July Already?

How can it be almost mid July already? Last I checked, we were headed into June and now all of a sudden it's July. The last four weeks have been a blur all revolving around the paying job. I had to help wrap up a big review right around Memorial Weekend and then was only given about a week reprieve to catch up on everything that got pushed in the shuffle before the next review started up. Least to say, I've spent the last four weeks in such a daze of mass chaos, it's been exhausting. Luckily the review is just about over and my part is about done but now it's time to play catch up. But in dealing with this big review and with playing catch up, there's been very little time to do anything with the Sanctuary other than chores.


I still need to flip the pasture so that the horses can be on the other part of the pasture. That's my goal for tonight and tomorrow night (mosquitoes be damned). I had to throw hay last night for the horses which chafes me to no end. A pasture ready and waiting and I'm throwing hay!


Speaking of hay, we put in our order for hay. Our usual hay guy is going to pull through for us. We're getting different hay than before, hay with no alfalfa so there's no need to worry about King. I'm not sure yet on price but I'm guessing our pasture hay will be the same as the hay/alfalfa that we have gotten in the past. I guess I should have gone with the better hay and just dealt with King's feet some other way. But trying to do right by everyone isn't always easy or cost effective.  I'm not exactly sure when we'll get the hay but we at least have our order in. Now to figure out logistics and to get it all paid for. We unfortunately won't be getting it delivered by semi so it'll take a few loads to get it all down here. But it'll be Mike and myself hauling so not too big of a deal. Thank goodness we can borrow our hay guy's truck and trailer (it's nice to have an "in" with your hay guy). Now to figure out how to pay for five loads of hay equaling 55 bales. I just hope that's enough. Even though we don't have Ivan or Bo, we may be looking at opening our doors this fall, which means we will need additional hay. We are looking at a cost of about $5,000 to pay for the current hay order.


I've been so under the weather for so long, that I haven't had time to do anything but take care of horses. No time to research grants or look into fundraising opportunities. It's a struggle and I'm disappointed I haven't been able to do more but when you're dealing with medical problems, I guess that's just how everything goes.


Junior has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks. I'll have to post more about him in a little bit but he's weight heavily on my mind. We are going to lose him.


I'm in desperate need of help in getting things done at the Sanctuary. I'm finally crying uncle and admitting that I need help. Granted, we've had offers but with our policies in place, someone from the Sanctuary has to be AT the Sanctuary, at least in the beginning. The problem is, its' summer and everyone is super busy. I'm just not sure how to get it all done. My list is growing but maybe if I actually write it down and plug along on it, it wont be so bad. I wont' want to be like last year where every time I went for a walk at the paying job to try and take a break, my entire chest would constrict and I'd feel even more stressed about the upcoming winter because I'd be thinking about all that needed to be done.


This past weekend I heard the kattydids. That means 90 days from now is our first hard frost. I think that's usually what sets me into a tailspin. It's not like they don't ALWAYS come out early to mid July but for some reason I spend May and June getting horses ready for summer that I don't have time to prep for anything else. And then I feel like we run so hard there's no time to get other stuff done and we are faced with all these tasks that have to be done before the first snowflake. I swear I spend all winter dealing with winter and then all spring, summer, and fall prepping for winter yet again. Of course when you have winter 6 months out of the year (or at least it feels like it), its' hard not to focus on it, especially when you have old horses to care for all the time.


I know there's more. There's lots more going on but I haven't had the time or energy to share all the news. We have lots of good stuff going on but without internet at home, it's been very trying.  Hopefully I can get that resolved soon and can get back to posting more on the blog and getting some of the really good stuff shared out rather than just posting what I can from my phone.


But for anyone that is bored, I need help. And lots of it. There's too much to do and it's looking like my August is filling up fast so I can use all the help I can get ASAP.