Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday's picture is of the herd from last summer sometime. I don't remember when (last year was a bit of a blur...pregnancy does that to a person).


I'm ready for lush green pastures and horses enjoying grass instead of standing in front of a hay feeder.

Wishlist Wednesday

I wanted to post this yesterday but blogger was once again not in agreement with what I had in mind. So our Wishlist Wednesday is on a Thursday! :-)

We wish for fertilizer for our pasture. We are getting some great moisture but some fertilizer to make the pasture go farther would be much appreciated. We fertilized the pasture a few years ago so it's about due for another round. It's amazing how a round of fertilizer on the pasture makes such a difference.

Spring Time Craziness

This weather is crazy. A week ago I stayed home from the paying job because they talked about a bad storm (rain turning into freezing rain turning into snow...and lots of it). I ended up sending my parents home (it was Grandma and Grandpa Day!) and what normally takes a half an hour for them to get home, took an hour (it was that bad). I'd prepared the horses so almost everyone was wearing blankets.


I ended up leaving the blankets on after that storm because every time I thought about taking them off, I'd get out to do chores late and it would be chilly. I'd rather not pull blankets going into the evening. I want them to have time to fluff up their coat and get warm before I start messing with them.


Well, it's a good thing I left those blankets on. I knew we were supposed to get something on Saturday but I had no idea how much or even if it was rain or snow. I've been avoiding listening to the weather and I think that's a bad idea. But Saturday morning we ended up going to my parents for some family quality time. Early afternoon it started to snow so we figured we'd better head out. We weren't half way home (only 15 minutes into the drive) and it was snowing like crazy... enough that the roads were completely covered with a few inches of snow!


We finally made it home and I started in on my chores. I scooped the sidewalk and when I turned around to enjoy my handywork, the sidewalk was already covered in snow. It was snowing that fast! I'd say about an inch an hour.


When I pulled the hard keepers in for their grain, they had a hefty amount of snow on their backs. I was worried that the snow would melt and make their blankets soggy but everyone stayed dry. I did end up pulling the mares and Junior in to stalls for the night. I was worried that Rabbit would be sore. She's still off and wearing a blanket probably doesn't help with the sore muscles. Also standing around in boggy mud is not good for her. So I let them stay stalled and pulled Rabbit's blanket. Her blanket was a soppy mess, dripping water but she was happy as she can be (which isn't all that happy). But she was dry and content to stay in her stall.


In the end, we got eight inches of snow on Saturday! Luckily the ground has thawed so most of the moisture is soaking into the earth. I wont' complain about the snow, it's moisture and hopefully will give our pasture a jump start for this year.


And wouldn't you know, we are getting rain again! I decided that I would blanket Rabbit and Junior. It's too warm for blankets but their pen gets the brunt of any wind, unless it straight out of the west. And they were talking wind out of the north, north east. Any wind of the east is damp and cold. They were also talking rain and I didn't want them to get chilled. Their pen is the only one without a shelter so I do what I think is best to keep them happy. Their pen is turning into a boggy, boot sucking muck hole. But I figured if Rabbit wanted to lie down, she'd at least have a layer between her and the wet mud. She's still pretty sore on that front foot and all over. Hopefully I can pull her and let her stand on some solid ground to make things better. It's so hard to know what to do with her at this point. Keep giving her supplements and go from there I guess.


But we are supposed to get rain for the next day or two so we'll see. I didn't blanket anyone else, although I probably should have thrown something on Rain.


I wish each horse had a second blanket. One heavy one, one light weight one, and possibly a rain sheet for days like today. But at this point, I guess I'll be happy to make sure that everyone has a blanket. The stronger horses don't necessarily need blankets but the hard keepers/delicate flowers definitely do. And I wish they had multiple blankets for this weird weather.


Spring is definitely here.


Oh, and the 8 inches of snow we got on Saturday was almost all gone by Monday and was completely gone by Tuesday. How crazy is that?!

No Time

Hope everyone had a very nice and happy Easter. We stayed busy with good family quality time. We've been dealing with snow and it sounds like more snow/rain on the way. We've also been dealing with a lot of sickness (just with the two legged family, not the four legged).


But I'm in a rush and trying to wrap up a few things before heading back to the doctors for yet another appointment to get everyone back to healthy. I'll post more but wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. There's not too much to report but well, I'm feeling chatty! :-)

Happy Easter

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter

Zeke looking for Easter eggs!

Letdown

I was wrong. I did get to watch the snow  melt. I figured with the amount of snow we got yesterday, that there was no chance I'd be watching snow melt on the one day I get to work from home at the paying job. Most of the snow is already gone. That's March in South Dakota for you.


I did get a weird feeling just now. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling or even if it makes any sense. It was sort of a dejuve feeling. It was somewhat the same feeling I had while on maternity leave, watching the world move forward while I stay grounded to the same spot. We are moving forward, painfully slow but still moving forward. It's a hard feeling to explain but one I needed to voice for some reason.


I think maybe it's the letdown after the crazy month we've had. Last month was our Light the Night, then it was dealing with RSV with our daughter, then it was Mike leaving for training for a week (and leaving me with chores and two small kids) and then I got the hair brained idea that I would start remodeling on our house. It's been a few years since we have done anything and I was to the point of exasperation with it. More on that later. Then when Mike got back, I needed to start getting stuff ready for the Expo. I should have done more (or at the very least found a more vocal person to introduce the Sanctuary and do more talking. I am NOT that person). And it was also time spent prepping for the Expo for our drill team. This week has been prepping for the snow storm and getting caught up on everything that's been neglected over the past few weeks (including laundry and other non-horse related stuff).


