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.