Archive for the ‘Wintervale Ranch’ Category
Clean Steps
The snow just kept falling and falling. It also was blowing. I left for work as early as possible yesterday to get ahead of the expected slow commute. It looked like there was hardly any snow on our deck, and they predicted the accumulations would increase toward the east, so I headed west, hoping for the best.
The first thing I discovered was that our deck was a bad reference point. The wind must have been blowing it clean. There was over two times as much snow on the roads in our area as I anticipated. It took me twice as long as usual to get to work. By noon, Cyndie had called to alert me that it was deep at our place and drifting even deeper. I needed to get home to plow so she could get out for an evening commitment.
It was almost too much snow for the Grizzly. As I tried to push snow beyond the full width of the driveway, a fair percentage would roll back down. Just like I did with the diesel tractor last year, I got the ATV stuck at the end of the driveway. Luckily, our neighbor spotted the Griz tilted over the edge and came down to rescue me, but not before I hoofed it back up to the garage to start the New Holland and begin putting the chains on its wheels.
I couldn’t find one of the mating links for the chains, so I was wandering around in a search when I spotted the neighbor uphill from us headed down on his tractor. He would be able to save me work, so I hustled down to meet him, only to find he was headed back up to his place already. I was able to catch his attention with a wave, and we eventually were able to make short work of it. 
All that was left for me to do at that point was plowing in front of the shop/garage, plowing around the barn and the hay shed, retrieving the mailbox from the ditch, re-mounting the mailbox again, shoveling to clean up the areas I can’t navigate with the Grizzly, and then shoveling out the front steps.
It was a nice dry snow, so I was able to get the front steps pretty clean again. Unfortunately, high winds are forecast, so I may be doing this all one more time in the near future to clear out drifts that pile up. I took a picture of the drifts on the roof over the front door because I thought they looked interesting.
Maybe the reason I think they look interesting is because I don’t have to shovel them. I wonder if the gutter company that wanted to start installing on our house yesterday is glad I asked them to wait until later.
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Just Do
I guess it pays to write about my “to do” list. Yesterday, with Cyndie back at work (and me home for my ‘Monday off’) I decided I should act on some of the tasks I itemized in Saturday’s post. After feeding the horses in the morning, I headed down to the basement and dove into the project of pulling sheetrock off the old entertainment center in the corner we have been using as storage space.
It went pretty well, and I was able to finish and clean up with time to spare. With that, I headed out to the shop and removed mower blades to be sharpened and started cleaning the bottom of the mower deck. The sunshine and warm temperatures dried up the asphalt in front of the shop garage, so I also spent a little time out there cleaning up miscellaneous neglected tasks that were piling up.
Now it is clean and clear so I can walk all the way around the Griz and the diesel tractor in the garage.
Too bad the dry pavement didn’t last. New snow fell overnight to cover it. But that will also mean the accumulated manure in the paddocks will be out of sight again. Bonus!
I received an email yesterday indicating that the company we hired to install new gutters on our house wanted to start working on the job today. I notified them that there is significant ice build-up on the side in the shade, and that predictions were for 3-5″ of new snow. It seemed like the wrong time to start. They are reconsidering their plans.
I noticed the snow sliding off our hay shed looks totally cool in the way it holds together and curls over the edge. This is why I had “stops” installed on the back side of the barn roof. With the new road passing behind the barn, I didn’t want large sections of snow rolling over and breaking off. The stops will hold it in place to melt and drip. I can deal with the ice that will accumulate from the dripping, but I don’t want it to be a large pile of snow getting covered with ice, like happened last year.
So far, so good, on the stops doing the trick. We’ll see if everything is still working well after snowfalls begin to pile up.
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January Warmth
We heard temperatures would get above freezing on Sunday, but didn’t expect it to rise into the 40s! Cyndie came up to the house after feeding the horses in the morning, and reported how nice it felt outside, as she grabbed a toy for Delilah and went back out to play.
When I peeked out at them, I found Cyndie on her hands and knees, coaxing Delilah in a game as she crawled toward her. I went right for the camera, because they looked too cute together to resist.
The horses have been free of blankets for 2-days now, and they looked very comfortable with the relatively warm afternoon breeze we were experiencing.
With Elysa over for a visit, we re-inflated the big red ball, sealed it with a borrowed plug, and took it out to see if the horses wanted to play. It was the time of day when I would usually find them laying down for a nap, but they showed some initial interest.
It took a bit for them to figure out what the attention was for, taking turns scouting for treats, checking the ball, and investigating why Cyndie and Elysa were inside the fence with them. Then all of a sudden Hunter began pushing the ball with his nose, picking up speed and running up the hill of the big field. I was watching it all from a distance, and the sight of him playing with such gusto, and doing so all by himself, triggered an involuntary guffaw. It was a fabulous sight.
After that, despite several attempts, and eventually my joining them in the pasture to try enticing more energetic interaction with the ball, there were no further runs. Legacy’s only interest seemed to be in getting a grip of the plug with his teeth. I think it is safe to bet that he was the culprit in pulling the plug the first time I put the ball out for them. At least now we know better than to leave it with them unsupervised. We took the ball back to the barn and allowed them to resume their willful idleness.
For the first time since this season’s snow first fell back in early December, our front steps are clear and dry. That first precipitation started with a freezing rain that turned to snow and was then followed by a significant drop in temperature. We were never able to completely clear the front steps of that ice before each additional snowfall added to the mess. Some days it was interfering with our ability to close the storm door. Yesterday, I was finally able to completely scrape off the accumulated ice.
Thank goodness for the annual January thaw.
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Opportunity Aplenty
Here are some of the issues that are crowding my realm of possibilities this morning:
Our male cat, Mozyr, has fallen into the behavior of peeing on our bed. I’ve been told that once that gets started, it is unlikely to change. We must deal with this immediately. I hate that stench.
We are getting more than enough urine smell from our manure pile. I had no idea what was involved with manure management, and I’m thinking now that the spot we selected seems undersized. I still feel like the location we selected is good, even though the smell sometimes wafts up toward the house, but I fear we may need to take out a few additional trees to expand the square footage.
Speaking of taking out trees, I now have all the equipment to do some serious lumberjacking and there is a dead tree on a corner of our property by the road. It is a chore that is overdue to have been started. Every day that goes by, the task feels more delinquent.
We spent time yesterday testing out the Grizzly ATV for assisting with cleaning up manure in the paddocks, with mixed results. The manure is frozen in multiple layers and much of it covered in snow. We tried both dragging the rake and pushing with the blade. Each seemed to make improvements, but manure that gets collected still needs to be scooped up and moved. That remains and laborious and lengthy endeavor.
I’m supposed to be clearing out our storage corner in the basement. In my search for a solution to the fractured triangular window beside the fireplace, I have connected with a local builder who stopped by to measure for the replacement. Over the phone I mentioned that we also were interested in having a storage room built in our basement. That seemed to go a long way toward enticing him to take on the window replacement. Now I need to get that space ready for the basement work to commence.
It is now nearing the middle of January and I never got around to preparing engines for winter storage. I understand that the primary reason engines fail to run well, or to even start, is leaving old gas in them over the off-season. I am my own worst enemy there. I have a hard time keeping my engines running properly, because I have a hard time getting myself to prepare them for the months of storage.
I took the mower deck off the little Craftsman garden tractor last fall, then flipped it over to be cleaned and to remove the blades for sharpening. It remains where I placed it, untouched.
I’ve got a half-built fence awaiting my attention down the hill from the house. The first snow of the season put that project on hold, but when it’s not bitterly cold, there is progress that could still be made there. I’m afraid the fence has gotten lost in the blur of other work that needs attention.
Meanwhile, we have plans for a Wintervale web site to market Cyndie’s services as a leadership trainer and to offer seminars and retreats here. The “under-construction” image is as far as we’ve gotten.
I’m sequential in nature, so I’d like to go back and get the first things done, so I can move on to the next few, but life doesn’t work like that. I’m back to playing “Whack-a-Mole” with whatever pops up in the moment.
Yesterday, since I had the Grizzly out, I ran it up and down the driveway to clear off the drifts that had developed over the week of historically cold temperatures. It was pleasing to so quickly and easily “whack” something from the list.
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Bravest Cat
It seems as though a pattern is being revealed to us where we start talking about reaching the limits of our patience with trying to make progress normalizing relations between our cats and dog, and then they suddenly make big gains toward the goal. In the last few days, Delilah and Pequenita have been working diligently to practice co-existing peacefully.
While Mozyr has lagged behind in the bedroom, the two females have been spending a lot of time fraternizing out in the main room. We are leaving a gate up, blocking the hallway to our bedroom now, and Delilah often waits by that gate for Pequenita to venture out. That little cat is being the brave one and stepping out in plain view, even as the dog winds up with excitement over the mere sight of her.
Occasionally, Delilah is able to play it cool long enough that it appears we’ve reach a new drama-free mutual acceptance between them. It offers us rewarding glimpses of what it might possibly be like someday. Pequenita will walk right under Delilah and stroll about calmly and slowly, while Delilah peers down at her with a look of surprised disbelief.
