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?