Misty sunny snow with extra ice...and a hay mishap

Since Tuesday it's been impossible to take the horse out because of the layer of ice under the snow. I took the donkey on a test walk today and had to navigate around some ice sheets. She slipped a few times. Nearly home I ran into Sonja riding Arndis the pretty Icelandic and told her to be careful. She got worried and I told her if she goes slow, she'll be fine. Arndis is one of those dependable trail horses, a big moving couch, so she'll be fine.

Mara had to be tied up during our half hour walk, and another hour of me and the donkey puttering around the yard trying to find a blade of grass under the snow. A carriage went by as Bellis and I were in the street, and the two white horses pulling it were a little freaked about passing by a donkey. Mara witnessed the whole thing and her regular cries for Bellis changed tone completely in that moment to a demanding tone, not sure what that means, but it sounded like Baasha.

We've ran out of hay three times this Winter due to our slacker hay farmer and had to go to his house twice to get some of his hay (that he makes on our pasture among others) and twice he's dropped off grain sacks full of hay. It's incredibly frustrating but my husband doesn't want to lose him because he takes such good care of our hayfield in the Summer. He just doesn't seem to come through with his side of the deal by giving us hay. These last few days I've had to supplement beet pulp to stretch the hay.

Finally last night slacker showed up with what I knew would be a very bad idea, and I was right - an entire large bale (rectangular). "Flake" by flake my husband and slacker moved it into the tack room (each flake is too heavy for one person to lift, each is about 3X6' and 6" thick). There was no way to get it up to the loft, so it's right in the middle of my tack room so I can't reach my saddle, among other things. Hay EVERYWHERE. A layer of it in my driveway, a thicker layer of it on the path to the barn, and snow and ice underneath. I can't sweep it all up because of the snow. A windstorm would be perfect right now.

I fed my animals a lot, but apparently it wasn't enough because they spent their night trying to get into the tack room, which as you know has only the lower half of a french door. I woke to a disaster area this morning.

They'd knocked down my grooming kit, all the halters and ropes, they'd somehow reached the vitamin buckets, all three of them were scattered on the floor (thank God they couldn't open them!), and they'd chewed up the inside of the door and wall. All my hoof treatment/shampoo bottles were also on the ground, and the little rack they live in was bent in half. Oh, and they'd turned on the light so they could see what they were doing. It's like they were thinking, "The more things we knock down, the more likely we are to reach the hay."

I couldn't even walk in there this morning, my stuff was everywhere, mixed in with the layer of hay that was on the floor. Apparently having all that hay right there drove them insane, even after a large dinner.

After I picked everything up, I took a picture of the hay stacks - my saddle is in the upper right corner, unreachable. Not that I need it lately, but I spent the morning stuffing the hay on the table into large garden sacks which I took to the greenhouse so at least I have a clean table again. (We would have put all the hay in the greenhouse but when the temp is above zero, it can get damp in there.)



I'm all itchy because I was covered in hay so often today, my hair still has hay in it.

OK I admit it's good to have hay, but this is ridiculous. Our hay loft stands empty.

The following pictures I took over the week from inside my house.


Earlier this week we had a misty evening.











One day the sun was shining so brightly it made the snow glisten like a bed of diamonds. I couldn't really capture it with the camera, but I tried.



Diamonds and two Icelandics, made for this weather.



Nice zoom camera!



One of my favorite birds, they sing such sweet quiet songs. They're called Eurasian Bullfinches. I wonder where his mate is who sings to me when the feeder is empty?



He's sharing the feeder with a Eurasian Blue Tit. These are the most common bird at my feeder and I know their vocalization for "CAT!"



The one on the left uses his feet and beak to pry open the seeds, the one on the right has a parrot-style beak and just twirls the seed around til it's opened. It's fun to watch the different behaviors.











Praying for rain, and trusting that Spring will actually occur.

The miracle of Spring is never as miraculous as it is here.