Posts Tagged ‘dawn sky’
Bales Delivery
We were told to expect delivery of a load of hay bales by 7:30 a.m. That meant getting ourselves going a little earlier than usual. Asher didn’t mind one bit and happily darted into the semi-dark woods to see if any straggling raccoons hadn’t made it back to their daytime hiding spots up in our trees.
Wisps of fog rolled around the lowest points of the terrain, giving the predawn atmosphere a mystical feel. We had enlisted the help of my sister’s grandson, Drew (making him my grand-nephew, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue), a student at nearby UWRF, to help toss bales. He had to drive through patches of that same fog to get here, with the added challenge of the sun showing up right at eye level.
The next to arrive was Tom, one of the founders of This Old Horse, followed soon after by Paul, the farmer bringing hay all the way from up north near Hayward.
Many hands made for light work, and in no time we had a little over 150 bales stacked on pallets in the hay shed.
When the work was done, Light came over to thank Tom for making sure the horses always have all their needs taken care of. We now feel the satisfaction of knowing there is a good reserve of hay in the shed for whatever the coming months throw our way in terms of weather.
I don’t recall if I’ve written about it yet, but it sounds like everything is proceeding on schedule with a plan for our friend and nearby resident, Michelle, to adopt Mia before the end of this month. Tom talked with Cyndie about the possibility of bringing another horse to replace Mia and keep our herd number at four. It doesn’t sound like he had a specific horse in mind yet, but they are giving it thought.
We are thrilled for both Mia and Michelle. They developed an instant bond on the first day they encountered each other here. We anticipate some initial objections from the horses upon her removal. Horses can be uncomfortable with the change of having their herd separated. We’ll strive to assure them there is no need to be concerned.
With the job of stacking hay behind us, Cyndie and I took a relaxing walk with Asher through the woods and then came back to the horses to hang out. I brought a book and sat outside the fence while Cyndie enjoyed an extended interaction with Mia.
We scored another glorious fall day with temperatures in the 70s (F). I’m not complaining, but I can’t help shaking a feeling that this nice weather is a symptom of the much bigger problem caused by short-sighted human behaviors. I sense that climate scientists know this feeling well.
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Ventured Out
Apparently, the horses were just waiting for nightfall to venture out into the deep snow covering the hay field. Their meandering trails made for an interesting pattern beneath the colorful dawn sky yesterday morning.
It was around -5°(F) but the horses appeared unperturbed by the cold, even though there was frost on some of their whiskers and eyelashes. By noon, it had warmed to the mid-teens and their attitude had noticeably changed.
They showed a much greater interest in stuffing themselves with hay at noon. That preoccupation was a helpful distraction, allowing me to put blankets on all of them in advance of extreme weather coming in the days ahead. I think they were wise to the threat and were stoking their furnaces in advance.
Probably why they were so accepting of my fumbling around to get the blankets on them. They seem to sense what lies ahead in the weather department.
I got the barn and hay shed loop plowed yesterday and it was just as tricky as I suspected because of the depth of the snow. By taking it slow and moving half-plow-blade amounts of snow at a time, I accomplished my goal. After parking the ATV back in the shop garage, I headed down to clean up the edges with a shovel and was surprised to find the feed delivery van parked at the barn, unloading bags.
They showed up a day early to avoid making deliveries in wild weather.
It’s a good thing I ventured out to plow when I did. This incident encourages me to not let things wait until the last minute. If I had waited any longer to get that part of the drive plowed, those 50 lb. bags of feed would be piled in the snow at the edge of the driveway and I would have been carrying them down to the barn by myself.
Sounds like winter is going to come in like a lion this year. There’ll be no worrying about whether or not it will be a white Christmas around these parts.
Ho, ho, ho.
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