~Sam~
12-20-2004, 06:56 PM
Yesterday, Ken and I went about our 'winterizing' ritual. We cleaned up some debris from the backyard and put some things away so they wouldn't be an eyesore when the snows fall.
There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than looking at a trashy pile all winter long that's covered by graying, melting snow.
I put a storm covering on the cellar screendoor... and Ken shoveled the trampled straw from in front of the goat's door so that we could shut the barn up in preparation for the cold snap.
Watching "Great Vacation Homes" on the travel channel last evening gave us an opportunity to have some dinner and to warm up before we had to go back out and put the horses in the barn and do chores.
The timing worked out well. It was 4:30 when the show ended with a featured home out in New Mexico that was built and constructed around-and-inside a pile of Huge boulders. Fantastic place! I told Kenny that if we won the lottery we were buying that home. Not that either one of us ever buys a lottery ticket...
As I opened the barn door and grabbed a halter and lead rope, Ken walked down to the pasture to help me with the gate. Raven, of course, was already standing with his head over the gate after bullying Precious out of his way. No one is going to beat Him to the feed bucket...
Except, maybe, that mare wearing the plain brown wrapper. When I had Raven's lead rope in my hand and Ken was about to open the gate, he asked me if I wanted to just let Precious loose to find her own way to the barn. "Why not." And as Raven and I walked out through the gate, Precious went trotting on by us.
She seems to like these brief moments of freedom, and to prove it she cantered up to the back of the barn, spun around and ran back down the hill. Waving her head around with glee, she bucked and kicked and tried to execute a tight turn to come up behind Raven and me.
That didn't work too well. The ground all over here yesterday was slick, semi-frozen mud and her right rear leg slipped and down she went.
Ken watched it happen, but I had my concentration on forward motion. And as my big black and I passed the pussywillow tree, he suddenly spooked past me and turned to look at Precious who was now lying on the ground. I have to say that this manuever on his part was done with Respect to where his human was located. It wasn't always so, and this made me exhale a deep, satisfying breath. "Good Boy! Most Excellent, Son."
He loves to be praised for doing things right. Hell, who doesn't? There's just not enough praise being spread around these days. Pity.
Precious stayed there on the ground, resting on her breast bone, a moment or two longer. We all watched with bated breath. Would she arise from her fall whole? Christ! I surely didn't want to go through another broken bone scene. But soon she was up and shaking off the stress like a dog shaking off water...
She limped slightly for one or two steps, but then she was trotting to the front of the barn where whe went over to say hello to the goats as I took Raven in through the door. I turned him loose as we rounded the corner of the milkroom aisle, and as he stepped in to his stall, that unruly mare trotted into the barn, up the main aisle and into her stall.
"Carrots All Around." I declared. And we went about feeding and watering and closing the barn up for the coming cold night.
Last night is the first night that I've ever closed the barn up completely. But with the prediction of temperatures dropping into the single digits, all of the stalls clean and not smelling of ammonia, and the thought of a nice, warm cozy barn... we rolled the outside door to the goat pen closed.
The stream of cold air that rolls down the hill with the little creek and into the goat pen, stopped immediately. The smell of orchard grass hay and the sounds of many mouths munching it took over the interior of the barn... and Kenny and I just stood there together, enjoying the peace that flowed within the stone walls.
I was awakened in the middle of the night, as always, by Cody snuffling my head, having to go out. Man! It was 2 degrees out there! ... so I urged him to hurry it up and made haste back to couch to wrap myself in the quilt.
Firing up the bowl and tuning-in to a movie, I fell back to sleep. When I opened my eyes again the sun was up and it was time to put on those layers, pull on my boots and head on out to barn to see how everyone survived the night.
It was still only 5 degrees at 8 O'clock this AM, but there was only a light skim of ice on their water buckets, and the horses had almost emptied theirs during the night. I had taken two buckets of hot water out with me, so everyone got a nice, warm drink to go with their breakfast.
