Tackling the ToDo List

Today has been a fairly productive day. It's been so nice out but we've had to run errands the past week so we haven't had a chance to do anything. Today was finally the day to tackle the projects on our To Do list.

Just before Christmas, we ran up to Wentworth to pick up some hay/alfalfa round bales. It's a bit tricky for us to buy round bales since we don't have the right tractor to easily move round bales. Right after we got the round bales home, the Christmas Blizzard of 2009 hit and we had to just pull the trailer into the shed and let it sit. We finally had enough time to widen the path from the shed down to the mare pen. Mike had to move a lot fo snow before getting a place to leave the round bales too.

After the blizzard and "deep freeze", Mike and I went for a drive in the late afternoon to investigate the roads and snow drifts.

Just preping where the bales were going to go was a huge task. Then came the task of pulling the bales off. It's not an easy task since the tractor cannot lift the round bales. All we can do is slide them off and push them around to where we want to go. I swear Mike must have arms of steal. The tractor has no power steering and no live power. I don't know how he does it.

We finally got the bales off the trailer and then it was on to the next task on our list. Jimmy has been done with quaranteen for a couple of weeks now. Unfortunatley with the terrible blizzard and then the freezing temps, it was impossible to move Jimmy to the back pen. So he had to stay in his quaranteen area for an additional 1-2 weeks.

I was able to dig out the corral panels so I could actually lead Jimmy out of there. We also had to do some fencing. The storm prior to the big blizzard had lots of wind which did damage do the wind block. Unfortunately the smaller pen Jimmy was going in to had some fencing issues.

Brego during the Christmas Blizzard. I think this was the first day of sunshine in a while.

The fences around here aren't the greatest. All of the long standing fences took the hit of a herd of cattle. And let me tell you, cows are hard on fences. So we've had to make due with what's here and improvise. Luckily the fence wasn't too hard to repair and I was able to get Jimmy out of his pen.

I figured there would be a huge uproar with lots of running, squealing, bucking, rearing, farting, biting, etc. Nope. I was wrong. Jimmy did a bit of running and bucking but otherwise everyone was pretty calm. Maverick was the only one interested right away. Zeke came over after awhile since he's best buds with Maverick. Dude did go and investigate after eating all the hay. I'd thrown hay out to the herd just to side track them for as long as it took me to get Jimmy into the pen.

Dude with Rain in the background. Pics taken during the Christmas Blizzard.

I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't as much commotion as I'd figured there would be. I'm actually relieved. About this time, I realized it was time to start the never ending task of chores. I was excited to break open the round bales for the mares. I really thought it would make life easier by having the round bales right next to the fence so I couldn't have to crawl through a fence to feed them.

I was, unfortunately, very disappointed after breaking in to them. I was told that I was buying alfalfa/hay bales. After getting into the bale, it's straight alfalfa. I needed the additional hay bales because I brought Jimmy in and I didn't have enough hay. Now I'm in a dilema. I have three alfalfa bales and no hay.

I dont' have enough hay at this point. I've been doing some math, trying to figure out if I have enough. I did buy some small squares when I bought the rounds and that has helped to offset the number of bales I've already burned through. But least to say, I was very angry.

Unfortunately, having those three round bales really puts a damper on my spirits. I'm being over run by rabbits and now I have three bales sitting in the open just waiting for those damn rabbits to dig in. It's practically a smorgishboard.

So I'm now left with a bitter taste in my mouth although we did tackle almost everything on my list that needed to be done today. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'd really like to go for a ride, even if it's just in the small pen. We'll see. I'm betting we'll have more errands to run instead.

Sam resting after being cooped up in the barn all night. This was during the Christmas Blizzard. I did take Sam's blanket off today since the weather has been so nice. I am being brave and leaving it off tonight. The weatherman is calling for rain/snow later this week so the blanket will go back on. I thought Sam might enjoy some time without the blanket for a little while.