Fall is In the Air

I saw the most gorgeous sunrise this morning before the clouds took over and the sprinkles started. Some days it doesn't seem worth it to get up in the dark to do chores but seeing the sun rise on my way to work makes it all worth it.

The day s are definately getting shorter and the evidence is very clear that fall is in the air. I've started watching the leaves change and now the beans are starting to turn also. We've had cooler temperatures and rain all during July and August, which helped save my pastures. Unfortunately the pastures are starting to dry up anyway.

I did walk the mare pasture last night. I put rubber caps on fence posts. I still need to do a bit of fencing in that mare pasture. But I feel better knowing that I have caps on the posts. I need to do that to all of the fences, especially those that Babe are in. I wish that I could afford better fencing and not force her to be in wire fencing. I'd rather see her in board fencing. I did notice that after having the mares out of that pasture for almost three weeks, the grass is growing back, which is a good thing. The pasture was about done for before the vacation. I need to get the mares back home and was worried that I wouldn't have a place to graze them. I bet after a week of grazing though the pasture will be done.

I had to lock the ponies in their pen. They finally discovered a way to escape if they really wanted to.I guess it's a good thing because I needed to move the corral panels so I can bring the girls back home. So last night after I got the temporary pony pasture set up (just two strands of electric) I started hauling corral panels out. I wanted to get them out anyway since they were behind the garage. The weatherman was predicting rain today so I didn't want to have to lug those panels through mud and run the risk of potentially hurting myself again. The last time I set those panels up required a trip to the clinic to get some tree bark removed from my eye. ouch!

The ponies did a fantastic job of eating down the grass in their pony pasture. I can actually walk around in the trees and not trip and stumble. I'm hoping that we can get in this fall and do some cutting and get the dead trees cleared out of there. It was always such a tangle of grass, treese, and branches we never tackled it. But it's actually a pretty clean shelter belt.

My hope at one time was to combine the mare pasture with the tree pasture and make it all one. But now that I have as many as I do, I'm thinking I may want to keep them separate so that I have options.

And for the last two days Maverick has been whinnying to me. I thought maybe it was because he was excited to see me. No. I realized last night it's because he's polished off that entire round bale and is hungry. The bugger ate an entire round bale in 2 1/2 weeks! There's still some hay and I figured he could eat that but I think that portion is the outter shell that was rained on and is no good. So for now I will toss him some small squares and he won't get to gorge himself on hay. He's fat now so I guess I'm happy he's fat enough going into winter.

Speaking of winter, I heard on the radio that the Farmer's Almanac is out and that for this area, they are predicting frigid weather with more snow. So really it means it's going to be stinking cold (I'm betting below zero for weeks on end) and blizzards or at least lots of snow.

And it also makes me think about my hay supply. My hay for this year is not yet baled. I'm still waiting. I may actually try to buy some extra small bales or round bales. I've had an emergency stash in the past but now I don't have anything. So I'm starting to really worry. I think maybe I better stock up if it's going to be "frigid" this year! I'll have 12 horses for sure this winter (will have to euth Bob before winter). But I'm not sure how much I'll need for Brego and Maverick since they eat so much and I'll have never had Zeke through a winter.

There's also nothing saying I won't pick up another horse at the upcoming Worthing Horse Sale which is set for Oct 10th. Every time I go I find a horse that I want and the ones I want typically go VERY cheap. I've also seen a lot of culling going on in CraigsList so I'm betting with the economy, hay prices, and bad weather there will be tons of horses going for very cheap. Which makes me think I better get myself in gear.

I am now starting to get a tally of all the things that need to be done in the near future (before fall). I need to actually get it written down so that I can start tackling the big projects before it gets too late. I need to build an additional stall in the barn and at least one additional stall in the hay shed (prefer to build two additional stalls). I'm also thinking I need to modify the runin/leanto to make that into a stall too in case the weather gets really bad. I just had an idea on making stalls for the ponies but that might not fly.

There's so much to do and with the days getting shorter it's tougher to get everything done in time. I find myself exhausted by the end of the work day and that's not including the four additional hours of home time where I really need to squeeze in about eight hours of work. Does that make sense?

I'm hoping tonight to get the corral panels set up, if it's not raining. I want to bring the mares home this weekend. If I can bring the mares home this weekend, I'll have 13 horses on the place. Yikes! It's going to be a crazy weekend!