Makin' Snow Angels

What a weekend. If I wasn’t asleep on the couch by 8:30pm, I was out living the high life (haha). Saturday morning we scurried around trying to beat the cold front that was blowing in. Mike worked his butt off to get tanks filled, doors unfrozen, corral panels moved, etc. I stayed in and watched the wind progressively get worse. Saturday night we attended the Inter-Lakes Rocky Mountain Elk Banquet (instead of going to the Mitchell Horse Sale). From the time we left our house to the time we got to the banquet, the temperature had dropped 15 degrees.

Sunday morning took my breath away. All the horses got extra hay and were happy for it! I don’t think I saw a sliver of extra hay. I spent some time Sunday during morning chores getting ready to put horses in. The weatherman was talking 20 to 30 below zero wind chills and I figured that we’d get those gale force winds again (luckily we didn’t). But when the temps are barely hitting single digits, any little bit of a breeze makes for Wind Chill Advisories.

The big herd was happy to get into the barn. Everyone else that didn’t go into the barn had extra hay and was snug out of the wind. I apparently need to change the stall arrangements because when I went out Monday morning to let the herd out of the barn, Rain had made his way in with Brego and Ivan. Poor Brego and Ivan had Rain tormenting him for who knows how long. I know Brego got picked on. So Monday night I decided that I would switch stalls and put Zeke where Rain goes and vice versa. It seemed to work a lot better. Zeke even seemed more relaxed. But we’ll lose Rain’s stall next weekend when we go and pick up the boarder’s horse.

We were supposed to pick up the boarder’s horse Sunday but the temps were so cold and I didn’t want to haul late at night with subzero temps. So we decided to hold off until next Sunday. Hopefully we’ll get a little bit of a warm spell so I can do some last minute prep work.

Monday night I’d thrown extra hay for the three that didn’t make it into the barn from the big herd. Apparently I was over feeding because SOMEONE decided to pee on a pile of hay. That makes my blood boil! We have just enough hay to get us through this winter and what does someone do, but pee on a nice clean pile of hay. I’ll be sure to cut their ration. There will be no additional hay just to make me feel better. Although, with the big herd out today, I doubt there will be a sliver of hay left over. I am not one for waste, especially when it’s hay, which is in such short commodity.

The rest of this week should be fairly decent. We did get a little bit of snow during the weekend.  Nothing much in the form of moisture. It was all light and fluffy and if we get any wind it’ll cause low visibility. As it is, the snow made it difficult to see where the ice is. Where I thought the ice is, isn’t. I was walking out to do chores one morning over the weekend and slid, caught myself only to slide again, and then fall flat on my fat fanny. I laughed so hard I almost started to cry (but I stopped myself because I didn’t want a frozen tear stuck to my eyelash!) I decided while I was flat on my back to make a snow angel. At least that way I’d know exactly where the ice is and what area to avoid.