The Adventures of Bo

Monday was exhausting. I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve been dealing with a headache or migraine for the past eight days and it’s really messing with me. I’ve been a bit stressed lately and when I’m stressed, I sleep. When I sleep, I get behind. When I get behind, I get more stressed. See the impossible circle I’m in right now?

Anyway, I digress on my adventure’s yesterday.

Bo. Poor Bo. He’s been through Hell and back and yet he’s still the cheerful horse with a happy disposition.

Bo’s vet appointment was scheduled for 11am. Mike was out of town over the weekend and on Monday so I needed to get the kids to daycare. I started to rain about the time I was packing up the kids. I noticed dark clouds but figured the bad weather would hold off until later in the day. I dropped the kids at daycare and hopping in my car. I figured I’d get the truck hooked up, pull Bo out of the rain, and get some work done for the paying job before I needed to leave. I was planning on leaving just after 10am to give me plenty of time to get there. It’s just over a half an hour drive to the vet but I’m always late and don’t want to be late any more. Not a new years resolution just something I need to be better about.

Anyway, when I got in the car and started heading home, I saw the wall of black clouds. All to the west and north. I knew it was supposed to get bad but I wasn’t sure the timeframe. So I busted butt to get home, get the truck hooked up, Bo into the barn, and then decided that the radar showed freezing rain about 30 miles west of us. I knew I was going straight north so I’d be dealing with freezing rain while pulling a trailer. NOT something I wanted to do.

I already don’t like my trailer for a number of reasons so I ended up double blanketing Bo to make sure he stayed dry and warm on the trip to the vet. I had thought I could load him in the trailer and then go grab a few things from the house. I forgot until the minute I had Bo loaded that Bo hates trailers. As in, he freaks out. He’s gotten better with me but he hates them.

So instead, I hopped in the truck and we headed out. I was already drenched from hooking up the trailer and grabbing Bo. It was a downpour the entire time. I was worried that I’d be driving in to freezing rain so wanted to be on the road and at least up at my parent’s until the appointment. It was 9:00am when we hit the road. I was kicking myself for not taking the 9:30am appointment but I didn’t think I’d get around fast enough.

I took it super slow knowing that the roads could get slick any time. And the rain was terrible. But worse than that…the wind. I thought there was something wrong with the truck. It kept switching into a lower gear and slowing down. Yeah, it was the wind. We were headed right into the wind. At least Bo was protected for the most part.

I decided instead of heading straight to the vet (since it was only a quarter to 10am and the appointment wasn’t until 11am), that I’d head over to my parents, unload Bo and just hang out. About three miles from the house,  I noticed the trees had ice on them and the road was starting to ice up. I am NOT a fan of driving on ice. I am even less of a fan of driving on ice while pulling a trailer.

I unloaded Bo and figured he could hang out in the back pen but even that was starting to freeze shut. I figured it would be best to simply go to the vet and wait. I thought they had a spare stall I could hand out in. Bo was better about loading the second time without freaking out so off we went into the rain headed to the vet on icy roads.

We pulled in at 10am and I hopped out to let them know we were there. I asked if we could hang out inside so Bo and I stood around for awhile. Did I mention we have awesome vets? They got me in a half an hour early and got me on the road right away (as in I was on the road just after 11am). No dilly dallying around.

When the appointment was done, I loaded Bo and got the heck out of Madison. The wind pushed us most of the way home. When I crossed under I-90 and was on the south side again, I noticed that none of the grass or the signs had any ice hanging off of them. Go figure. There’s always a difference between north and south of I-90.

But we made it home safe. Bo is now in a pen all by himself until I can come up with a better living arrangement. I’m kicking myself for not pulling his blanket but it was super cold this morning….after being 80 degrees two days earlier.

And I’m sure you’re all wondering WHAT happened at the vet…but I’ll share that later today. After I get more aspirin and caffeine in me to keep the headache to a dull roar.