100 Degrees to 5 Degrees in Four Months

It's hard to believe that just four short months ago we were dealing with such intense heat. Today we are in the teens with a wind chill of five degrees. Yup, you read that right, five degrees. Four months ago you'd have to add a ten to the five. 105 degrees some days.

The cold snap took me a bit by surprise. Luckily last weekend we rearranged pens so that we had water tanks in the right locations. We need to do some fencing to get the ponies in with Rabbit and Mayhem. I think right now they are enjoying their barn life instead!

Last night when we went out to do chores, the water tanks were frozen over. Luckily Mike had almost everything gathered and ready to turn the heater on. But it's still a shock to the system to see such thick ice covering the entire tank. Luckily the temps are supposed to go back up after today. I hate seeing teens for the lows. I just dread the thought of winter being around the corner. There's still so much to do and so little time to get it all done. Well, actually, there's only a little bit of fencing we need to do to wrap up everything before winter really sets in.

Saturday night Mike and I pushed in round bales to the big herd. I never liked the idea of round bales because then I couldn't regular how much everyone got and I was worried that some of the non-aggressive horses would get pushed out. So far everyone is behaving. It's not top notch hay so they aren't always standing at the hay bale with their head buried. I have seen them all surface even if it's just for a little while. So I guess rounds aren't so bad after all. I expect that in the middle of winter, I'll be back to feeding from the big squares but those are a better quality.I guess for now it's a win win situation. The horses get to eat non-stop on those bales and later when they need better quality, I'll be back in a routine. This last week I went back to work (part time). After three months off, it was a big of a shock to get back to the paying job. It'll be an even bigger shock this week when I go back full time. I don't think the horses enjoy this lifestyle change.

When we were getting ready to push bales in Saturday night, I thought I saw lightening. I was busy haltering everyone so that we could get the bales in before company came. We weren't supposed to get any weather until after midnight. Nope, weatherman was wrong, again. I was finishing up haltering the last horse and I saw lightening in the sky again and felt a couple of drops. Mike had to deal with pushing in bales during a downpour. When he came back in, I had to go back out and let the horses go. I forgot what it was like to have thunder and lightening. The lightening was so bright, it was like daylight. It's been a long time since we've had a thunderstorm. But it felt a little weird having a thunderstorm in November. At least we didn't get the freezing rain and snow that the other side of the state got. They can keep the snow for as long as possible. I'm fine with rain. Ill not complain about the much needed moisture but I do need to keep a close eye on the weather these days to knwo what to do for the horses.