Posted by Tim – CNP, OHP
BellMar Ranch & Gardens
December 28, 2025
BellMar Ranch & Gardens
December 28, 2025
I’m writing this one-handed because my right wrist is sprained.
My left ankle is sprained too - it has been for five weeks and the nerves in my left foot aren't working right...my toes are numb.
And there’s a pulled muscle around my left collar bone that makes raising my arm feel like someone’s driving a nail into my shoulder.
I don’t get to rest any of them.
The snow in the bush is now past my knees.
Putting firewood in the Heatmor boiler is getting harder every day instead of easier — because every step is a fight, every log is a negotiation with pain.
Lifting bales of hay and straw, forking manure, battling barn doors frozen in their tracks — all of it hurts more today than yesterday.
The tractor hydraulics are leaking, so it’s useless for snow.
We’re back to shovels just to clear enough to open gates and keep the water truck from getting stuck.
The only shop in town that can fix the hydraulics has been closed since Christmas Eve and won’t open until the 29th.
Tomorrow I’ll be working on the barn water line instead of driving to town.
Wind chill hit –40 °C this morning.
The cold makes everything tighter, slower, more painful.
I’ll be cutting firewood again today — trying to stock enough to last until Wednesday so I can focus on the pipe, the water trucking (2–3 hours every single day), and everything else that won’t wait.
Because tomorrow the forecast says –1 °C — the only window I’ve got to finish that water line before the next deep freeze.
Injuries don’t get a holiday.
Neither do the cows.
So we tape what we can, brace what we can, and keep moving.
One painful step at a time.
Spring is still a long way off.
Tim - CNP, OHP