Robins in January

I had heard rumblings about snow early this week. I didn't think much of it because, well, it's South Dakota in the wintertime. Of course there's going to be snow! But I just saw a  map of the projected "storm". Umm, yeah. Its' a storm. Predicted blizzard watch and warning to the counties south and east of us. Normally I wouldn't care but they keep saying that although the storm shifted south, it's now tracking north. So the blizzard watch that was just added to the county directly south of us (which is about 20 miles away), and the blizzard warning to the county kitty corner from where we are at (about 30 miles away), have me spooked.


Storms don't stop at the county line. Granted on some odd occasions, storms do stop at the county line but when it's a blizzard, I highly doubt it. As it is, any time we get wind, the east/west road blows shut so we might not be able to even get out (and that's without a blizzard)!


So the next couple of days are going to be a bit interesting. Luckily we put in round bales to the big herd on Wednesday and they still have a lot of the bales left. The mares and Junior still have most of their bale although they've managed to pull the hay net off of it....again.


Rabbit is still in considerable amount of pain so I need to call the vet. I ran out of the vitamin E supplement and can't find the one that was suggested to me at TSC. She really needs a full body massage. I don't know what I'm doing but I try to work some of her muscles and you can visibly see her relax.  Anyone want to donate their time to do some massage work on Rabbit? Even a good soft grooming would probably help make her feel better. I've always pegged her as a grumpy horse. No, she's only grumpy because she hurts all the time. So back to trying to figure out how to make her feel comfortable.


Speaking of rabbits...they've taken over the place and are wreaking havoc on the place. They got into the hay barn where the alfalfa  is, discovered the hay shed where the hay is, and have eaten all of my shrubs so even though it doesn't look like we do much gardening, I try. But the rabbits have eaten everything and destroyed every bush I've worked so hard to grow. I'm ready for spring so the bunnies can go elsewhere to find their food.


But I digress. I do need to pay attention to the weather. I put a blanket on Rain awhile back but took it off. The temps have been so nice but if we are supposed to get biting wind, I'll have to put a blanket back on Rain. He absolutely cannot handle even the slightest cold breeze. And for those that dont' know, Rain is my personal horse but he has major health issues so at some point, when he reaches that "golden age", we'll enter him in to the Sanctuary as a resident instead of one of my personal horses. He's not one that I would ever let go for fear of someone not understanding his health issues. He can't handle any heat (anything over 80 and he has to stand in the shade...heat stroke/exhaustion and in the winter when there's talk of a wind chill, a blanket has to go on and we have to look at stalling him.)


So I'll be keeping one eye on the weather radar, and another to the skies to see what we do for tomorrow as the storm blows in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the storm will miss us completely but if not, I'd rather it hit sooner than later so I'm not at the paying job trying to get home to do chores and get stuck once again in a snowdrift.


Even though the days are getting longer, I'm ready for spring to be here.


And speaking of spring. I heard (and saw) a robin Saturday!!! I'm not sure what that means (other than a dead robin), but maybe spring will arrive a little early this year (which will be nice as long as we continue to get the needed moisture so our pastures don't dry up). But, oddly enough, the sound of a robin made my steps a little lighter while doing chores on Saturday.