Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Frozen Water Is Ice That Will Thaw Sometime

Ice isn’t the same as water.

They might be scientifically, but each has individualities, and ice is giving us fits.

Water is the most essential of all nutrients for every living thing. However, when thermometers dip to 32, water becomes solid, can create havoc and be inaccessible.

First and most apparent, even to urbanites, is treachery of driving. Frozen roadways have sent many vehicles into locales they’d prefer not to have been.

Stockmen must chop ice in ponds and tanks to supply livestock water. Horses in our barn are watered in buckets, and the hard stuff must be thawed if it can’t be chipped loose. Licking ice and snow don’t qualify as water, although some contend differently.

Frozen water lines can be an added burden, depending on wind direction, intensity and consistency. All came together recently, but a heater prevented broken pipes. Simpler solution would be to leave a drip because running water doesn’t freeze, or put up a warmer before the problem. We obviously don’t remember.

Worst deal of all is that a pipe supplying water from the pump to an outside self-draining faucet froze solid. It’s not a new situation, but heat lamps, insulation, electric tapes and other methods generally prevent the dilemma.

This time, nature was too powerful for all of those man made efforts, and more than 70 head of livestock were without water. Efforts to remedy the problem failed, but fortunately stringing together three long hoses to another source supplied the need.

Usually when outside temperatures get above freezing, pipes thaw, but that’s not been the case so far. Hopefully, the faucet isn’t frozen up for the rest of the winter. We have had that a couple of times, and there wasn’t running water until spring arrived.

At least when it’s this cold, we don’t have to worry about those ice fishermen falling through into our pond.

The ground hog didn’t see his shadow, so a thaw is on the way as promised in Psalm 147:18: “Then, at His command, it all melts. He sends his winds, and the ice thaws.”

While much higher temperatures are more of a concern than freezing, we always remember Psalm 19:6: That’s how God’s word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

+++ALLELUIA+++

V–5–2-6-11

The Latest: