Colder yet!

Last night my man came in the kitchen and said, "It's gonna be -15 C tonight, is Baasha gonna be OK?"

I stammered, "Uh, I dunno! I've never had this situation before!" and then I got all worried, but then I remembered he has his new winter blanket on, and a really thick coat, and that tent shelter we built this summer, so I thought he'd probably be OK.

Well today there was so much snow, I couldn't drive out there. I'm from Seattle and I just don't drive in snow. So my man was nice enough to drive me to the horses tonight. I told him I'd hurry. 2 hours later I was still out there, telling Baasha to hurry up with his warm mash of hay pellets, oil, and grain.

Apparently some of the horses (which ones, who knows, I saw shoe prints in snow so not Baasha) had slept in the barn, and the barn was a bit chaotic. There was a full wheelbarrow of poop and I couldn't use the wheelbarrow til I'd dumped it. That took forever, pushing that heavy thing thru the deep snow up the hill down the street past 3 homes and then along the field and then finally into the field to dump it on the pile.

The electric fence charger was frozen in the "on" position, which is better than the other position, but I couldn't crawl thru the fence, I had to go around to do everything like put the hay in the manger, fetch the buckets, etc.

The water has been off for weeks - frozen, so I had to borrow warm water from a neighbor. I had to clean up her bathroom floor cuz I got hay all over it. My man was waiting in the car, recovering from a cold. I hoped he'd just turn the car on to stay warm...

I assured the neighbor it was enough water, but I was wrong. I had to come all the way back and get more out of her shower. *sigh* I steered the wheelbarrow with water tank thru the snow a fourth time, up the street. Neighbors pulled their kids past me on sleds. Someone was having fun at least.

Baasha gave me his happy face, I think he'd missed me. He had icicles hanging from his mane, and half his mane was knotted. I have no more showsheen (and I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT! *giggle*).

He had a big new cut over his eye, thank God his eye seems OK, just swollen a bit. Poor baby, gotta get him away from these meanies - he doesn't just injure himself anymore, only when trying to escape. He has a new bite mark through his blanket just about every week. Such is herdlife, not really so tragic, but I am a doting mom and I hate to see bitemarks on my horse. Especially above his eye.

I tried to get him to come to water but the ground is so bumpy from frozen mud, he didn't want to make the journey. Luckily I had baling twine in my pocket, and I wrapped it around his neck and dragged him after me, steaming bucket of mash in my other hand. He took a long drink. I knew he would. I think the horses are only drinking when they absolutely have to, cuz the journey to water is so rough.

Galim lay down in the snow and rolled and Ronnie took it as an opportunity to attack him, and pounced on him almost as a kitten would. Galim jumped up and attacked him playfully, and Ronnie reared up on Gaim's neck. Fun in the snow, they're really not suffering at all, are they?

I felt Baasha's ears and they aren't warm, but they're not cold either. Under his blanket he's slightly warm. Not cooking under there, but also not cold. I had brought his second winter blanket, but then I thought it's better to be slightly cold than slightly too warm and risk sweating in the daytime. The nights are just brutal here. The days are too, I can barely take out the trash.

Thankfully, the other horses didn't want to walk all the way to the trough to steal Baasha's dinner, so when I was finally ready to leave, Baasha had eaten it all. Whew. That feels good. It infuriates me when they seek him out and take his food.

My man came looking for me, and I apologized. Everything just took so long today.

I really am done with the snow. I can't do anything, I can't drive, I can't ride, I can't work on my fenceline clearing blackberries. Melt please!

I hate to be so lazy, but this weather is making me just sit at the computer with a pot of tea. Maybe tomorrow it will be better. (The picture is our poor little yellow car.)