Weekend Recap

It was a productive yet unproductive weekend at the Sanctuary! In June 2017, Mike realized that the farm truck/plow truck was in desperate need of a new engine. It's a 1980s model Chevy truck so it's seen better days, but it's what we can afford. Unfortunately, there was no cheaper alternative than to put a new motor in it, rather than buy a new truck.  I figured Mike new motors and cars so not a problem. Boy was I wrong. He's a Ford guy, not a Chevy guy and hadn't worked on Chevys much. With the summer and fall quickly flying by, it wasn't until the snow started to fly that the real pressure was on. Luckily I have awesome family who can help.


So this past weekend, after a few snow storms and fingers crossed that we didnt' get much snow, the plow truck headed up to Madison to get a new motor. Two days, countless hours and a whole heck of a lot of praying, we have our plow truck back! I think both Mike and I let out a collective sigh last night when he drove into my parent's driveway with the plow truck running smoothly.


It's one less stress to worry about.


Because it's a two day job, we spent most of our time in Madison. As I was headed home Saturday night, a snow storm quickly blew through and made driving impossible. I was irritated because we NEEDED to get home to feed horses. I'd let the bales run down to almost nothing and we needed to put hay in.


By the time we finally made it home (had to wait for Mike to get done working on the motor and for the kids to fall asleep (overnight with the grandparents)), it was 11pm and I was not about to put in hay and deal with hay nets and tying them down at midnight. Thank goodness for small square bales of hay there were donated. They've been a godsend these last few snowstorms. Unfortunately, I hadn't realized that it was going to snow so I never blanketed anyone. They all seemed no worse for ware so after tossing in hay, we decided to put bales in first thing in the morning and get back to Madison to work on the truck.


I should have been looking at the forecast. I should have done a pre-emptive strike and just put hay in Friday night or Saturday morning. Sunday rolled around and it was cold! On the bright side, while I was tying the nets down, Mike switched out the bale spear for the bucket and scraped up the lot again. We tried last weekend when it was warm but didn't get everything and Sunday he did it again and got a lot more. It's one perk of having concrete in the dry lot. The only downfall is the manure pile is really getting high. We are going to have to do some serious manure hauling this spring to get it out of the dry lot. I'll be so happy to see it go!


This winter we had gotten those hay bales donated but hadn't been able to pick up all 100 bales. So while the trailer was there, Mike picked up the last 16. We'll have to take the trailer back up to pick up the plow truck this next weekend (it's not exactly road worthy or licensed so on the trailer it goes). So once again, we'll be scrambling to get a few things done to make life easier but I'm all for it.


I did end up blanketing Rain and Bo yesterday  morning because it felt so chilly. I'm glad I did. It was two below this morning and I didn't realize it. No wonder I felt cold during chores! I'm not sure which I'd rather have, snow or cold. I'm too old and fat to be jumping on the ponies' water buckets but I'm too short to be hauling water through knee deep snow drifts. Oh the joys of being a Sanctuary caretaker!

Motor going into the farm truck/snow plow

With the plow truck in running order, the big tractor paid off, and the little tractor to be paid off in another week or two, life is looking good right now!