Breaking Ice

Waking up to freezing cold temperatures is no fun. Being out in the cold breaking the ice off of a stock tank at 7 AM makes me wish I was in Arizona. But since I can't seasonally move my farm to Arizona, other more pragmatic solutions were in order. So today I spent my lunch hour removing the icy water, bucket by bucket out of the stock tank. I was excited when I got to the bottom to discover that my little gray goldfish was still alive and swimming. ( I am partial to the gray colored goldfish because they don't seem to be eaten by what ever animal it is that caused at least 6 gold colored fish disappear this past summer.) After giving the tank a good cleaning, I acknowledged the true arrival of winter by removing the bottom plug and inserting the heater that will remain in the tank until spring. I am biased towards this style of stock tank heater for because:1) animals can't pull it out of the tank to play with/ destroy it, 2) heat rises so it makes sense for it to be in the bottom and 3) it keeps all the water warm and ice free. Refilling the tank proved challenging as I discovered the hose was full of ice ( a good reason to drain hoses and store them inside) . In excitement over the action of shaking the hose to get the ice out, both Comet the horse and Lucky the mini-donkey galloped back and forth in their the paddock. After much ado, Comet and Lucky had a tank of clean water with a happy fish and a heater. As I went out to feed my hooved friends tonight, I was happy to see a light steam rise from the water. Although the challenges of winter are just beginning I am through breaking ice.