Days Getting Shorter

The days are definitely getting shorter. Oh how I crave for longer days and more sunshine. I so enjoyed the vacation and didn't notice how much daylight we were losing until I had to start doing chores in the dark, both morning and night.

I'm going to have to come up with a different routine to do chores at night. I really hate doing chores in the dark. Luckily the varmits haven't started coming out just yet but it won't be much longer. I need to put up some temporary fence so that I can run the ponies out on the lawn again. It didn't take them but a week to chow down on what little grass is in their permanent pasture (which really consists of mostly trees and a few patches of sparse grass).

I was thinking that maybe I'd haul two horses up to mom and dad's this weekend. I'd talked about hauling horses this spring but never got around to it. The big pasture, although looks like there's still grass, I don't believe has much left. I desperately need to get out and spray the weeds before they take over again. always something in that darn pasture.

The temps have been beautiful lately and we did get a good rain shower the other night. Hopefully that bit of rain will help hold the pastures a little bit longer. I've sort of been ignoring the pasture not wanting to see what I'm afraid I'll see, which is no more pasture. I think there's still plenty for the big herd to eat. When we came back, they were all looking fatter than when we left (a good thing in my book).

I did lock them out of the pasture last night. This morning everyone was hellbent for the pasture. Rain was stirring up trouble before I even got the gate open. Once I was able to push the gate open far enough, Dude bolted out with Rain and Chaos hot on his heels. The rest of the herd followed suit. The back half of the herd (Jim, Ivan, Brego, Zeke, and Bo) all raced out a little bit slower but once they hit the pasture Ivan and Brego started a bucking parade. Ivan is really lazy but in the last few months I've seen him really toss out a few good bucks (well not bucks to buck someone off but really bucks to stretch the legs, if that makes any sense).

I'm starting to see an increase in horses for sale. August is always the month that people start selling their horses. But I won't go into that topic of discussion right now. I'm hoping to find some time in the next few days to do some serious cleaning in the barns. I've gotten so far behind it's absolutely ridiculous how messy the place has gotten. I'd start a To Do list but I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to stop, there's just that much that needs to be done before winter sets in. I have a terrible feeling that not a lot will get accomplished before the first snowfall.

If you're bored or need to work off a little bit of energy, stop on out. We have plenty for you to do. We have a mirad of tasks to accomplish, anything from fairly light duty work (cleaning blankets/brushes/etc. and painting) all the way down to serious brain and brawn power (fixing the big barn door before it falls off the hinges).

Maybe we'll get just enough sunlight to start on my To Do list. Maybe I'll go start on that list right now.