A mixed kind of day
The household is still kind of reeling from the sudden loss of my Tiger cat. The younger ones don't know what to do without their 'Uncle Tiger' who raised both of them and I'm still missing him terribly. Maybe it's just as well this sudden extreme cold snap came along to keep me busy taking care of the horses. It was 9F (-13C) last night with 25+MPH winds last night and not above freezing all day today, still very windy and about that cold again tonight before we get a warm up.
When it's that cold, water freezes in the barn even with the horses in, so the hoses have to be taken off, which means carrying buckets of water. Back to the good ol' days, although I'm still lucky to have hot water in the barn, which I certainly didn't have back then! The outside troughs froze despite the de-icers, and walking outside is a nightmare due to all the ice. I thought I had it all covered by using the RTV to clean the stalls into, instead of using the cart - until it refused to start this am, in the middle of the aisle. Grrr!
Luckily, I had just enough room to squeeze all the horses by so I could get them in. They were only out for a couple of hours, because it is so cold and they were quite anxious to be back inside the warm(er) barn. I made it plain that they would have to behave and bless their hearts, they all trusted me enough to squeeze through the 2' clearance, even with a Strange Thing in the way.
Of course, today is a holiday, and no one has a replacement battery in stock. Maybe it will charge up, but that's a job for tomorrow when I have a minion here to help me. ARGH! Have I said before how much I hate cold weather?
On the plus side, a friend called and wants me to judge 2 horse shows for her this spring. It's a paid gig, plus I love judging, so yay! for that.
And now it's time to go take care of the horses again. Sigh.
When it's that cold, water freezes in the barn even with the horses in, so the hoses have to be taken off, which means carrying buckets of water. Back to the good ol' days, although I'm still lucky to have hot water in the barn, which I certainly didn't have back then! The outside troughs froze despite the de-icers, and walking outside is a nightmare due to all the ice. I thought I had it all covered by using the RTV to clean the stalls into, instead of using the cart - until it refused to start this am, in the middle of the aisle. Grrr!
Luckily, I had just enough room to squeeze all the horses by so I could get them in. They were only out for a couple of hours, because it is so cold and they were quite anxious to be back inside the warm(er) barn. I made it plain that they would have to behave and bless their hearts, they all trusted me enough to squeeze through the 2' clearance, even with a Strange Thing in the way.
Of course, today is a holiday, and no one has a replacement battery in stock. Maybe it will charge up, but that's a job for tomorrow when I have a minion here to help me. ARGH! Have I said before how much I hate cold weather?
On the plus side, a friend called and wants me to judge 2 horse shows for her this spring. It's a paid gig, plus I love judging, so yay! for that.
And now it's time to go take care of the horses again. Sigh.