Thanksgiving and Needing Help

I hadn't intended on taking a blogger break over Thanksgiving but that's what it ended up being. I didn't even get a chance to do anything Sanctuary related other than minimal chores. We did enjoy a lot of quality family time over Thanksgiving and had to do some extended family activities on Friday. Saturday was gorgeous. We had to run in to town quick to pick up some grain but we were home before the day got away from us. I'd called our farrier earlier to see if he could make it out during the first warm spell we'd gotten since having Junior arrive. Saturday was the nicest day so our farrier came out and pulled Junior's shoes and did a quick evaluation of his feet. I'll post more about Junior on our Senior Equine Care blog (http://seniorequinecare.blogspot.com/).  We did a few other outside activities and enjoyed the nice weather. Then Sunday hit with vengeance and we stayed hidden inside away from the cold. We did make a quick trip back to town to take our son to acute care (he has pink eye). Ah the joys of winter. Monday I stayed home with our son and did some decorating. So absolutely NO Sanctuary work done, no paperwork, no researching, no emails, no nothing. Just feeding horses, hauling water, and doing a quick once over of everyone. I'll spend the rest of this week getting back into the swing of the old routine.

Luckily the weather is supposed to be fairly decent the rest of this week, making life easier. I'm finishing up the last of the 2013 hay so we can move some of the 2014 hay into the hay shed before the doors get frozen on the red shed. We ran out of room so we put the remaining hay in the red shed until there was room. I want to get it moved as soon as possible. Now that the days are SO short, I will start using the hay in the hay barn because there's a light!  When the tornado took out our yard light, we had another one put in. The electric company put it up in a different spot, close to the spot it was originally at. I had no idea and it didn't matter. But now it matters. The yard light is down too low so the light doesn't shine over the hay barn and help shine light on me when I'm throwing hay from the hay shed. If I'd only known! I've been doing chores in the dark (well relatively speaking because the yard light IS working) for a month and I'm already sick of it.

With Junior now in the herd (well, in with the mares), I am dishing out more hay. We raised funds for four of the five bales that we needed (the owner is donating two bales when we get around to needing them). We are still in need of funds for that last bale. But we are also in need of round bales! I haven't been able to find anyone selling hay so  I'm now on the lookout for hay as well.

We did get asked to take a mare. I'd seen her earlier in the year and knew that I would like to offer her a permanent retirement home but now that we have Junior, and not enough hay, we can't take her in unless people want to donate more funds. We'd have to gather funds for six bales. If we can't raise all the funds for Junior, how could I possible raise enough funds for yet another horse. I'm going to see if the owners would be willing to keep her for the winter and then I can open our doors to her in the spring. But we'll see. I'm a little frustrated because this  mare, although she doesn't fit all of our requirements, deserves a retirement. Her body gave out before her age so now she's lame in the front and only in her early teens. She deserves a place to call home where she's not worked and can enjoy being a pasture pet. But I need everyones help!