Beginning of November

I'd hoped that by now the blogger issues would have been resolved but they have not. So we will be forced to move to a different platform. I've been too busy with the horses and life to get anything set up but I hope to very soon.

In the mean time we've been scrambling to get things wrapped up around Borderlands before the snow flies. We had snow in mid October and that sent me into a tizzy because we werent' ready yet. We had snow and freezing temps and we are still working on putting in an automatic water. Luckily this week is supposed to be above normal temperatures so we can get the auto water installed, I can wrap up painting the south side of the house, and we can install a few more windows in the house. While the house stuff isn't directly related to the Sanctuary, it does make my life easier. Once we dont' have to focus on maintaining the house, I can return my attention to improvements on the other buildings.

The problem is that we have spent the last eight full years focused on raising our little family and that takes time away from home improvements. Now that the kids are slightly older, we can get back to working on improving the place. We still have a ton to do before the snow flies again but fingers crossed we'll be able to do it.

It's actually supposed to snow next week (Sunday or Monday). So I'll be rushing around trying to get as much stuff done as possible. We still need to get all of our winter supply of hay home (and pay for it). I'm not sure which I'm more worried about. Getting it home (because it'll take a full weekend to haul 50+ bales) or trying to pay for it because we havent' done any fundraising due to the pandemic. Either way, it's a huge stress and even though we'll get the hay home, I'll still have to come up with the money. At this rate, it'll be coming out of my paycheck rather than out of donations.

Which is sad, because we have been asked to take in close to 40 horses so far this year. It's about the same as last year. Imagine if we'd taken in the 40 this year. And/or the 40 from last year. As much as I'd love to, there's just no way. Almost all of them come with some type of ailment that requires medication or vet appointments. And in the end some of them that do come to Borderlands actually needs euthanasia rather than a retirement home. It makes me sad to have to say no and I really do get worked up not being able to say yes. I want to be able to help but we have to help responsibly and we can't jeopardize the horses that are already in our care.

As much as I would love to have the funds for 40 horses and the volunteers, I'd also miss out learning about each of the horses. I have to remind myself that we can't save them all. But it's still hard. I would love to find some long-term fosters willing to take in pasture pets. We get asked about light riding horses but sadly the horses that we get into Borderlands are passed even light riding. Where the light riding horses go, I do not know but the horses that we get asked to take in are in their twilight years and only have a few years left.

Now that it's November, I will try my best to post more in blogger until I can switch everything over to a new platform. I make no promises when that will be but hopefully sooner than later. I'm never very good with change and when it's change for the worse as this blogger has been, it really makes me realize how old I am.

Happy November everyone! Lets hope the last two months of 2020 are an improvement to the year!