I truly have not been hibernating. I have been freezing my butt off (ok, not really - I just looked behind me and it's still there. Sigh. Kinda wish it would really work.) We had ANOTHER snow storm. What's another 20 inches when you already have snow up to your knees.
Broke out the snow shoes again.
Forget your tread mill and exercising in your fancy leotards at the gym. Want a real work out? Put on 3 layers of clothes. Then your jacket, snow pants, hat, mittens and snow shoes. Then haul 3 bales of hay out into the field of almost butt deep snow. And throw the individual flakes around so the horses don't attack each other when they eat.
That's enough exercise to take care of even the most hardened gym buff. But don't stop there! Go back in the barn and pick up the 15 gallon ice pops in the buckets. Take them outside and use the side of the hammer (thank you) and smack the ice out of the buckets. Bonus if you don't smash your fingers while you do it. It really doesn't hurt until you get inside, though, and thaw out.
If you still need more, go back in the barn and bring your poop sled with you. No, not the ones the kids will ride down the hill, but the one you bought to replace the wheelbarrow that doesn't work so well in the snow. Go into the stall with your warm mittens on and try to pick up frozen poops off the floor. No, no, silly. NOT with your mittens. With the poop fork. Ok, that doesn't work, so you put on the gloves with the little grippers on the palms so you can hold the fork handle, but now your hands are getting cold. Here's your dilemma.. hands warm, can't hold fork... hands cold, get stalls cleaned faster. Nope. No happy medium on this one. The poop balls sound like billiard balls crashing around in the sled.
After getting on and off your snowshoes four or five times - that's how many trips you have to make in and out of the barn dragging the sled to the manure pile outside - you can stop counting the calories you have burned.
By this time, my glasses are usually so fogged up so I take them off. Can't do that no more. I can't ever remember where I put them and I can't see them without finding my glasses to find them.
Wrestle around big, bulky bags of shavings. Dump them in to the stalls and spread them around a little bit.
By then my nose is as red as Rudolphs, running to beat the band, and I'm so cold that I don't think I'll even thaw by the wood stove.
But we haven't even got finished with the chores yet. That's just the morning routine. I'm headed to the barn to do night chores now. We'll talk about that tomorrow!
:)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
I'm still around....
Things have been crazy lately. Crazier than usual, if that is possible. We are still in the process at work of finding me a new boss. I have been bird/cat/fish sitting for a good friend of mine. Elias is still getting meds twice a day. The wood stove still needs feeding on a regular basis. I'm coming down with some sort of cold. I worked 23 hours this week. Boo, hoo. Blah, blah, blah. Sigh.
Winter, winter everywhere. The weather is cold, which, as many of you know, only increases the amount of work you have to do in the barn each day. Frozen buckets of ice to be smashed out every night. Wading through snow to put out hay. Fingers stiff and cold under three layers of gloves/mittens on make the barn chores that much more challenging.
So, not much new news. Sigh. Winter is still here. The snow is still coming. Frozen buckets and fingers.
One thing I do love about this time of year is going in the barn after the horses have been in there for a while. It's cozy enough to take your gloves off for a little while. I sometimes go back out at night to sit and listen to the horses munch and settle in for the night. The noises they make. They sound so content and at peace. It truly is one of the main reasons why I have horses. What makes it all worthwhile. I can't imagine why anyone would take these loving, gentle creatures and treat them badly with no regard for their basic necessities. All the work, all the cold, all the struggle. For my boys. Totally worth it. Priceless.
So, remembering the last time when I said things were getting quiet and smooth, I'm not complaining. Or wondering what is going to happen next. I'm still dealing with the after effects of last time. Elias has now shed most of the hair from his leg. Being a gray horse, he's almost black on his skin. But it's doing much better. Still on antibiotics. But doing better. Almost (fingers crossed) have the vet bill paid off. Buddy's feet are doing much better. His frogs are starting to grow back wonderfully. Since he doesn't have shoes on and there is snow in the fields, he's slowly growing back what he lost.
Roger did wonderful at the versatility competion. Don't quite understand how they score them, as he didn't place than 13th in all the classes, but finished 14th overall. Out of a field of 33. Not bad for the first try. He was proud of what his horse did. Congratulations!
So, I'm off to bring Emma to her indoor soccer practice. Yep. Soccer all year round. Some day you might just see her in the Olympics! A mother can dream, can't she? Then off to feed the menagerie at my friends house and home to finish the chores I didn't get done this morning. It's cold out. Only 18 degrees at 4:30 pm
Can't wait for spring. Can't wait for a new boss so I can take my trip down south. Can't wait for warmer weather so the snow banks start to disappear.
:) Think warm.
Winter, winter everywhere. The weather is cold, which, as many of you know, only increases the amount of work you have to do in the barn each day. Frozen buckets of ice to be smashed out every night. Wading through snow to put out hay. Fingers stiff and cold under three layers of gloves/mittens on make the barn chores that much more challenging.
So, not much new news. Sigh. Winter is still here. The snow is still coming. Frozen buckets and fingers.
One thing I do love about this time of year is going in the barn after the horses have been in there for a while. It's cozy enough to take your gloves off for a little while. I sometimes go back out at night to sit and listen to the horses munch and settle in for the night. The noises they make. They sound so content and at peace. It truly is one of the main reasons why I have horses. What makes it all worthwhile. I can't imagine why anyone would take these loving, gentle creatures and treat them badly with no regard for their basic necessities. All the work, all the cold, all the struggle. For my boys. Totally worth it. Priceless.
So, remembering the last time when I said things were getting quiet and smooth, I'm not complaining. Or wondering what is going to happen next. I'm still dealing with the after effects of last time. Elias has now shed most of the hair from his leg. Being a gray horse, he's almost black on his skin. But it's doing much better. Still on antibiotics. But doing better. Almost (fingers crossed) have the vet bill paid off. Buddy's feet are doing much better. His frogs are starting to grow back wonderfully. Since he doesn't have shoes on and there is snow in the fields, he's slowly growing back what he lost.
Roger did wonderful at the versatility competion. Don't quite understand how they score them, as he didn't place than 13th in all the classes, but finished 14th overall. Out of a field of 33. Not bad for the first try. He was proud of what his horse did. Congratulations!
So, I'm off to bring Emma to her indoor soccer practice. Yep. Soccer all year round. Some day you might just see her in the Olympics! A mother can dream, can't she? Then off to feed the menagerie at my friends house and home to finish the chores I didn't get done this morning. It's cold out. Only 18 degrees at 4:30 pm
Can't wait for spring. Can't wait for a new boss so I can take my trip down south. Can't wait for warmer weather so the snow banks start to disappear.
:) Think warm.
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