My Enemy - The Wind

The goal this year was to simplify. It’s a lot tougher goal than I had expected. I wanted to focus more on home life with family and less on non-important aspects of life. Most might think it a simple goal but it’s not. Every time I turn around it seems like something else happens. But I guess that’s the price we pay for running a sanctuary in South Dakota.

Last night I was late in getting home. I don’t think twice about running to town to pick up grain for the horses but I do for grocery shopping. I think I know the answer but I’ll leave that up to your imagination. So after finally making it home from restocking our cupboards, I ran outside quick to start the mares on their beet pulp before I snarfed down a bite to eat. The wind was so fierce last night.

I hate wind. I’m not talking hate in the sense that it annoys me. I loathe wind. I see why some of the early pioneers went mad because of the wind. Every time I turned around last night, something else blew into my face. I don’t wear glasses, I don’t wear contacts. Herein lies the problem. Dirt, hay, debris always flies into my face. The other night, I had either debris or hay fly up into my eye. I am very protective of my eyes. I hate people getting close to my face and when there’s something in my eye I can’t get out, I panic. I was sure I was headed to the ER. Twice before I was able to sneak in to actue care to have the debris taken out (with a needle) but it was late and the only thing open was the ER. Lucky for me, Mike is patient and understands my panic when messing with my eyes. No ER visit, no needles to my eye. But I digress.

I heard tarps flapping while out feeding the mares so I took a peek around the corner and saw something I’ve been expecting but dreading. The Habitat for Horses shelter in the blind pen didn’t survive the 30mph wind (who knows what the gusts were like). It was going to take more than just me to dismantle the shelter in the wind so I got Mike and we went to work, fighting the wind, flapping tarps, bent poles, and Babe supervising. Yes, Babe is a great supervisor. I believe she’s the type that wants to dig in and “help”, also known as micromanaging. The sun was just setting when we went outside to rescue the remainder of the Habitat for Horses shelter and it was pitch black by the time we had enough of the pipes torn down and the tarp in the shed. Lots of swear words fell out of my mouth I’m afraid to admit. But when you’re dealing with 30mph wind, tarps flapping in the wind, pipes bent at odd angles, and bolts so snug in their “homes” that only a BFH will get it out, it’s hard not to swear. I know what you’re thinking, “What’s a BFH?” Leave a comment and I’ll tell you.

After we got the tarps put away and most of the pipes pulled out of the way so the blind horses could get to their water trough, I went back to doing chores. I struggled with keeping my composure while throwing hay. I tried to place it somewhere where it wouldn’t blow to the next county in 10 seconds (not an easy feat). I’d given up all hope of getting any hay to stay in Mayhem’s pen. That pen is on the top of the hill and depending on which way the wind blows, nothing stays. I decided I would put Mayhem in with Babe and Thor. It seemed like the easiest solution. I don’t think Babe or Mayhem minded one bit (or Thor for that matter). Babe once again went to town supervising me leading Mayhem in to the pen. I think she was happy to have another mare in the pen with her. I’m going to leave Mayhem in with the blind horses for another day or two until the wind dies down. I wanted Mayhem in a pen by herself so she wouldn’t get herd bound. She’s slowly working through that issue but if I leave her in with the blind horses for too long, I’ll be back to square one. Only in the last month has she been in a pen by herself. She’s never technically been “alone” before until this past month and even then I wouldn’t consider that “alone” as she can see the blind horses but doesn’t have them standing right in her pen. Not sure if that’s the best method for working through the herd bound issue but that’s what we’re doing, at least for now.

I was going to call the vet yesterday about Flower but wanted to see if there was any heat left. Sure enough, there’s still heat. So I’m going to call and schedule an appointment to have the vet out to do whatever it takes. I hate to see what that bill will run.

By the time we were done with chores and everyone was catching the piles of hay blowing in the wind it was 10pm. I was exhausted. That’ll teach me to be late in getting home. About three hours later, after only having a couple hours of sleep, I woke to a terrible sound. I’m not talking the wind. I fell asleep to the sound of wind. I woke to the sound of hail. Yes, HAIL in March!!! That’s too crazy! I guess from now on, we are going to put everything away that has to be put away because we could possibly have terrible hail storms all summer. Odd that we would have hail were in years past we would have blizzards instead. If we would have had snow during this wind, I think we would be in a blizzard. I somehow think we are past any chance of snow. I wonder if I’ll be proven wrong. I’m not sure how long the hailstorm lasted. I don’t think it was very long but the regular storm raged on while I fell back to sleep.

This morning everyone seemed ok; possibly a little bedraggled and tired but still ready for their breakfast. Flower was down again. I wish I would have put a sheet on her but nothing I have fits her sheetwise. Guess that’s something else to add to the list, along with wormer, and paying Flower’s original vet bill.

I’m hoping tonight goes a little smoother and there’s less wind. Life is so much easier when there’s no wind. I don’t expect the wind to die down until after I’ve done my evening chores. We’ll see. If you hear cursing on the wind, it’s probably me.