It is almost too funny to watch Delilah struggle to control herself, and eventually her wagging tail gets so much momentum that it swings the front of her body into action, springing back and forth in attempt to get the cat to play. It looks as though, if she thought she could get away with it, Delilah would snatch the little kitty up like a chew toy and run around squeaking her.
When the energy gets to be too much, Pequenita pins her ears back, turns sideways, and in no uncertain terms hisses a powerful message that backs Delilah off. The cat also practices a mean swing that has already taught Delilah to be quick to back away when she is bouncing around in hopes of some play.
When it gets too overwhelming for Pequenita, she just sprints back behind the gate for a while. After the dog has calmed down again, ‘Nita will return and try the exercise another time. We are surprised at how quickly she has been returning. It is often enough that it seems evident that it is an intentional experiment toward achieving normalization.
We couldn’t ask for anything more from Pequenita. She is truly one cool, brave cat.
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Two Views
Winter here comes with a variety of looks. I captured two recently that reveal the dramatic difference possible from one day to the next. Not surprisingly, the temperature swings can be just as dramatic.
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Where’s Mozyr?
With the horses and our dog, Delilah, getting the majority of attention since they all arrived, we have admittedly neglected the cats to varying degrees. Of course, one of the reasons they haven’t been getting the same amount of attention is that they so rarely demand it.
Can I just mention here what a nuisance Delilah can be with her penchant for scouring the firewood pile next to the fireplace to claw out reasonable sized scraps of bark which she then carries to any and all floor spaces accessible to her, to crunch into shreds, leaving wood shrapnel strewn everywhere? Yes, I can, and I just did.
You’d think she wasn’t getting enough fiber in her diet, but after all the horse manure, frozen dead moles, paper trash, and stuffed toys she mouths and often times shreds, I am pretty sure her chewing addictions aren’t vitamin or mineral deficiency related.
As we have slowly advanced the steps toward normalizing relations between the dog and cats in our house, Delilah has gained space to roam freely. We prohibit access to our bedroom and the basement for now, allowing the cats a few zones of protection from canine harassment. For the most part, the cats remain free to move about as they please. Their usual choice is to stay holed up in our bedroom, which has always been their perceived safe zone.
From the start, little Pequenita has been the bravest about testing boundaries with Delilah. Poor Mozyr has always behaved like a literal little scaredy-cat. He will often disappear from sight, hiding as far under our bed as he can get.
Saturday night we spotted that the rarely used (and only recently rediscovered) cat beds that Cyndie had placed on the floor in our bedroom when company arrived, had been peed on. In no mood to deal with it, I tossed them outside to freeze. Then I spotted Mozyr on the top level of their cat tree, perched in a position that looked like he was trying to pee. Poor guy was having a problem.
It being the weekend of historic cold temperatures, a visit to the vet was the last thing we wanted, but if he was having urinary trouble, and if we had been missing signals up to this point, it seemed important to have him seen. In the morning, Cyndie searched for an emergency vet that would be open and Mozyr VERY reluctantly made it into a carrier for the trip.
The veterinarian said cats will tend to stop using the litter box if they associate it with pain or difficulty they have with peeing. I had another thought… when we are home alone, we usually use our bathroom without closing the door, and Mozyr almost always makes a trip in to seek attention and get a drink from a water bowl on the floor in there. For the two weeks we had guests, the bathroom door was always shut when in use, and the timid little scaredy-cat was probably lost as to what to do.
It could be that he was not drinking as much water, or was just too scared or uncomfortable to go down and use the litter box. The vet re-hydrated him with IV fluids and we are enticing him to drink more with some tuna water. He seems a bit more like his old self already.
Yesterday, Pequenita moved us ever closer to ultimate dog/cat normalization with a relentless series of forays into unprotected territory, walking right underneath Delilah a couple of times, while ‘Lilah fought the urge to over-react. Our beautiful canine did everything she could to be good, but lost it a few times, chasing ‘Nita back to the gate. We think they both did a heroic job of getting better used to being in proximity with each other.
Mozyr did his best to not run under the bed every time he heard ‘Lilah’s tags jingle, but he hardly set foot out of the bedroom.
Slow progress, but progress in the right direction. Our hopes for an ultimately happy ending are renewed. I think Pequenita will deserve the majority of credit. If Mozyr overcomes his fears, that will deserve a worthy celebration.
