The Weather Outside is Frightful

This is the scene from my back door this morning.  I woke up and realized that I have a dog that needs to get out in this and chickens that I need to be able to get to.  Then I questioned why I would have these animals in the first place.  Finally, I just put my boots on and went out in the mess. 

We have at least a foot so far, but its hard to tell since its blowing so much.  The snow in the backyard was consistently over my knees as I was shoveling out to the girls.  Toby thought it was just for him to play in.  He loves the snow and hops around in it like a puppy. 

When I finally made my way to the chickens, they were hiding out in their house.  We had put plastic on the side of their run that usually gets the wind, of course this time it came from the other side.  The result is that there is quite a bit of snow in there and they don't want to come out in it.  The ramp leading down from their house has about 4 inches of snow on it and its no better on the ground.  I ended up tramping back out with some smaller feed and water containers that we used to use when they were smaller.  That should get them through until the snow stops this afternoon.  When I opened up the coop they were all complaining about it.  Poor girls.  They seemed nice and toasty inside though.  Chickens give off quite a bit of heat. 

Now, I'm going to sit and have a cup of tea (or several) and watch the rest of the storm unfold.  It looks like we'll be close to 2 feet when all is said and done.