Excavator Time!

It's been a crazy weekend with very little time to put my feet up and relax. In fact, last week's vacation was much needed but it does put some pressure on us to get things done now. When we returned home Sunday night, an excavator was sitting in our yard!! YAY! It took a bit of scheduling but the excavator is going to go to work for us on Wednesday! I have been waiting for this day for THREE and a HALF YEARS! That's right! THREE and a HALF  YEARS! Very excited to get some of the junk cleaned up around our place. Hopefully we'll be able to park trailers where the rubble currently resides.

Once the excavator leaves, we'll need to do some serious and fast fencing so that we can use the pasture again this fall before hunting season begins. The mares and Junior ate down the road pasture so there's nothing left. Luckily we put out a bale before we left on vacation and now the mares are finally eating on the bale. I think they'd spent the entire week pushing on the fence eating the rest of the green grass on the other side (the electric was supposed to be up but the big herd destroyed the fence so that meant no electric in the mare pasture either!)

When I went out to do chores last night I noticed that Jim had a swollen face right below his eye. I'm thinking it might be some impaction in his teeth. It's not hot and it's not sensitive to the touch. I called the vet to make an appointment this week but the vet is out (they were expecting and I think they had their baby this past week). If the swelling increases or if Jim seems to be in more pain, I'll call our second veterinarian and haul Jim to that vet instead. I like both but the one in Madison is much closer and knows each of the horses. I'm hoping that it's just something stuck up in his teeth and it'll fall out but I doubt we'll be that lucky. So for the next little while, it'll be a waiting game.

Junior is still maintaining what little weight he has. I bought some different grain and am going to try that out on him. I wish I could grain him morning and night but there's no way to separate him from the rest of the herd while he eats. He eats S.O. S.L.O.W. that I can't get him fed and back into the pasture before I need to leave for the paying job. Maybe while I'm on maternity leave I can pack on some pounds since I'll be around. It's hard to say. He definitely loves his grain!

Yesterday we spent the day transporting horses. It wasn't exactly a rescue situation but I'm happy the horses that we hauled are now in a new home. I started to fall in love with one of the horses but it's best that we don't bring on any more horses until after the baby is born. I'm hitting the final leg and I'm starting to really slow down and feel the discomfort. Three and a half more weeks and then we'll see how things progress. Maybe this fall after I've recovered, I'll be able to take on one horse. But for now, we'll focus on the horses we have and what little I can do while hobbling around. I hate being in so much pain that I can't get out to do my normal chores. Constant pain for the past month has really worn me down. Maybe on maternity leave I'll feel better and able to tackle some of the smaller jobs like washing winter blankets and getting them mended and ready for the upcoming winter.

I have a feeling this winter may be a doozy.

But for now, I think I'll put my feet up and rest.