Frozen lake, frozen ears, frozen solid

I know I keep talking about the cold...... But it's really COLD!!!!! I think today's high was 12.  Seeing the huge CJ Strike reservoir out our front door freeze over tells me without a doubt that it's a cold winter. At Homemaking tonight, I heard talk from the ladies concerning their cows ears getting frost bitten. They say their ears will soon fall off, ear tag and all and in the spring they will see the tags littering the pasture. Cows are beginning to calve right now and because the calves are wet, they need to be taken to the house and dried off really quick. The ones born at night often die of frostbite or lose extremities because they are wet too long. My friend Mandy, who lives on a ranch in Oreana, said a big bull spends most of his day on their deck next to the sliding glass door because he realizes it is warm.  Her kids feed him apples out the door.  They nicknamed him Deck. :-) The talk at Homemaking also centered around the morning chore of chopping creeks and water troughs for livestock and how the ice has been over 12 inches thick. I feel like I've stepped inside a little house on the prairie book. (isn't there a book called "The Long Winter"?) The women around here are such strong capable ladies. They remind me of pioneer women, only now they drive tractors and loaders rather than covered wagons. Pictured below are scenes from my camera the last 2 days. The last photos are the frozen reservoir. The flock of sheep was crossing the road on my way home from grocery shopping.

That flat of expanse of white is all ice!