Hell, it's 12:23 now and it's 13 degrees with a wind chill of 0. Think I'll go start my truck and go pick me up some firewater to unfreeze these old arteries.
Take Care All,
Sam
There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than looking at a trashy pile all winter long that's covered by graying, melting snow.
I put a storm covering on the cellar screendoor... and Ken shoveled the trampled straw from in front of the goat's door so that we could shut the barn up in preparation for the cold snap.
Watching "Great Vacation Homes" on the travel channel last evening gave us an opportunity to have some dinner and to warm up before we had to go back out and put the horses in the barn and do chores.
The timing worked out well. It was 4:30 when the show ended with a featured home out in New Mexico that was built and constructed around-and-inside a pile of Huge boulders. Fantastic place! I told Kenny that if we won the lottery we were buying that home. Not that either one of us ever buys a lottery ticket...
As I opened the barn door and grabbed a halter and lead rope, Ken walked down to the pasture to help me with the gate. Raven, of course, was already standing with his head over the gate after bullying Precious out of his way. No one is going to beat Him to the feed bucket...
Except, maybe, that mare wearing the plain brown wrapper. When I had Raven's lead rope in my hand and Ken was about to open the gate, he asked me if I wanted to just let Precious loose to find her own way to the barn. "Why not." And as Raven and I walked out through the gate, Precious went trotting on by us.
She seems to like these brief moments of freedom, and to prove it she cantered up to the back of the barn, spun around and ran back down the hill. Waving her head around with glee, she bucked and kicked and tried to execute a tight turn to come up behind Raven and me.
That didn't work too well. The ground all over here yesterday was slick, semi-frozen mud and her right rear leg slipped and down she went.
Ken watched it happen, but I had my concentration on forward motion. And as my big black and I passed the pussywillow tree, he suddenly spooked past me and turned to look at Precious who was now lying on the ground. I have to say that this manuever on his part was done with Respect to where his human was located. It wasn't always so, and this made me exhale a deep, satisfying breath. "Good Boy! Most Excellent, Son."
He loves to be praised for doing things right. Hell, who doesn't? There's just not enough praise being spread around these days. Pity.
Precious stayed there on the ground, resting on her breast bone, a moment or two longer. We all watched with bated breath. Would she arise from her fall whole? Christ! I surely didn't want to go through another broken bone scene. But soon she was up and shaking off the stress like a dog shaking off water...
She limped slightly for one or two steps, but then she was trotting to the front of the barn where whe went over to say hello to the goats as I took Raven in through the door. I turned him loose as we rounded the corner of the milkroom aisle, and as he stepped in to his stall, that unruly mare trotted into the barn, up the main aisle and into her stall.
"Carrots All Around." I declared. And we went about feeding and watering and closing the barn up for the coming cold night.
Last night is the first night that I've ever closed the barn up completely. But with the prediction of temperatures dropping into the single digits, all of the stalls clean and not smelling of ammonia, and the thought of a nice, warm cozy barn... we rolled the outside door to the goat pen closed.
The stream of cold air that rolls down the hill with the little creek and into the goat pen, stopped immediately. The smell of orchard grass hay and the sounds of many mouths munching it took over the interior of the barn... and Kenny and I just stood there together, enjoying the peace that flowed within the stone walls.
I was awakened in the middle of the night, as always, by Cody snuffling my head, having to go out. Man! It was 2 degrees out there! ... so I urged him to hurry it up and made haste back to couch to wrap myself in the quilt.
Firing up the bowl and tuning-in to a movie, I fell back to sleep. When I opened my eyes again the sun was up and it was time to put on those layers, pull on my boots and head on out to barn to see how everyone survived the night.
It was still only 5 degrees at 8 O'clock this AM, but there was only a light skim of ice on their water buckets, and the horses had almost emptied theirs during the night. I had taken two buckets of hot water out with me, so everyone got a nice, warm drink to go with their breakfast.
Hell, it's 12:23 now and it's 13 degrees with a wind chill of 0. Think I'll go start my truck and go pick me up some firewater to unfreeze these old arteries.
Take Care All,
Sam