The calm before the storm....literally

We set an alarm last night to check the barn cameras.  Usually I get up and check and Bruce deals with a calf if its here.  He got to bed at 11.  Alarm went off at 2 but I never heard it so he got up and checked and thought he saw a calf so he went out to the barn.  False alarm.  The alarm went off again at 4 and again I didn't hear it.  This time there was a calf so he got dressed and went out to the barn and got it where it needed to be.  Back in bed but the alarm goes off at 6 so it was a very short night.  We had made the decision to sell some cows this week but with the weather forecast "this week" turned into "today" or not til next week.  As a general rule anymore cows leave because we can't get them pregnant.  That was the case with 2 of them and eventually they just don't give enough milk to pay for their feed so its time for them to leave.  The third one that left was the one with the bad attitude that, as a heifer, caused damage to Bruce's shoulder that he still deals with.  The attitude we could deal with but she had stepped on a teat and Bruce decided that was enough....and I am thrilled to have her out of here.  She was a good cow but the milk wasn't worth the increased chance of getting hurt.  With a forecast of potentially 15-20 inches of snow and basically a blizzard on Wednesday Bruce and Ed spent the day filling the feed box and bunk as full as they could.  They also got corn fodder stacks home and bedded the heifer building and the steers here and also the cattle at Ed's. He also dug out the fronts of the hutches and replaced their regular fences with storm fences.  After feeding and supper we bedded the hutch calves and while Bruce was getting bedding down for the cows I realized we didn't have any water.  When it snows and blows sometimes the pressure switch on our well pump gets ice in the contact points and it freezes up.  I started milking and Bruce cleaned out the switch so it worked again.  Eventually we will get to bed.  Already 6 inches of snow in the first storm.  More to come tomorrow night.