Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Day 6

After the last heavy snow, we were blessed with a windstorm that knocked the snow from the roofs, trees, and bushes, so I didn't have to do that. Since then it's been snowing but not accumulating, and the snow plow/salter comes every night so we can make it to the store. Going to the doctor the other day was not easy, trying to park between snow drifts, my car wouldn't fit and the mean lady who works at the tea shop said, "The bus will hit your car if you park like that!" OK, let me keep trying...


     

Our lunar lander.



     

It's so discouraging when you shovel, and then it snows again and you have to shovel again.



     

This bush/tree next door came over for a visit. It's completely covering a rhododendron.



     

She didn't want to go outside to use the snow as a toilet, so she started to dig a hole in her litter box, and I ran to the piano and thumped on keys until she decided she could go in the snow: ) That's mean, but she has not gone outside but a few moments the last 6 days. The mice are having a great time in the barn.



     

My sister said I should use this opportunity to get Mag clean, cuz there's no mud to be found, and he might stay clean. Well, he cleaned himself, by rolling in snow, walking in snow, and getting snowed upon. I walked out one morning to nearly perfectly clean legs. I haven't seen his legs clean on their own since last Winter.


     

His face! Like he's saying, "My legs feel funny. I don't know what's wrong with them, but it's not normal. Help?"



     





     





     

And suddenly we have event lines *sigh*



     

I pour hot water in the insulated bucket every morning and they both drink it down, they love hot water. Mother's milk was exactly that hot.

We're starting to have a problem with the donkey. She's decided, due to the weather, that all the hay belongs to her. Yesterday I kept looking out and seeing Mag standing not eating. WTH. I went into the stall where the donkey was eating hay, and told him to come eat. He tried, and Bellis let him have it. Then I let Bellis have it, but I can't stand there all day. Dangit, I was just telling J how lucky I am that my animals share one hay bag (meaning less waste cuz we only have one trough). Now I have to put out two hay nets.

And like so many years, we're having another hay crisis. Our hay farmer owes us 1/3 of the harvest he got from our field. Guess what - he said he can't give us anything because the hay he made here was too wet, and rotted. We're welcome to the rotten hay, he said. Right.

This is the guy who tore up our field getting the hay out, and now there's nothing for us, no compensation, just a messed up field and an empty hay loft. And the other hay farmer we know also has no hay. They blame the weather but I've been here long enough to know how it works. If the grass is too wet, you simply make silage out of it. At least it's feedable, not a complete waste!

My husband went to ebay and found some hay and it will arrive this week. Just hope it arrives before we're completely out. I hate this, it happens so often, hay farmers blame the weather and horse owners panic. Last Winter our neighbors drove out of state, IIRC, to find hay.

I'm trying not to stress about the new dynamic between Mag and Bellis and food - hoping it's just cuz of the weather. But I'm afraid now that Bellis knows she can kick Mag's butt, she won't give that up. And he's on the verge of being too skinny - not as bad as last year, just the verge, but what a pain in the butt to have to separate them not just for their buckets, but for their forage.



     

I finally found a better streaming Christmas carol radio station, CBN, and although I don't get to listen to Seattle traffic reports (so much fun "ha, you're stuck on 405 and I'm not!"), there are no commercials, just Christmas classics.

You can go about your business at Christmastime here and not hear Christmas music. I've only heard one Christmas song this year outside my home, and it was at the Christmas market. So I am thankful for the streaming stations.

5 comments:

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Hoping you get some decent hay before you run out. Having to hunt down hay is the worst. At one point in time I considered finding new homes for my horses because there was this trend in Nevada of more and more hay farmers going out of business, and those who stayed were shipping their hay overseas where they could make more money. I remember one lady carried shears in her car and pulled over to the side of roads to cut and collect wild grasses to feed her horses. It was crazy. It also seems like we're always having to change our routines to deal with new problems created within the herd. I had to keep Gabbrielle locked up in her stall while Rock was lame with a hoof abscess because she didn't have to good sense to not chase him and beat him up. I'd hate to see what kind of a mother she'd be if I ever bred her.

TeresaA said...

Mag's legs look great! We have had so much rain lately that everything is soggy. I hope that you find some hay- that's a real worry.

AareneX said...

I'll take photos of the hay feeders that they are starting to build into the shelters at Fish Creek next time I'm there: basically, the net extends the width of the building, so two horses can stand side-by-side and both reach hay. For some troubled couples, they've hung an old floor mat from the ceiling to bisect the space, so horses can stand side-by-side but don't have to look at each other.

CLEAN! Glad you got a picture!

Hay: thank you for reminding me of my blessings. It was a good hay year on both sides of the state.

Crystal said...

I love my horses white legs in winter, about the only good thing about snow I can think of.

I would love it if I rarely heard Christmas music, the satellite changed my favorite station to Christmas and now as it gets closer even the am and fm stations are almost all Christmas, its just too much all day long

lytha said...

NM, how could shipping hay far away be more profitable? It makes no sense - someone has to pay shipping costs, and hay is heavy. Did I tell you that you never see hay trucks of any kind on the autobahn? That is considered too far I suppose, to even get on a highway. Hay is made and fed locally, delivered by car or tractor. It's pretty cheap.

Teresa, it's snowing again, day 7!

Aarene, nets are so efficient. I've decided I need as many nets as possible, then filling them is one big task, and I have a supply for a few days. I have one that is big enough to hold half a (small) bale! I like having a trough under the net so whatever falls out doesn't get stepped on, and I can shove it back in the net (after sorting out all the weeds, ugh). I'd like to see a pic of FC's solution.

I was wondering about Eastern Washington hay - I suppose it *all* requires irrigation, right? I was thinking how the problem here is it's too wet for hay (hence silage being the more popular crop). Then I thought if you were a hay farmer in WA, you have total perfect control over the moisture, cuz you either turn it on or you don't. And you can decide when to harvest, not the weather. Fascinating.

Crystal, I remember being flooded with carols back home, but now that I am not, I miss it. There are so many good memories with the individual songs. We listen to the radio, but the station we like has no Christmas music. I could search around and find a pop station that would probably play a few mixed in, but I really want 100% carols, and no commercials. I also miss walking into a store this time of year and having an employee say Merry Christmas. People say it here, but only on Christmas Eve, and Christmas day, and 2nd Christmas day (but of course no stores are open on those days).