Winter is Here

Last weekend we worked frantically to get things wrapped up around the Sanctuary. Temperatures started dropping during the weekend but the super cold temperatures held off. We were supposed to get a serious storm Monday.

But when I woke up and went out to do chores, there was no snow, just super cold temperatures (and the inevitable wind chill). :-( We bypassed the entire storm and the only snow that's on the ground is the little bit that caught in the grass along the edges. I'm glad that we aren't dealing with a half a foot of snow at the moment.

I'm starting to think that it's too cold to snow. We are barely into the double digits right now and the wind chill is below zero. Five below zero (Fahrenheit) to be exact. For January, that would be unpleasant but not out of the norm. For November, it's AWFUL! And unusual! We are dealing with January temperatures in November. That thought makes me VERY nervous. If we are dealing with wind chills below zero NOW, what will January and February bring us? Last year we dealt with -40 wind chills. Luckily everyone could get out of the wind. This year we lost the roof of the little run-in shed so it'll be more tricky. I'm hoping to work on the roof when the wind dies down and the temps warm up (at least so there's no wind chill in the below zero range).

I took an inventory of blankets earlier this year but now I'm thinking that I need to re-inventory. I still need to repair a half a dozen blankets. I may try my hand with a sewing machine to see if I can get some of the repairs done more quickly and the blankets available.

I did blanket Rabbit Monday night. She was shivering like crazy and I was worried that she'd get chilled. I didn't want to blanket her because she doesn't have a decent winter blanket yet. I put a temporary blanket on (not hers because hers is ripped). Hopefully we'll get out of these awful wind chills below zero soon. Otherwise we are going to have a very LONG winter!

I also introduce Junior to Rabbit and Mayhem last night. The wind was out of the west and Junior couldn't get out of the wind. So he got a quick introduction to the  mares. I'll write more about that later. Now it's time to warm up!