Posts Tagged ‘horses’
Indoor Projects
Staying indoors, away from the smoke, was our priority yesterday, and it led to some interesting projects around the house. I’m trying to find items I may have stored in various locations over the last ten years. There’s a lot of guesswork involved. One interesting result from my searching has been finding other things I didn’t know still existed, like 40-year-old photos and an odd document or two.
I pulled out an old hard drive in a search for videos and found that an internal connector had broken loose from the circuit board where the USB cable connects. That’s one I probably won’t be able to fix myself, but I did find out how to get the plastic cover off by searching the internet.
It didn’t get as oppressively hot yesterday, but Cyndie still provided the horses with some extra cooling methods. Since they are stuck breathing the smoky air, we can at least help take the edge off the heat. Mia is still the one most likely to take advantage of the shade sail protection. You can see in the photo above that Mix is in the vicinity, but on the other side of the fence.
We’ve had some big storm clouds billow up nearby, but they’ve been just to our east and moving away from us. A rainstorm would be a welcome way to scrub the air and bring down temperatures a little bit. Unfortunately, the ten-day forecast doesn’t currently have any hints of rain at all. What it does have is some days with high temperatures not even reaching the 80s (F). Seventy-degree summer days are not something you will hear me complain about.
By the end of the day yesterday, it seemed like our air was getting a little better. There is a glimmer of hope for improvement moseying its way in. I’m hoping to get back outside today to do some trail trimming through the woods. It’s getting to be so jungle-like that a few of the pathways have become hard to detect.
That’s not very different than the hunting I’ve been doing in search of things I stashed somewhere in the house ten years ago.
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Stress Compounded
As if the high heat wasn’t enough, we now have the added stress of wildfire smoke dropping our air quality to unhealthy levels. The combination of environmental issues simultaneously becoming problematic gives the impression that we are living the very apocalyptic catastrophes climate scientists have been warning about.
I was indoors at a meeting in Eden Prairie when the visible smoke settled over the region last night. The sight of the thick haze that greeted us as we walked outside shocked us. Over the more than an hour drive to get home, I felt increasingly ill, developing a headache that increased in intensity with each passing mile.
The smell was clearly identifiable as wood smoke when I reached home. Cyndie had been offering the horses some cold carrots and a sweetened block of ice to munch on to give them some distraction from the heat, but there isn’t much we can do for them about the smoke.
As the sun was nearing our horizon, Cyndie found the herd out grazing on the hay field, looking like they were coping fine enough. That takes some pressure off our concerns about whether we are doing enough for them.
If extreme heat and wildfire smoke are something we need to adjust to as a new norm, I don’t want to find out what the next compounding stressor will eventually be that joins them.
Will weird coincidences start to occur? I experienced a freaky one yesterday.
I drove halfway to my meeting and parked my car to ride the rest of the way with someone else. In my car, I had been listening to my music library on my phone through Bluetooth. It doesn’t turn off when I shut off the engine. It stops playing when I open the car door, leaving an earworm of the song in my head as I walk away.
The song was “Times Like These,” by the Foo Fighters.
When my friend started her car, that same song started playing, from the same point where my earworm memory was looping. I grabbed my phone and looked at it, asking if my phone could have possibly connected to Bluetooth instantly when she fired the ignition.
She said, “That’s KQ.” (KQRS-FM, 92.5 MHz)
I tapped “skip” on my Apple Music just to make sure it wasn’t my phone.
Nope. It was her radio station.
What are the odds of that? I gotta say, that freaked me out a little bit.
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Cumulative Stress
From the National Weather Service:
Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses. Prolonged heat waves lead to cumulative heat stress for those who cannot adequately cool down and recover each night. Cumulative heat stress significantly increases the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke as time goes on.
Cyndie and I enjoy the luxury of geothermal air-conditioning that allows us to cool down and recover every night, but the horses don’t have that same luxury. We have been watching them closely during this current heat wave. So far, they appear to be coping with the hot weather just fine. Still, we try to do what we can to bring them some relief.
We already have had fans placed under the overhang where they like to stand, mainly as a way to reduce the number of flies bothering them, but fans work just as well to offer cooling, too. Although at the temperatures we are experiencing this week, it makes it more like a blast furnace to blow such hot air at them.
As an alternative, yesterday we put out a sprinkler to spritz the air with a cool water mist.
Mia was the only one to show interest. She approached very tentatively at first, then put one foot into the spray, and then the other. When she put her face down into the mist, I knew she was liking it. Eventually, she turned all the way around and let the spray reach each of her back feet.
If they didn’t cool off enough overnight last night, we’ll turn the spray on again today to see if the other’s level of interest changed.
The Extreme Heat Warning lasts until Thursday night, and we are now under an Air Quality Alert through Thursday as well. I do miss the luxury of having a lake out our door to immerse myself in for an instantaneous cooldown. Thankfully, stepping into the air-conditioned house works almost just as well.
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Hot Mowing
One way of looking at the crazy amount of overgrown grass (and weeds) that were waiting for us upon our return home made it seem almost disastrous and barely manageable. There was an Extreme Heat Warning in place that dampened my spirit about rushing out to begin mowing as soon as we unpacked the car.
I dawdled a little bit, putting some things away and grabbing a bite to eat, but the mowing really needed to get underway. I wanted to make immediate progress in catching up. To my great relief, when I set out to begin at probably the warmest time of the afternoon, it didn’t feel entirely overwhelming. On the riding mower, there isn’t a lot of effort needed. