Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday's picture is of the herd from last summer sometime. I don't remember when (last year was a bit of a blur...pregnancy does that to a person).


I'm ready for lush green pastures and horses enjoying grass instead of standing in front of a hay feeder.

Wishlist Wednesday

I wanted to post this yesterday but blogger was once again not in agreement with what I had in mind. So our Wishlist Wednesday is on a Thursday! :-)

We wish for fertilizer for our pasture. We are getting some great moisture but some fertilizer to make the pasture go farther would be much appreciated. We fertilized the pasture a few years ago so it's about due for another round. It's amazing how a round of fertilizer on the pasture makes such a difference.

Spring Time Craziness

This weather is crazy. A week ago I stayed home from the paying job because they talked about a bad storm (rain turning into freezing rain turning into snow...and lots of it). I ended up sending my parents home (it was Grandma and Grandpa Day!) and what normally takes a half an hour for them to get home, took an hour (it was that bad). I'd prepared the horses so almost everyone was wearing blankets.


I ended up leaving the blankets on after that storm because every time I thought about taking them off, I'd get out to do chores late and it would be chilly. I'd rather not pull blankets going into the evening. I want them to have time to fluff up their coat and get warm before I start messing with them.


Well, it's a good thing I left those blankets on. I knew we were supposed to get something on Saturday but I had no idea how much or even if it was rain or snow. I've been avoiding listening to the weather and I think that's a bad idea. But Saturday morning we ended up going to my parents for some family quality time. Early afternoon it started to snow so we figured we'd better head out. We weren't half way home (only 15 minutes into the drive) and it was snowing like crazy... enough that the roads were completely covered with a few inches of snow!


We finally made it home and I started in on my chores. I scooped the sidewalk and when I turned around to enjoy my handywork, the sidewalk was already covered in snow. It was snowing that fast! I'd say about an inch an hour.


When I pulled the hard keepers in for their grain, they had a hefty amount of snow on their backs. I was worried that the snow would melt and make their blankets soggy but everyone stayed dry. I did end up pulling the mares and Junior in to stalls for the night. I was worried that Rabbit would be sore. She's still off and wearing a blanket probably doesn't help with the sore muscles. Also standing around in boggy mud is not good for her. So I let them stay stalled and pulled Rabbit's blanket. Her blanket was a soppy mess, dripping water but she was happy as she can be (which isn't all that happy). But she was dry and content to stay in her stall.


In the end, we got eight inches of snow on Saturday! Luckily the ground has thawed so most of the moisture is soaking into the earth. I wont' complain about the snow, it's moisture and hopefully will give our pasture a jump start for this year.


And wouldn't you know, we are getting rain again! I decided that I would blanket Rabbit and Junior. It's too warm for blankets but their pen gets the brunt of any wind, unless it straight out of the west. And they were talking wind out of the north, north east. Any wind of the east is damp and cold. They were also talking rain and I didn't want them to get chilled. Their pen is the only one without a shelter so I do what I think is best to keep them happy. Their pen is turning into a boggy, boot sucking muck hole. But I figured if Rabbit wanted to lie down, she'd at least have a layer between her and the wet mud. She's still pretty sore on that front foot and all over. Hopefully I can pull her and let her stand on some solid ground to make things better. It's so hard to know what to do with her at this point. Keep giving her supplements and go from there I guess.


But we are supposed to get rain for the next day or two so we'll see. I didn't blanket anyone else, although I probably should have thrown something on Rain.


I wish each horse had a second blanket. One heavy one, one light weight one, and possibly a rain sheet for days like today. But at this point, I guess I'll be happy to make sure that everyone has a blanket. The stronger horses don't necessarily need blankets but the hard keepers/delicate flowers definitely do. And I wish they had multiple blankets for this weird weather.


Spring is definitely here.


Oh, and the 8 inches of snow we got on Saturday was almost all gone by Monday and was completely gone by Tuesday. How crazy is that?!

No Time

Hope everyone had a very nice and happy Easter. We stayed busy with good family quality time. We've been dealing with snow and it sounds like more snow/rain on the way. We've also been dealing with a lot of sickness (just with the two legged family, not the four legged).


But I'm in a rush and trying to wrap up a few things before heading back to the doctors for yet another appointment to get everyone back to healthy. I'll post more but wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. There's not too much to report but well, I'm feeling chatty! :-)

Happy Easter

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter

Zeke looking for Easter eggs!

Letdown

I was wrong. I did get to watch the snow  melt. I figured with the amount of snow we got yesterday, that there was no chance I'd be watching snow melt on the one day I get to work from home at the paying job. Most of the snow is already gone. That's March in South Dakota for you.


I did get a weird feeling just now. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling or even if it makes any sense. It was sort of a dejuve feeling. It was somewhat the same feeling I had while on maternity leave, watching the world move forward while I stay grounded to the same spot. We are moving forward, painfully slow but still moving forward. It's a hard feeling to explain but one I needed to voice for some reason.


I think maybe it's the letdown after the crazy month we've had. Last month was our Light the Night, then it was dealing with RSV with our daughter, then it was Mike leaving for training for a week (and leaving me with chores and two small kids) and then I got the hair brained idea that I would start remodeling on our house. It's been a few years since we have done anything and I was to the point of exasperation with it. More on that later. Then when Mike got back, I needed to start getting stuff ready for the Expo. I should have done more (or at the very least found a more vocal person to introduce the Sanctuary and do more talking. I am NOT that person). And it was also time spent prepping for the Expo for our drill team. This week has been prepping for the snow storm and getting caught up on everything that's been neglected over the past few weeks (including laundry and other non-horse related stuff).


Of course, through all of that, I was supposed to have jury duty! I got out of that for a month but now I'll be having jury duty for the  month of April. At least April will be a quiet month for us. But I seem to be struggling for some reason. I'm not sure. Maybe it was the sneak peak previous I watched of Heartland. Maybe my life would be more interesting if it was set to music. :-)


And if there wasn't enough upheaval, the house is in disarray. So much for my new years resolution of being more organized. Two Thursdays ago, I ripped up the old carpet. It's been the crappy carpet that was in the house when we bought it (10 years ago). It was  more than time to get rid of it. Beneath that carpet was linoleum. Curses to linoleum. I was pretty stymied but wouldn't you know, my parents came to the rescue. Mike and I needed some quality family time with the kids that following weekend and when we returned from a day of adventures, we discovered that mom and dad had ripped up the floor! Yay to less work for me! I'm hoping that soon we'll have a brand new floor and can get some order back into our house. But as most remodels go with our house, it'll be at least another month or more before anything can be done. As with any farm house, there's quirks. And there are a LOT of quirks in this house. Mike is talking about ripping up more of the floor. Go figure. Nothing is easy around here. I am afraid the rest of the Sanctuary is like that as well.


My goal this summer is to get most of the outbuildings painted. I painted most of the garage but am seeing that we need to fix the roof. The roof (or lack there of) is ruining the paint. The barn desperately needs to be scraped and painted, along with the tack room, and garden house, not to mention the hay barn (which also needs a new roof). If only everything didn't require money and take hours to repair.


So, call it a let down from all the activities or a decompress or whatever you want. I'm struggling and not doing a good job. There's so much to do and yet, I can't seem to focus my brain for more than about 10 minutes on any task.  I'm starting to get some disjointed thoughts bouncing around in my brain and I'm struggling with those too. There's more I should be doing. More I should be saying. But there's less time for everything and I'm seeing the ill effects of me burning the candle at both ends.


And maybe this weird feeling is not only the letdown of a crazy  month but also the standard feeling of juggling work life, sanctuary life, and home life. I dunno. I know I'm not making any sense so I'll stop rambling.

Rain

Spring Snowstorm

Spring snowstorms are the worst, at least in my opinion. I'd take them over a fall snowstorm though because it'll be gone in a short amount of time but the spring storms are unpredictable, just like this last storm.


Last week about now, I was preparing for the Tri-State Horse Expo (I'll write about that more later), and Dad mentioned that we were supposed to get a storm later in the week. I was so focused on getting through the weekend that I didnt' pay much heed. Of course, we DID get snow on Saturday, which had me in a total panic. How in the world do you get a white horse clean when you have no heated wash bay? Luckily, I'd spent Thursday afternoon getting Zeke washed (by hand and with warm water in buckets).We do things the old fashioned way.


After all the commotion from the Tri-State Horse Expo, I started hearing more rumors about this upcoming snow storm. I figured I'd better start paying some attention when rumors of a foot of snow were flying around. I spent two hours Tuesday night getting everything prepped for what snow we would get (and weren't really sure how much). At one point, it was 1-3 inches, at another it was 4-7 inches, and at another it was 12 inches. So I figured, I'd better be prepared. Because not only were they talking snow, they were also talking rain.


And of course there were two models they were looking at, and couldn't decide on how much rain versus snow we'd get and where exactly it would all land. I know meteorology isn't an exact science but I wanted to be prepared for whatever came our way.


They had also said it was going to start Tuesday night. It didn't. It didn't' even start until Wednesday late morning. But I was prepared. Water troughs were completely full, hoses were put away, and almost everyone was wearing a blanket (I'd opted to leave them out instead of stalling them). of course farther north (by about eight miles), they got hammered with snow so we missed out on the worst of it!


So the rain/snow didn't start until Wednesday super late in the morning and it was more of a sleet/rain than snow. In fact, we didn't' get real snow until late afternoon. But I was sure glad I had blankets on everyone. It wasn't cold but that wind hurt when the little pellets of snow/rain hit you in the face.


I did opt to pull Rabbit, Mayhem, and Junior into stalls in the hay shed. The wind was coming out of the north east and they have no where to go. Unfortunately, that pen doesn't have a shelter. Junior's face was caked with snow and Mayhem was almost soaked to the skin. I wasn't sure how cold the temps were supposed to be so I figured I'd sleep easier knowing they were in their stalls dry and warm and out of the wind. They were more than willing to go. When I went out to let them out this morning, it was dark and I forgot my flashlight. I heard rather than saw them but I only saw Mayhem's blaze, I didn't see Junior or Rabbit. That's because they'd curled up and were snoozing whenI walked over to let them out. I'm sure that Rabbit's foot is bothering her and Junior just wanted to rest. It's nice knowing they are comfortable enough to lie down. They weren't really all that thrilled to leave their stalls. Unfortunately, it was cold enough that the water froze in their 100 gallon water tank. I smashed it open with my foot and ended up plunging my foot half way into the tank. Thank goodness for water proof boots (and that I used the right leg instead of the other one, which has a hole in it!... time for new boots...if I can find them on clearance).


It's supposed to warm up again in the next couple of days. I doubt I'll have the opportunity to sit and watch the snow melt like I did after the last storm. I'm also not sure if this will be the last snowstorm or not. We do still have all of April to have storms, even though we are officially into spring. I'm not complaining, it's moisture we need to keep our pastures going. I was afraid we were going to go into a drought if we didn't get more rain this spring. I don't want to face another drought.


But I'll be pulling blankets off today and getting them dried out in case we have another wet snowstorm roll through. Spring storms are so crazy. We even had thunder and lightening. I'm not ready for the hail, strong winds, and potential tornados that come with spring/summer storms, but I am ready to see some green and get moving on some outside projects.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is of Rabbit from this past fall. She was a little off on the front back then as well. Who knew it was a vitamin E deficiency. Anyone want to help by sponsoring Rabbit? She's on Dumor Vitamin Gold, an antihistamine for her heaves, and sweet feed to get her meds in. She's enjoying her daily grain. Unfortunately, the heaves flare up in the summer time, rather than the winter. Even with being on a round bale, her heaves are way better in the winter than in the summer when she's on pasture grass.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or want to help sponsor her so that we can make her feel like good again? 

Crashed

Last night I crashed. Apparently, I was way  more tired than I expected. Of course, the two naps I took yesterday must have been part of the sign too.


I've been going strong for the past month what with the Light the Night fundraiser last month, prepping for the Tri-State Horse Expo, getting in the final practices for our drill team to perform at the Tri-State Horse Expo, caring for all 16 horses during this weird spring weather (which really isn't weird, it's typical South Dakota weather...which IS unpredictable), and dealing with sick kids (we did avoid the hospital but just barely).


Every night I have high hopes of getting a few things done that have been on my ToDo list for months and I just can't seem to muster the energy. I should be excited to get them done. But by 9pm, I'm so wiped out that I can't even think straight.


I do plan on letting the dust settle a little around the place and get back into the swing of things before we tackle the next big adventure. I'd really like to look at doing another fundraiser. Help-A-Horse is next month but that's out of the question. I'd rather not fly by the seat of my pants like I have been on fundraising ideas. Marketing/advertising is not my strong suite but I'm learning that I need more than just a few days prep time to get everything together. :-)


So, I have no big grand ideas at the moment. I have a few little ideas but I'm not sure that any of them would be of any interest to people. I'm not yet ready to share any of them because they may be silly. I mentioned one idea to someone and they weren't all that keen on the idea so I'm not sure I want to run with it, although **I** think it would be fun (and not all that much work for me!)


So, does anyone have any fundraiser ideas (big or little)? Maybe we could incorporate them into some of what's been rambling around in my head. I do need a little bit of a break but only long enough to let the dust settle (or more like let the snow melt).


My goal is to finish up a few of the items that I've been meaning to do for the past couple of weeks. They should be exciting to do but I need to muster the energy. Maybe tonight I'll have more energy, especially after getting eight hours of sleep!!

Dude, King, Brego, and Ivan in the pasture this fall. I tried dividing the fence (as seen in the picture) but King kept blowing through it.

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday - It may sound silly, but our wish is for light bulbs in the barn. That's right, light bulbs. We need 100 watt light bulbs. I'm down to one light bulb in the barn (not including the one over the grain). It seems that the lights always burn out about the same time. I'd been dealing with two being burned out for the past few weeks and now another one has blown. We only have four in the stalls so it's not too bright but when one burns out, I can tell. And now that three of the four are burned out, it's pretty dark.

And the pic....that's of Jett (aka Sir Prize when he was first born). That's the barn he was born in (and the barn that needs lights!)

Snow Guessing Game

It's been awhile since I last posted. What a crazy past few days. I may try to break my thoughts into a couple different posts so I don't overwhelm you (lots rattling around in my head).


So the most current thought in my head is the upcoming storm. I had no idea we were going to get any snow until Dad mentioned it this past weekend. I was a little shocked when he said we could have up to 9 inches of snow. No way! But then again, it is South Dakota and we've gotten snow in May and it IS only March. So I should expect at least one spring snow storm.


No one really knows when, where, or how much snow we'll get. So last night, I went out filled water tanks to the brim and started in on putting blankets on. The weatherman was calling for rain first, and then switching to snow. Once the horses are wet from the rain, it's difficult for them to warm back up after it snows. The temps are supposed to drop. Not terribly cold, into the 30s but we've been in the 50s for the past couple of days (not this past weekend when it was in the 30s again).


So, I decided I'd better get blankets on and dug everything back out. Well, I didn't really have to dig. I have a tendency to throw blankets wherever and just leave them hanging wherever, all willy nilly like. I'm terrible about picking up after myself and for keeping things neat and orderly.


But I was able to find all the hard keepers' blankets. Jim destroyed his a few weeks ago so I'm using a different blanket as a temporary one until I can find him a better one or get his repaired. I was so disgusted with him that I didn't even look at the extent of the damage (I think there's a lot).


I  have one or two more blankets that need a few tweaks and then I can put them on horses but figured for today's storm that who isn't wearing blankets will be ok. They are the hardy ones. Lace is the only one not wearing a blanket that may not be as hardy as the others. She has a blanket but I need to do some repair on it. The snap doesn't work. But she has a shelter she can get out of so I didn't bother putting her blanket on. Of course the others have shelter too but some have a higher chance of getting kicked out of the shelter thanks to Dude.


I spent the night listening for rain but never heard it. I woke this morning to wind. When I went out to do chores, the wind was fierce and cold but still no rain or snow. I'm still glad I put blankets on everyone. I'm working from home at the paying job so I can maybe sneak out if I need to, to take care of the herd. But everyone should be fairly content now that they are wearing blankets.


I'm still waiting for the rain to start but maybe with the lack of rain this morning, that means we wont' get as much snow. We'll just have to wait and see how things come about. It is South Dakota, and the one thing we do know, is that the weather is unpredictable. I'm glad I'm home safe and sound and can keep an eye on the skies.


For those that haven't been following the blog for a long time, I'm terrified of storms. Well, not really terrified but I have a healthy respect for storms, more so for thunderstorms. But that's because of the tornado that missed us by a half mile (someone was watching over us). I've been intentionally avoiding watching the weather to try and keep my stress level at least out of the red due to weather (running a Sanctuary always gives you stress).


And now that it's almost 8am and the skies are very dark, I'm going to continue to sit here and watch the weather and hope that what unfolds isn't too drastic to deal with. I was enjoying no mud! The question will be, do we get three inches of snow, five inches of snow, or nine inches of snow. Anyone want to take a guess?

Wishlist Wednesday

This Wishlist Wednesday, we wish for fly masks. Fly season is right around the corner and our horses are hard on fly masks. Some fly masks don't even make it one season !

Where's Skippy in March - Day Three

Can you guess where Skippy went today?

Where's Skippy in March - Day Two

Skippy is on the move again this week. Can you guess where Skippy is? Leave a comment on our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Borderlands-Horse-Sanctuary-123186931079406/

Bo Five Years Later

This past Saturday (March 12), marked Bo's five year anniversary with us at the Sanctuary. It's been a long haul these past five years and have had a lot of ups and downs in keeping Bo happy and healthy. But throughout everything, Bo continues to keep a positive spirit and doesn't let any of his past experiences get in the way of his happy attitude.

The first two pictures are from the day after Bo arrived. It was late that first night and I honestly didn't know if he'd even make it home, let alone make it through the night. He was so weak and thin. The winter coat hides so much of the devastating effects of starvation. He was so weak those first few days of quarantine, that he could barely walk a few feet before becoming exhausted. We did a little of hand walking those first few days so we wouldn't get stuff standing in his stall.

When we pulled him from the auction, I honestly had no idea of we'd rescued a mare or gelding because the paperwork was so off on him. The paperwork shows a sorrel mare. He looks nothing of the sort. In fact, when we first went back to look at him afterwards, I had no idea that he even had white socks. There was so much mud caked on his legs that I assumed that he ad four black legs. Well, he does, but he also has three white socks to go with it.

The following pictures were taken a week after brining Bo home. The devastation of starvation shows much more prominent because I'd put a blanket on to ward off the chill. I wanted Bo to focus on gaining weight, not in trying to stay warm even though we were in March and the snow was melting and spring was in the air. I wanted to do everything I could to get Bo's body focused on recovering, rather than eating away at itself.

The pictures really don't do it justice on how bad Bo really looked. He's always been on the thinner side and a definite hard keeper but the pictures just don't show how bad he really was.

 I tried to spend some time giving Bo some loving during those first few weeks to show that nothing bad would come while staying at the Sanctuary. You can even see his white socks now!

Blogger apparently doesn't like the original pictures of Bo showing how thin he looked those first few days. But the following are more pictures from about two weeks after bringing Bo home. It's such a slow process to gain weight and such a quick process for them to lose weight and go down hill so quickly.

This picture, although hard to look at, actually shows the improvements after just a few weeks at the Sanctuary. Bo was and is a hard keeper. To keep his weight, we have to grain him every day with a mixture of senior feed, Purina Strategy, sweet feed, and Cool Calories supplement. He's not too fond of the supplement but he does eat most of it. We go through about $150 worth of grain split between him and Junior (and Rabbit) and that doesn't include the supplements.

We outbid the killbuyer to bring Bo home. We brought him home fro $110. I've seen time and time again, where a private buyer stops at a certain dollar amount and the horse goes to a kill buyer because of that extra $10. Had we stopped at $100, Bo would have gone to the kill buyer and although I'm sure he would have ended up at a feedlot to be fattened (although I've heard rumors that he was rejected by the feedlot...but that was local and not near the border). I'm glad that we went with the extra $10. Amazing how $10 can save a life. 

We are always looking for sponsors for Bo. Would you like to sponsor him and ensure that he gets all the grain he needs for the rest of his life. We will make sure that he never goes through what he endured five years ago but we are could use some help. Even donating $10 for his grain helps. It's amazing the power of $10.

Where's Skippy in March - Day One

Skippy is on travel again this month. This time, Skippy is traveling in Ireland (in celebration of St. Patrick's Day!) Guess where in Ireland Skippy is at. Leave a comment on our Facebook page to enter to win!

Where is Skippy?

Where's Skippy - February Winner

The winner of the February Where's Skippy contest is.....

Judy Nelson!!!

And for those that wanted to know exactly where Skippy went on his travels, here's the cheatsheet. :-)

Paris, France

Florence, Italy

Hawaii

Quebec City, Canada

Aspen, Colorado

Skippy is going on travel again in March. To play, Skippy will post a picture on the Sanctuary's Facebook page each day that he's on travel (for five days). All you have to do is guess where Skippy is at. The best part, you don't even have to be right, just leave an answer in the comment and you're name will be put into a drawing to win that month. You won't win a prize for the month, but at the end of the contest (in December), all of the monthly winners will be placed into a drawing to win a prize (prize is TBD). The more times you guess, the more chances to win.

Throwback Thursday

This Sunday marks Bo's five year anniversary of being pulled from an auction (and death's door). I will post more but wanted to post a pic of him from a few days after bringing him home. He was so close to death (in more ways than one). We outbid the killbuyer by a measly $10. We brought him home for $110. Had we not gone the extra $10, Bo wouldn't be alive today. (I've seen it before where a private buyer doesn't give the extra $10 and the horse goes to a kill buyer. Breaks my heart. A mere $10 to save a life.)


Anyone want to sponsor him? Or sponsor another sanctuary horse so that we can open our doors to a deserving horse like Bo?

Wishlist Wednesday

Our Wishlist Wednesday wish is for hoses! We found a 120 foot hose so now we don't have to hook up as many hoses and have so much extra to try and run water through. But if we could have another 120 foot hose, I'd only have to manhandle two hoses instead of three or more.

But we could always use shorter hoses. Our SD weather is hard on hoses and we use them year around.

Freak Out Time

I'm sort of going into panic mode. Lots to do and so little time to get it all done. We've been granted some amazing opportunities and I'm working on those to get things polished up before I present them to you (mostly in case I screw something up and fall flat on my face, I'd rather not eat too much crow).


The weather has been gorgeous. Cn I repeat that?! It's been GORGEOUS! Chores are SO  much easier when I don't have to put on 10 layers of clothes just to go and do chores and worry about freezing myself into my coveralls.


The horses are enjoying the warmer temperatures. I keep seeing them stretched out on the ground, sound asleep. Just yesterday, I saw Chaos and Ivan curled up sleeping next to the barn. Of course I had to go and pester Chaos. He has that personality that you can pick on him and he doesn't care. Now Ivan, not so much. Just a gentle pat and scratch on the head and that's it. Whereas Chaos, I could pick his nose, and give him a great big hug and practically fall all over him while he's lying down.


But with the warmer temperatures comes the mud. Luckily the mud isn't so soupy that you get sucked into it but you do have to be careful. I had drill team practice last night and I decided I'd better not park the trailer where I normally do. Otherwise, we'd be getting the tractor out to pull the truck out of the mud. I don't like tearing up the yard. It makes hauling hay more difficult.


And speaking of hauling hay, Mike is going on travel starting tomorrow and I'll be home alone with two little kids trying to juggle all my chores. Luckily the warmer weather helps everything. But I'll be looking at getting things moved around so I can do a shortened version of chores. The problem is, the two two-wheeled wheelbarrows both have flat tires. One has one flat tire and the other has two flat tires. Loading the wheelbarrows up with hay on flat tires is almost an effort in futility. Well, not really but its' a struggle. I already have to body slam the wheelbarrows to get them through the door of the hay shed. And now that I think about it, that explains why the door is somewhat broken (oops!). I didn't realize until now that me shoving the wheelbarrow full of hay through a door that's not quite the size of a big square is probably what broke the door frame (if you want to call it a door frame...more like wood thrown together to look like a door frame but really it's not).  But I digress. I'll have to get everything ready to take care of everyone tonight so I can do shortened chores the rest of this week.


The big herd attacked one bale and didn't touch another bale. Not sure why one is more tastey than another. I need to figure out if we need to put in another bale before this weekend or not. I won't have time this weekend to do anything but shortened chores. Friday and Saturday my drill team (Dakota Thunder Mounted Drill Team) is performing at the Tri-State Horse Expo. That means it'll be later than normal when I finally get home to do chores. Come on out to watch. I'll be writing the white arab! ;-)


So, if you don't see me the rest of this week, it's because I'm scrambling to keep my head above water while Mike is out. I'm also trying to finish up (ok, actually start) a few of my projects that need to be done so I can mention my projects. :-) Nothing big. Just something fun.  Until then..  I'll be freaking out.

Throwback Thursday

I thought this went out yesterday, but apparently my internet didn't like the post...so here's Throwback Thursday on a Friday

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This week's Throwback Thursday is from a few years back (because I'm on a computer that doesn't have all my pictures...sigh).

This picture was taken the first day of the Memorial Weekend. We typically "release the herd" Memorial Weekend and let them enjoy the big pasture.

Because we have grown in numbers and because of overgrazing and drought, we now have to divide the pasture to help with grass growth and to ensure we don't over graze again.

The pasture is a huge undertaking and we need some help in maintaining it. We are looking at putting in a permanent fence to divide the pasture and we need to redo the original fencing because it has barbed wire and it started to show its age. We also need help in fertilizing and spraying to keep the weeds (i.e., thistles) to a minimum. The battle with thistles is an ongoing task and probably will always be a battle. But any help is greatly appreciated. So if you have experience in any of these or have funds to help us with our fencing project, let me know!

Cabin Fever

Yesterday I worked from home (at the paying job), and I watched the snow melt away. It was sort of neat to see. I'd look up from my computer every once in awhile and notice the amount of snow disappearing. So the six inches of snow we got Monday night will most likely be gone by the middle of the weekend.


I need to pull blankets tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. I heard that we are supposed to be in the 50s at some point. But Sunday brings wind and I thought at some point there's a chance for rain. So I don't really know what the weather is going to do. It's that time of year when we ride the roller coast of weather.


I got fed up and switched water tanks last night. When I switched the mares and Junior to the back pen, I'd wanted to put the big water tank with them but I petered out and  made Mike do water for me. He petered out too and used a much smaller water tank (he totally cheated!) We've had below freezing temps and the horses drink a ton of water (something I didn't realize when I wasn't hauling water as far away...well, I knew it but it didn't register at the time). But after realizing that they were drinking almost an entire small water tank full of water in a day, I opted to go with the big 100 gallon tank. Hopefully the weather will warm up enough for me to use hoses every couple of days instead of hauling buckets of water. I seem to have lost my "bucket" arms and am too lazy to carry bucket after bucket back there. I think I got spoiled. I'm also hoping it doesn't freeze because where the tank is now, the tank heater doesn't reach. Ah the dilemmas of the Sanctuary.


Mike has training almost all of next week so I'm going to be scrambling to get all my chores done next week and juggle keeping the kids occupied and out of trouble. :-) Luckily I was able to push off jury duty for a month. I'm thinking April will be a much slower month (at least that's my hope).


I thought there was more to share but I'm drawing a blank. My daughter had RSV last week and now it seems to have spread throughout the entire house. Luckily I haven't caught it too bad but there's been very little time to do anything but snuggle with kiddos. Horses get their grain, but no scratches or chat time with me. I know they are getting bored. Maverick came up to me last night to remind me that he needs some of my attention too.


I locked them out of the big pasture now that most of the snow is gone. I don't want them tearing up the pasture so now they are stuck in the drylot and are bored out of their mind. I found the jolly ball and tied it to the gate in hopes that Maverick and a couple of the others might play with it. We'll see. I  might have to get something else to keep them occupied. I'm not sure a toy will be of any interest, but maybe some treats that they have to work for. This is the time of year that even the horses start getting cabin fever.

National Horse Protection Day

Today is National Horse Protection Day! Totally not on top of it or we would have done some type of fun activity. Maybe next year (of course I said that last year too).


But here's to all who help keep our horses safe!

Wishlist Wednesday

Call me old fashioned but, I like to send Thank You cards in the mail to our donors when they surprise us with a generous donation. So today's Wishlist Wednesday is a wish for Thank You cards! There's so many to choose from but very much needed at the Sanctuary.

Light the Night 2016

Finally downloaded pictures from our Light the Night fundraiser. I think it was a success and we'll definitely be doing it again! I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the two night fundraiser.

Super Crazy Busy

Holy super crazy busy Batman. I haven't been near a computer in almost a week. I'll just do a quick brain dump so you can see what all we've been doing in the past week or more.


My daughter came down with RSV. She just had her six month birthday (hard to believe), but being the paranoid parent that I am (thanks to the health scares we've had with our son), I've been focusing almost all of my time on my daughter to make sure we don't have to spend any time in the hospital.


So between snuggling with a sick daughter and caring for the horses, I was able to throw together everything we needed for the fundraiser. Total success as far as I'm concerned. We lite almost 50 luminaries in honor or remembrance of people and animals. We also lite another 30 for the Sanctuary horses (both current and past). I'll have to write more and post pictures. I've been meaning to post and tag pictures since Friday night and have been too exhausted every night to do it.


We didn't have any snow for the fundraiser. I was a little bummed (and worried) but it worked out. But wouldn't you know, three days later and we get snow, and lots of it. Reports are coming in that it's about 3-4 inches but there's snow up and over my ankles so I'd say that's more like a solid 4 inches. And to think, it was only supposed to be 1-2 inches. Boy were they wrong. I didn't even know we were supposed to GET snow. Too bad we didn't have snow for the fundraiser but it worked out all the way around. We also got rain Sunday  morning which made me hustle to pick up all the luminaries Saturday night.


And that snow. Boy did it come down in a hurry. I went out just after 3pm yesterday to put stuff away and start chores. I came out of the barn maybe a half an hour later and there was already accumulation on the ground. Of course, I'd played musical pens and moved horses around thinking that we wouldn't get any more snow and that I needed to pull horses off the pastures so they wouldn't tear it up. And what happens, we get enough snow that I could have left them there. But feeding round bales, I knew the mares and Junior wouldn't get through a bale fast enough before I needed to pull them. But it does cause problems. They are in the back pen without a heater on their water. Mike filled the water trough but he used the smaller one so I can't even get away with not hauling water every day (and using hoses is out until it warms up...which will be at the end of the week).


There's a ton more that I want to say but think I'll post this and come back and rehash more of what's been going on in more detail. But wanted to let everyone know that the fundraiser was a success. We got some beautiful pictures (with just my phone) and I can't wait to share them. Fundraisers are stressful but are very helpful. We raised more than enough to cover the cost of grain for the month of March!


But, I'll be back with more ramblings from the Sanctuary!