Winter Returns

So much for the lovely weather we had for the past few days. We are going back down into subzero temps at night all week. That means the hard keepers are going in every night this week. If I thought I was exhausted from this weekend, I'll be even more exhausted by Friday night after chores.

Here's what NOAA is saying:

• Today Snow, mainly after 9am. High near 15. Light east wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of around 2 inches.
• Tonight Snow, mainly before 11pm. Low around -7. Wind chill values as low as -22. Northeast wind around 10 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
• Tuesday Areas of blowing snow after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 12. Wind chill values as low as -23. Blustery, with a northwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.
• Tuesday Night Patchy blowing snow before 9pm. Mostly clear, with a low around -8. Wind chill values as low as -23. North northwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west after midnight.
• Wednesday Patchy blowing snow after noon. Sunny, with a high near 24. West southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
• Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around -6.
• Thursday Sunny, with a high near 5.
• Thursday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around -7.
• Friday Partly sunny, with a high near 11.
• Friday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around -5.
• Saturday Partly sunny, with a high near 5.
• Saturday Night A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -3. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
• Sunday A chance of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 9. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Oh goodie... :-(

Busy Work

Mike and I have been busy today working on fundraiser items for sale. I'll have to post pictures. Mike made a beautiful horseshoe cross. It's bigger than the other horseshoe crosses that he's made. It's actually a different design. I'm going to have to have him make me one because I love the design so much.

I've also been working on bridle and purse charms. I'm not sure if they are turning out ok or not. I'll post pictures and let you be the judge of them. Mike has also been working on making horse shoe nail crosses. He's been pretty productive these last couple of days!

I also came up with another idea for an easter basket. Coming up with ideas for Easter baskets is really fun!

And we also have a wonderful volunteer who is making bags and aprons out of grain bags. Lucky for her, we just went to Tractor Supply last night and stocked up on grain. Ok, so not really stocked up, just had enough grain to get us through this next cold snap, but I won't even talk about the weather.

Hopefully tomorrow I can find the camera and get a few good pictures of some of the fundraiser items we've been working on! Until then, here's some pictures from last years.

Fundraiser Prep Work

I have our April 12th Easter fundraiser on the brain. Last night I decided I would start fiddling around with making some items that will be up for sale. It's a definate learning curve in making certain things but hopefully I'll get the hang of it pretty quick. I decided that each evening, I'll work on making one item for the fundraiser or work on some other project for the fundraiser.

I made a bridle/purse charm. I'll have to post pictures this weekend. When I finished up with the charm, Mike decided that he'd try his hand at making a horseshoe nail cross. It turned out pretty darn good for his first try! I'm excited to have extra items at the fundraiser. We have an extra month to prepare (and no hospital stays) so I can focus more on getting stuff ready.

My only worry is that I haven't started advertising. But that'll be one of my goals for this weekend. I'll start getting posters/fliers ready.  I'm still working out the final details but hopefully it'll come together pretty soon so I can sit back and relax. Hahaha, there's no way to relax when there's an upcoming fundraiser, even if it's a month and a half away!

If you want to help, we are looking for volunteers to get things ready for the fundraiser. Just leave a comment here or post a comment on our Facebook page!

Good Post

Here's an interesting read...

http://www.stjoechannel.com/story/d/story/horses-shipped-out-of-us-for-slaughter-legally/32334/SwH2jE0EO0KXgUj14kB1Xg

Crying Wolf

Well, either I didn't pay close enough to the weather, or the weatherman missed his mark. Either way, I'm thankful. We are missing a major storm, by only a few miles it seems. I was worried that we would get some terrible weather, so I blanketed those that needed to be blanketed and prepared myself for a morning full of soaked and grumpy horses. What we woke to was just a little bit of snow falling and not much else. The horses were dry so it hadn't been snowing for very long (or very hard). This morning was actually rather nice. There was absolutely no wind, which I take as a blessing every time. Now last night doing chores in the dark and wind was not such a blessing. I had hay all over and it seemed every time I moved, I had more hay poking me in unpleasant places.

The weather is supposed to progressively get worse but for now, I'll be thankful that we aren't in a Blizzard Warning or even a Winter Weather Advisory. I am ready for spring and I think the horses are too! Unfortunately, we have a minimum of two and a half more months of throwing hay. And now that the temps are warming, we'll be dealing with....mud!

