April Fools Joke

Mother Nature sure played a mean April Fools joke.


We had unbelievable gorgeous weather April 1st. It was sunny and the temps were amazing. Low 70s is unheard of but we took advantage of the weather and the day to enjoy our time outside. The weatherman was talking about another storm rolling through but Mayhem didn't show any signs of discomfort so I thought maybe it was a spoof.


It wasn't. We had freezing rain yesterday. Luckily we've missed most of the snow. But the freezing rain left a coat of ice on everything. I'm glad that we are staying put but my parents are out and about bright and early this morning so my worry is at a high level. But I digress away from the horses.


I didn't blanket anyone Wednesday night because it was just too nice (and warm) for heavy winter blankets. All we have are medium weight (and one or two heavy weight) blankets. I'd really love to get some rain sheets. Thursday morning rolled around it and it was dreary but no rain or snow. It wasn't until around noon that the freezing rain started. Normally I would run out and blanket those that needed to be blanketed but with three young kids, it's just not possible to run out and hang with the horses, throw blankets on whoever, and make sure everyone is comfortable. I had to wait until Mike got home so I could run out and do chores and make sure everyone was happy.


While Jim and Dude (and Rain who snuck in to the barn) dried off, I threw blankets on them. Those are the ones I'm most worried about. I was thinking of blanketing Jessie but she now has the entire hay shed to stand under so there's really no need. All three were standing at the bale (Jessie, Diavlo, and Mayhem) when I went out to do chores last night. I guess they aren't too concerned for the weather.


I'm going to have to make a plan for running in to town. We are going to be out of grain before the end of the month and we still have two months worth of grain we need. I typically don't grain during the summer months when they are on pasture if they aren't too hard keepers. Jessie may be on grain forever and Dude will be dependent on if his hips bother him. When the weather warms, he doesn't seem to need anything but weather like today (or really cold), he needs his Buteless.


Our governor just pushed back the peak for this coronavirus until July or August. So there goes any plans to do a fundraiser in July. August is a no go with two birthdays and school starting. I'm pretty good at this social distancing but I'm feeling stressed in not getting to see "my people". I know there's more opportunities to do fun stuff online but I'm struggling with figuring that out. There's so little time now that I'm  home and juggling work, kids, school, and a couple of other personal things. We don't have (and won't have) a shelter in place so hubby is going in to work every day as well instead of working from home (which means juggling two jobs and neither of us are getting all of our hours.


Lets hope the weather turns nice again so we can open the windows and get outside for some fresh air. I've been struggling to come up with stuff to do online either for entertainment or for fundraiser stuff and it leaves me mentally drained because I'm coming up blank. I need more physical work so I can go to bed physically exhausted rather than emotionally exhausted these days.


Anyone want to help me come up with stuff for online? Send me an email at borderlandshorsesanctuary@yahoo.com and we can chat about some ideas that aren't fully baked yet!