Some winter storms are peaceful, some are surprising, some are frightening. Like the one raging here now. It has sealed off life – all the doors, gates and latches are frozen, trapped the donkeys up in the Pole Barn where they can’t get out. The wind is shrieking and the ice has hardened the snow to the point where it can’t be shoveled.

This storm has an awful mix of snow, sleet, bitter cold,  ice and powerful winds. The drifts in front of the Pole Barn at at least five feet high, ten in places, and several times we both have fallen so deeply into them that it difficult to get out.

I think in such furious storms of the people who came before me for so many years, and I  wonder how they survived. I guess many didn’t. We are lucky. These collisions with nature are one of the dramas of the farm, defining moments. I know we will get through them, but you do pause, and you wonder sometimes. Such a storm is just scary, it is so powerful it just seems to overwhelm the world. Even donkeys are helpless, and it was a surprise, so we never had a chance to get the donkeys into the big barn. At such moments, I always bring Rose with me. She goes anywhere, watches me, makes me feel safe and helps me live my life. I took some video of us climbing the hill several times, including my falling and the skittish donkeys in their barn.

Maria and I went up this morning to try and get the donkeys down. Too much wind, snow and ice. We brought some hay and water. I went back and got Rose, hoping she could get them to start moving down the hill, as she has done before (she got kicked for it, too) and Rose was, as always, amazing. She is responsive, and agile and businesslike. She also never takes her eyes off me, or strays far from me. When I got up the hill (you can also see me falling down in the video below) she charged into the barn ahead of me and got the donkeys moving. But I saw there was just too much snow and ice for the donkeys to get through – they could fall easily – so we came back down. We’ll try again later. I edited the film a bit, to try and convey a sense of the farm in a storm, beyond still photographs. Another way to tell my story. This would have been a wonderful video to take on my book for “Rose In A Storm,” which seems almost prescient this winter.

I thought it another opportunity for people to come inside of a storm with Rose as she tries to help me out yet another time. A good new us of my newest tool – video. A few years ago, I would not have imagined bringing others  into an awful storm with Rose.  She has gotten me through many times. So come along.