Speaking of warmer weather. While we had gorgeous weather earlier this week and past weekend, the snow really started to melt. Unfortunately, the way the Sanctuary is set up, much of the runoff from the snow is now going directly into the barn (or dog pen). I can't open the big door on the west side of the barn because it's frozen shut. There's also a frozen pool in one of the stalls now that the water is starting to run in. Pretty soon we'll be dealing with humidity and everything being soaked. Luckily I have all the important stuff up on pallets in the barn. Thank goodness Mike found me some more barrels to put grain in. Now I can seal it up after every use so that I don't have to worry about the moisture ruining a large quantity of grain.  Oh what I would give for a brand new barn that's set up so I can easily run horses in to stalls and not have to go through each stall to get to a specific horse. To have a barn big enough that there's be aisles. Our barn is not the norm. We had to retrofit the stalls to make it work. But I guess that's what happens when you move into an old farmstead.

I'm hoping with the cool down, that the melting will slow but not stop. Slower melting might mean less flooding in the barn. And hopefully there will be less mud to contend with. I'm not looking forward to the ankle deep mud that is fast approaching. But at this point, I'd rather contend with mud rather than subzero temperatures!

This weekend we are supposed to pick up a few bales of hay a fellow supporter donated. We are always so grateful for the additional hay. I was (and still am) worried that we are going to be short. Our hay supplier fell short on the amount of hay that he could get us. So the additional hay we are going to pick up is a definite blessing.

Good Post

I was reading on the Horse Plus Humane Society's latest blog post. They rescued 14 horses at an auction. Unfortunately 2 had to be euthanized. Here's the story.

http://horsehumane.org/blog/2014/02/19/2-18-14/

I have a similar thinking pattern as they do when it comes to rescuing horses at auction. I typically only go for those that are thin and no one wants. It would be so nice to go to auctions this summer and pull horses, those that are easily adoptable, those that deserve a retirement home, and those that simply need to end their suffering. It is very rare for terribly lame horses to run through auctions these days but it would be nice to have an open door policy where we could offer a cheap alternative to auction. I would much prefer to have a euthanasia clinic rather than see these injured horses run through an auction. I guess that'll be my long term goal, to set up a euthanasia clinic in the fall so people can take advantage of the opportunity. If more people would do the right thing (even if it's difficult), this world would be a better place.

Lost

Looks like today is the last of the nice weather. I guess it is a February thaw instead of a January thaw. Temps are supposed to be in the low 50s today but then we’ll plummet back into winter starting tomorrow. Even the robins are confused with this weather. I’ve already seen a dozen robins and it’s nowhere near the beginning of spring!

I’d pulled blankets yesterday morning and figured that it was supposed to be warm enough last night. So I decided to forgo blanketing anyone last night and having to pull blankets this morning. I was already running late this morning and the horses were anxious for their morning hay. But as I looked, I was one horse short! I counted a couple of times to make sure I hadn’t missed one but I kept coming up with nine instead of ten.

I figured out that it was Bo that I was missing. Of course, the worst thoughts come rushing through my head when I have a missing horse (yes, we occasionally have a missing horse but only because he’s not with the rest of the herd). After throwing hay out for everyone, I decided that I’d better go and look for Bo. It’s not like he would jump the fence or someone would steal him. The herd was calm so I knew he had to be close by. My worry was that he’d hurt himself and was down or caught up in something. I’d called for Bo a couple of times but never got a response.

Luckily we have mostly a full moon so I wouldn’t trip over snow piles and hoof prints divots in the snow. I made it out to the pasture. I didn’t have to go far to see the black against the skyline. There Bo was, doing a little bit of grazing out in the pasture. I have no idea why he was out in the pasture instead of near the barns waiting like the rest of them.

When Bo saw me, he came at an amble up to me and we walked back to the drylot. It was almost as if I had a halter and lead rope on him. He stayed by my side the entire way (a little closer than most horses would even walk). He kept his head right at my shoulder until we got in to the drylot and he could see the hay. It was an odd experience to not have him up with the rest and then to have him stay with me.  It’s not uncommon for the horses to walk with me or by me when we come in from pasture but to have Bo the only one out in the pasture and then not go trotting in when he knows there’s food makes me wonder what type of argument Bo had with the rest of the herd.

I really figured that Bo would take off once we reached the lane from the pasture to the drylot but he kept walking. That desire to walk with me instead of past me is an amazing feeling. I wish that I would have been able to mess around with Bo more but the paying job was calling (well, not literally).  But Bo’s willingness to walk with me back to the barns instead of running ahead made me realize that he too is one of my heart horses. I believe I am blessed to have him in my life and as a part of the Sanctuary.