in the early afternoon, and then I split up enough wood to last a few days. By the time I got all that done, the sky in the southwest was becoming darker and it looked and smelled like rain coming.
Before I went to bed, I could hear the rain on the windows. I slept well, knowing I was ready this time, and grateful to God for the moisture, which I knew would make the grass start to pop. The rain turned to sleet in the night and it awakened me to hear it pinging against the window above my head. I could hear the wind beginning to whine around the house. Sleet turned to snow about 7 a.m. After chores I settled in the house to work on laundry and other domestics for the day. The washer filled once as I built a fire in the stove. I went to fill the stovetop teakettle to put some moisture into the air. As I did so, the water flowing from the tap just slowed down and stopped!
So here I am, snowed in and not much water to do those domestic chores. I did have some drinking water stored up in various forms and the hot water heater is full. It's times like these that make me glad I live alone. I can get by. A country girl can survive. House cleaning can wait.
The blizzard only got worse as the day wore on. The wind came up to a steady 40 mph or so and the snow just kept coming sideways with drifts forming off the corners of the garage, house and any other sheltered place on the southeast sides of things. I worried about the mare herd that had not come in from the upper pasture, but I was not about to try to check on them. I went out to check on the youngsters in the corral and feed my old guy and I could hardly see. It was a white-out. When I went out again just before dark, the mares had come in to find shelter and were hoping for food, also. I gave them some and shut them in to keep them safe.
The wind died down at times throughout the night, but the snow kept falling until we had drifts of up to four feet deep. Here is a picture of my flat-bed trailer with one remaining big round bale of hay on it. The snow is level with the deck of the trailer. I checked the internet as soon as I got up and it showed the storm was almost to blow by, so I waited to go out to do chores, knowing all the horses were ok. Soon the sun was trying to peek through and the wind was settling down. The first time I went out, it was very cold, however, and the wind was still whipping snow in my face. The temperature had been hovering around +20 deg. since the storm got here. By nine thirty a.m., it had risen to nearly +30.
My water pump seems to be shelled out, so I guess I will be going to the creek for water, or melting snow! There is a large snowdrift blocking the driveway. I am certainly glad I was not scheduled to work until Friday when it is supposed to be sunny and mild again. I heard on the Casper radio the storm was accompanied by nearly an inch of moisture, praise God. We needed it. Maybe I should go buy some haying equipment, then I can quit my day job. Better get the well fixed first!