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Horse Play
Sometime before Christmas, Cyndie brought home a “present” for the horses. It was like one of those exercise balls that lie around unused in so many people’s basements. One night while the Morales family was staying with us, Jose and I decided to inflate it, but we didn’t set it out right away. I forgot all about it until Cyndie was taking down the Christmas tree and tidying up the house. At that point, it stood out distinctly.
Yesterday, I took the ball with me as I walked down to clean the stalls in the barn. As I approached the paddock, I set the ball down in the snow and it began to roll toward the fence. The horses had already demonstrated being on alert when they saw me coming with the strange looking red orb, but now the alertness morphed into a playful interest. I let the ball stay against the gate where it came to rest while I stepped in to clean the barn.
After a short time, I came out to find all 4 horses still standing by the gate, staring at the big red ball. That was good enough indication for me that it would be okay if I put it inside with them. It rolled downward as soon as it reached the ground and Legacy set off after it immediately.
It was a hit. I took some pictures of them and then tried to capture some action on video. What I got was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t of them playing with the ball.
To my surprise, when the camera came on, Dezirea suddenly made a bee-line toward me to see what I was doing. That distracted Legacy’s attention away from the ball and he started up toward me to see what was going on.
It was all great fun out in the bright cold sun, while the ball lasted. By the time I came back to the barn to get things in order for the evening feed, and to bring them inside for the night, I found the ball in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the paddock. It appears that one of them pulled the plug. Unfortunately, it was a white plug, so if they didn’t eat it, it is lost in the snow for now.
Looks like the exercise ball games around here will be on hold for a while.
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Priceless Gift
Our friends left us three days ago to return to their home in Guatemala where it is warm and green. You know that a deep connection was made when you feel a part of you is missing after a friend departs. We are experiencing that, times four. Maybe it is amplified by the intense blast of cold temperatures now arriving in their absence. It’s as if a part of us has frozen.
Deep connections that get stretched across great distances will change over time, but they never end. My experience of returning home from Portugal has given me the opportunity to notice how the long-distance connection matures over time. The special people in our lives become so much a part of us that we are never really separated. I get a sense of Ian Rowcliffe in almost everything I do, and thoughts of him are perfused with the spirits of his family and the local friends to whom we were introduced.
The Morales family are now permanently bonded with us and are with us in everything we do from now on. A seed has been planted that has us imagining what steps we must achieve to allow us to travel to Guatemala to visit them there and meet their family and friends. We also feel a strong desire to lure them back to visit us when Wintervale is warm again and thick with green growing things.
I miss young Marco’s laughter and fullness of life, Jose’s endless energy and honest curiosity, Dunia’s brilliantly happy spirit and keen intuition, and Marco Vini’s wise and artistic peacefulness whether working or playing. I keep hearing the beautiful sound of their voices in my head as I go about the return to my old routine.
We are filled with the richness of the gift of new friendship, a connection with a family of precious people. They are gone from us now, but they will never be forgotten. Their spirits continue to permeate more than just our minds at Wintervale, as our horses and Delilah were influenced, as well.
Their visit and the bond of friendship we have received is a truly priceless precious gift.
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Sweet Sorrow
‘Twas the second day of January, and all through the house, echoes of emptiness kept ringing out.
This morning, I said goodbye to the Morales family as they loaded their luggage into our truck before Cyndie drove them to the airport. Delilah barked her own goodbye, and then we shut out the lights in the house and all went quiet. Too quiet, after you have just had such a fabulous time with company that they come to feel like family who make your life whole.
I expect the feelings of loss related to their departure are magnified by the knowledge that they are traveling over 2000 miles away. It is a familiar feeling, awaking memories of the time Cyndie and I departed from Portugal, saying goodbye to the Rowcliffe family who we had grown close to during a two-week visit there.
It is the feeling I get every time my annual June bicycle trip comes to an end and all the precious souls I have communed with for the preceding week scatter in all directions for the places they call home.
It is a separation from people who have enriched and expanded my world and caused me to grow in ways I never imagined.
I’m pretty sure Delilah will miss the attention she was getting from our friends. Younger son, Jose, turned Delilah into a lap dog with the connection he seemed to make with her.
I expect the horses will miss the extra attention they have been enjoying from people who are “horse-smart.” I know I will miss the support that Marco and Dunia provided toward caring for our herd.
The feelings of sorrow for the parting are easily balanced against the sweetness of experience and the immeasurable joy of memories we now hold. We carry the spirits of our friends in our hearts. They remain near and dear to us, regardless the physical distance that may eventually come between us.
Godspeed, Morales family.
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Relative Something 