What's Up Wednesday

 

You know what's NOT up this Wednesday? The temps outside! That's for sure. I don't think we've climbed out of the teens since... Who even knows. Also, did you know it's still January? How many days are in this month? 600? Feels like 600. Anyway... Let's revisit the last week, won't be a long one since we're not doing much around here. 

Okay, so I guess we were above freezing for a few days last week. Thursday I was able to take the horses out for some grass, and I think I hand walked them in the snow on Friday. 

Then it got stupid cold again. And then on top of being stupid cold it snowed. Saturday was one of those single digit days, though I think it did eventually get to 11. Which is double digits and I should appreciate that. But the day wasn't without drama.

Brrrr

So Saturday morning, I was walking Shiny down to her paddock. I have a concrete pad down there that the manure bin sits on and the pad extends to the crest of the little hill down there. What I couldn't see was that the entire concrete pad was black ice. Shiny didn't notice it either. Once we got onto the pad, we both just started sliding down the hill. Pretty much out of control. We were on different trajectories, so I just let her go. I figured if I pulled on her lead rope, we'd both go down and that would be worse than a loose pony. Which turned out to be the right choice. She's a very smart pony, so she took her time trying to get her footing and then got over to the edge of the pad where she could find some safe footing. And then she just waited for me. What a good pony. I retrieved her and we climbed down the snow covered grassy hill to get to her paddock instead. She was so smart and patient while I carefully navigated that... She's really such a good pony. Thankfully neither of us were injured in that bit of trauma. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. I spent a decent amount of time trying to source more muck buckets locally because I really wasn't confident the gator would start in the cold. Tractor Supply near me claimed to have no stock, so I got some flexible tubs instead but they only had 5. Which is like one days worth of stall muck. So I also got a few of the Walmart version. And then, but some miracle, the gator worked and I didn't need them. But you know what? Better to be prepared than not. I'm sure they'll be of use in the future at some point. You really can't have too many buckets in a barn. 

And you might be thinking why not use the truck if not the gator? Well, when I went on vacation and didn't drive it for 10 days, the batteries both drained. So that particular piece of machinery is currently a lawn ornament. I'll get it tended to soon, I just am out of extra cash for that this month. (That's a lot more expensive than buckets.)

Sunday morning was supposed to be clear until 9, but the snow started at 8 instead. Because of course it did. But that was okay, I got all the horses out (using the grassy hill with Shiny to get down to her paddock) before it was sticking. That was easy at least. By the time chores were done and the horses were in we had several inches of snow on the ground. The gator once again started up for me with a little encouragement. MVP right there. Good little gator!

Photo from early Sunday morning

It was nice to get chores done before it was too bad out. I must have groomed that day too, but honestly who can remember. Not me. All the days feel the same lately. It snowed all day and night Sunday but we did get some mixing with sleet late in the night. When I went out to do night check I planned to shovel my way out there, but it was so much snow and so heavy, I finally gave up and just trudged my way through. It was exhausting! 

I did shovel out the doors though. Nothing worse than the doors freezing shut. Thankfully when that has happened in the past, I can get in from the covered walkouts. 

I gave my worker a snow day Monday because I figured my plow guy wouldn't be here early enough for my worker to get in the driveway. Which was true. We did shortened turnouts on Monday, and I didn't take Shiny to her paddock. Instead I put her in one of the covered walkouts while the boys had their time in the ring, then put her in the ring for a bit after them. Musical turnouts if you will. 

I also waited to do stalls/turnout until after the plow had come. Just seemed better. It would be a little warmer, and easier for me to get around. They didn't do the best job with the plowing, but they came back Tuesday to finish up and I think we're in good shape now. The horses weren't thrilled with this amount of snow. Eros was certain it was too deep to walk in (it's not) and even Al was like, phew this is a lot of work. The only one who really meandered a bit was Shiny. THE SHORTEST ONE! Haha! Girls rule. 

I didn't groom them that day because it was nearly dinner time by the time everything was finished. I had done a lot of shoveling (I had to redo most of the paths the plow guys did because they were barely a person wide, not big enough for horses, and I also had to shovel out to the propane tank, Rita needed a path, etc) and the chores were so much harder with all the snow. Like getting the muck buckets into the dumpster was a whole level of hard I'm not used to. With the snow, I had to lift them higher than my head to get them up there. Silly. I hate this. Anyway, I was exhausted by the time chores were done so the horses didn't get groomed. I think they'll survive though. 

Tuesday I took off from horses. I mean, I made hay bags for Shiny, fed/watered/did all the meals and all that. But I didn't do anything else. My body was needing a wee break. It deserved it! This little farm is a lot when you're by yourself in a snowstorm like this. 

But there are bonuses to being alone for these things.  I didn't have to stock up on groceries. Oh no I didn't! Instead, I ordered enough Chinese food Saturday night to feed me through Monday. Best decision I've ever made. No regrets there!

Today we'll do some groomies though and give the horses a bunch of attention. We really can't do much of anything in the ring, there's over a foot of snow out there. I saw them moving around a bunch more in turnout this morning though, so their getting some exercise which is good. 

It will stay really cold here all week and we might get another storm Sunday. Hopefully we do not. Ugh. I need to get a hay delivery and the manure bin emptied, which will be a challenge after all this snow. So more will not help those endeavors. Next week we could see temps reach the low 30's so that will be a nice break before more arctic air returns for the week after. Boy, I really picked the wrong winter to keep the horses home! But hey, at least the barn is warm!