What a day!!! Blech! But its good to have friends!
Okay, first, let us mention yesterday! The day was very busy, but it was a really nice and warm day that had me in short sleeves with no need for a jacket. I even got to sleep in a pair of shorts & a t-shirt instead of sweatpants and a long-sleeve knit shirt. The only down-side was that Pat had to leave for Texas so he could take care of personal stuff before he leaves for Iraq on the 26th.
Well, this morning I woke up to a considerably colder day than the day before. The weather reports had said it would be fairly clear and warm temps, so I figured it would warm up and the clouds would burn off. Uh, WRONG!!!
When I backed the Kawasaki Mule out of the carport to go feed the horses I stopped short and just flat out gawked at what I realized I was seeing. White stuff as fine as ash was drifting through the air. I even took a deep breath to make sure I hadn't missed the telling smells of a wildfire in the area.....but no, it was snow!
I fed the horses and came back inside figuring it was just wild weather and that we would probably be clear by noon.
Uh, wrong again!!
By 11am I figured I better get moving on getting the barns prepared for horses, and to get the old man out of the pasture before he froze his 17.2hh chestnut butt off. He's just not used to cold weather after all those years in a barn near the beach down in Del Mar. The 2 inches of snow lying on the ground were in blatant argument with the weather report that had been posted and even announced on TV.
As I was leaving the house all bundled up in my warm jacket and gloves, a Ryder van pulled into the parking area and it proved to be the FedEx guy. He had also been deceived by the faulty weather report as the poor soul was wearing shorts! I told him not to blame me, I hadn't ordered the snow, he replied that he hadn't either and practically dove back into the van for warmth. I looked at the thermometer and was not happy to see the number 26 denoting the current temperature.
Amid flurries and stiff/cold wind, I filled up water buckets, put a flake of hay in each stall and led horses from the pastures to their stalls, and put the old man into a light blanket to help him get warm. Its been a cold winter and both his heavy blankets are either damaged or too filthy to even consider using.
5 mares left to go and my knee just couldn't keep going, so I called in the reserves and got the Russell boys set up to come over after school to drag the "3 Amigas" out of the large pasture, and "Dual Quarter Horse Power" out of the small pasture. There was no way my knee was going to last the hill without damage, so I'm just glad Dave said he'd bring the boys by in an hour.
Finally, around 3pm, the snow stopped. 10 minutes later, I got the call from Dave that he was stuck behind yet another accident and was no where near the school. This meant Matt would be standing outside waiting for him in the cold, and his Dad informed me he had the wrong jacket on for this weather.....so, off to the high school I went to fetch him from the cold.
When we got back to the house, Matt put on one of Pat's jackets and pulled the horses up to the barn, and I made sure I had hot chocolate waiting for him when he got back in.
After thinking about the accidents Dave had mentioned, I called Karen down in Temecula to see if she and her daughter would take care of Pegasus for me when they were at the ranch to take care of their horse. Yippee!! They did.
At least all of this helped keep my mind off the fact that it was Valentine's Day and Pat was back in Houston and not with me......well, at least for a while it did.
The winds are still gusting pretty heavy, but the clouds have cleared. Now, I'm wondering what kind of weather to expect tomorrow.
Well, this morning I woke up to a considerably colder day than the day before. The weather reports had said it would be fairly clear and warm temps, so I figured it would warm up and the clouds would burn off. Uh, WRONG!!!
When I backed the Kawasaki Mule out of the carport to go feed the horses I stopped short and just flat out gawked at what I realized I was seeing. White stuff as fine as ash was drifting through the air. I even took a deep breath to make sure I hadn't missed the telling smells of a wildfire in the area.....but no, it was snow!
I fed the horses and came back inside figuring it was just wild weather and that we would probably be clear by noon.
Uh, wrong again!!
By 11am I figured I better get moving on getting the barns prepared for horses, and to get the old man out of the pasture before he froze his 17.2hh chestnut butt off. He's just not used to cold weather after all those years in a barn near the beach down in Del Mar. The 2 inches of snow lying on the ground were in blatant argument with the weather report that had been posted and even announced on TV.
As I was leaving the house all bundled up in my warm jacket and gloves, a Ryder van pulled into the parking area and it proved to be the FedEx guy. He had also been deceived by the faulty weather report as the poor soul was wearing shorts! I told him not to blame me, I hadn't ordered the snow, he replied that he hadn't either and practically dove back into the van for warmth. I looked at the thermometer and was not happy to see the number 26 denoting the current temperature.
Amid flurries and stiff/cold wind, I filled up water buckets, put a flake of hay in each stall and led horses from the pastures to their stalls, and put the old man into a light blanket to help him get warm. Its been a cold winter and both his heavy blankets are either damaged or too filthy to even consider using.
5 mares left to go and my knee just couldn't keep going, so I called in the reserves and got the Russell boys set up to come over after school to drag the "3 Amigas" out of the large pasture, and "Dual Quarter Horse Power" out of the small pasture. There was no way my knee was going to last the hill without damage, so I'm just glad Dave said he'd bring the boys by in an hour.
Finally, around 3pm, the snow stopped. 10 minutes later, I got the call from Dave that he was stuck behind yet another accident and was no where near the school. This meant Matt would be standing outside waiting for him in the cold, and his Dad informed me he had the wrong jacket on for this weather.....so, off to the high school I went to fetch him from the cold.
When we got back to the house, Matt put on one of Pat's jackets and pulled the horses up to the barn, and I made sure I had hot chocolate waiting for him when he got back in.
After thinking about the accidents Dave had mentioned, I called Karen down in Temecula to see if she and her daughter would take care of Pegasus for me when they were at the ranch to take care of their horse. Yippee!! They did.
At least all of this helped keep my mind off the fact that it was Valentine's Day and Pat was back in Houston and not with me......well, at least for a while it did.
The winds are still gusting pretty heavy, but the clouds have cleared. Now, I'm wondering what kind of weather to expect tomorrow.