Complaining

To say the least, the last few days (and months) have been tough. We had water and fire damage in February and we sustained wind damage in March. I only half way joked that we’ve had water, fire, and wind damage. The next thing will probably be an earthquake. Earthquakes aren’t exactly common in South Dakota nor are they big (although they do occur). Mike and I both looked at each other and we both said it at the same time.


Sinkhole

We won’t have an earthquake. We’ll discover a sinkhole. Hopefully we are wrong and it won’t happen but that’s my best guess on what will happen next.

The wind destroyed the habitat for horses shelter. I’m not sure if we can do some welding on the pipes or not. The tarp is mostly fully intact although battered around the edges. Maybe we’ll be able to put it in a different area where there’s less wind. No matter, that stupid building should never be sold in South Dakota.

We also lost a leanto. I’ve been trying to keep the horses away from it but lost the battle a while ago. Apparently the former owners only put posts in the ground one to two feet deep. This one was only in the ground a foot. I’m surprised that it lasted as long as it did. It’s another building we’ll have to fence off and then tear down. The other leanto we finally finished building this summer is starting to come apart too thanks to all the wind. The noise is driving me insane so I’ll have to go out there tonight and figure out how to fix it. I’m sure it’ll entail a ladder in the bed of the truck to fix it. I’m too short to reach anything on that building.

I gave up the cocklebur battle. Last summer the cocklebur bushes grew during the heat. I didn’t catch it in time and all fall had to pull those painful cockleburs out of the horses’ manes and tails. It got to the point where I couldn’t keep up (hence no pictures). I thought this spring I could go at it again and really start making the boys look good now that their winter coats are blowing out. Nope. The cockleburs are back. It’s an effort in futility. I had Dude, Rain, King, Maverick, and Zeke looking so nice and then the next day they looked like I hadn’t touched them. They were covered in cockleburs again. We’ve disked the ground but apparently not good enough to bury the cockleburs. I’m sure we’ll be overrun with cockleburs again this summer.

I’m sick of dealing with cockleburs. I can’t wait to kick the horses out into the pasture. But there’s a hitch. The bottom of the pasture flooded out two years ago and last year I didn’t get out there (thanks to the heat) to spray. The bottom of the pasture is just as bad as the drylot and is covered in cockleburs. The only upside is that the cockleburs are still hanging on to the dead plants. Not sure if that’s a good sign or not. I have no idea what to do with those. I think we are going to have to hire someone from the elevator to spray for weeds and fertilize the pasture. The pasture is over grazed and there’s simply nothing out there. I know it’s still early but the pasture just looks sick. Worst case scenario, I’ll be out hand walking the little fertilizer spreader to hit the high spots and see what happens.

There’s always so much to do and yet every time I turn around, there’s something else that has to be fixed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that April will be a better month than the last two.