Of course, through all of that, I was supposed to have jury duty! I got out of that for a month but now I'll be having jury duty for the  month of April. At least April will be a quiet month for us. But I seem to be struggling for some reason. I'm not sure. Maybe it was the sneak peak previous I watched of Heartland. Maybe my life would be more interesting if it was set to music. :-)


And if there wasn't enough upheaval, the house is in disarray. So much for my new years resolution of being more organized. Two Thursdays ago, I ripped up the old carpet. It's been the crappy carpet that was in the house when we bought it (10 years ago). It was  more than time to get rid of it. Beneath that carpet was linoleum. Curses to linoleum. I was pretty stymied but wouldn't you know, my parents came to the rescue. Mike and I needed some quality family time with the kids that following weekend and when we returned from a day of adventures, we discovered that mom and dad had ripped up the floor! Yay to less work for me! I'm hoping that soon we'll have a brand new floor and can get some order back into our house. But as most remodels go with our house, it'll be at least another month or more before anything can be done. As with any farm house, there's quirks. And there are a LOT of quirks in this house. Mike is talking about ripping up more of the floor. Go figure. Nothing is easy around here. I am afraid the rest of the Sanctuary is like that as well.


My goal this summer is to get most of the outbuildings painted. I painted most of the garage but am seeing that we need to fix the roof. The roof (or lack there of) is ruining the paint. The barn desperately needs to be scraped and painted, along with the tack room, and garden house, not to mention the hay barn (which also needs a new roof). If only everything didn't require money and take hours to repair.


So, call it a let down from all the activities or a decompress or whatever you want. I'm struggling and not doing a good job. There's so much to do and yet, I can't seem to focus my brain for more than about 10 minutes on any task.  I'm starting to get some disjointed thoughts bouncing around in my brain and I'm struggling with those too. There's more I should be doing. More I should be saying. But there's less time for everything and I'm seeing the ill effects of me burning the candle at both ends.


And maybe this weird feeling is not only the letdown of a crazy  month but also the standard feeling of juggling work life, sanctuary life, and home life. I dunno. I know I'm not making any sense so I'll stop rambling.

Rain

Spring Snowstorm

Spring snowstorms are the worst, at least in my opinion. I'd take them over a fall snowstorm though because it'll be gone in a short amount of time but the spring storms are unpredictable, just like this last storm.


Last week about now, I was preparing for the Tri-State Horse Expo (I'll write about that more later), and Dad mentioned that we were supposed to get a storm later in the week. I was so focused on getting through the weekend that I didnt' pay much heed. Of course, we DID get snow on Saturday, which had me in a total panic. How in the world do you get a white horse clean when you have no heated wash bay? Luckily, I'd spent Thursday afternoon getting Zeke washed (by hand and with warm water in buckets).We do things the old fashioned way.


After all the commotion from the Tri-State Horse Expo, I started hearing more rumors about this upcoming snow storm. I figured I'd better start paying some attention when rumors of a foot of snow were flying around. I spent two hours Tuesday night getting everything prepped for what snow we would get (and weren't really sure how much). At one point, it was 1-3 inches, at another it was 4-7 inches, and at another it was 12 inches. So I figured, I'd better be prepared. Because not only were they talking snow, they were also talking rain.


And of course there were two models they were looking at, and couldn't decide on how much rain versus snow we'd get and where exactly it would all land. I know meteorology isn't an exact science but I wanted to be prepared for whatever came our way.


They had also said it was going to start Tuesday night. It didn't. It didn't' even start until Wednesday late morning. But I was prepared. Water troughs were completely full, hoses were put away, and almost everyone was wearing a blanket (I'd opted to leave them out instead of stalling them). of course farther north (by about eight miles), they got hammered with snow so we missed out on the worst of it!


So the rain/snow didn't start until Wednesday super late in the morning and it was more of a sleet/rain than snow. In fact, we didn't' get real snow until late afternoon. But I was sure glad I had blankets on everyone. It wasn't cold but that wind hurt when the little pellets of snow/rain hit you in the face.


I did opt to pull Rabbit, Mayhem, and Junior into stalls in the hay shed. The wind was coming out of the north east and they have no where to go. Unfortunately, that pen doesn't have a shelter. Junior's face was caked with snow and Mayhem was almost soaked to the skin. I wasn't sure how cold the temps were supposed to be so I figured I'd sleep easier knowing they were in their stalls dry and warm and out of the wind. They were more than willing to go. When I went out to let them out this morning, it was dark and I forgot my flashlight. I heard rather than saw them but I only saw Mayhem's blaze, I didn't see Junior or Rabbit. That's because they'd curled up and were snoozing whenI walked over to let them out. I'm sure that Rabbit's foot is bothering her and Junior just wanted to rest. It's nice knowing they are comfortable enough to lie down. They weren't really all that thrilled to leave their stalls. Unfortunately, it was cold enough that the water froze in their 100 gallon water tank. I smashed it open with my foot and ended up plunging my foot half way into the tank. Thank goodness for water proof boots (and that I used the right leg instead of the other one, which has a hole in it!... time for new boots...if I can find them on clearance).


It's supposed to warm up again in the next couple of days. I doubt I'll have the opportunity to sit and watch the snow melt like I did after the last storm. I'm also not sure if this will be the last snowstorm or not. We do still have all of April to have storms, even though we are officially into spring. I'm not complaining, it's moisture we need to keep our pastures going. I was afraid we were going to go into a drought if we didn't get more rain this spring. I don't want to face another drought.


But I'll be pulling blankets off today and getting them dried out in case we have another wet snowstorm roll through. Spring storms are so crazy. We even had thunder and lightening. I'm not ready for the hail, strong winds, and potential tornados that come with spring/summer storms, but I am ready to see some green and get moving on some outside projects.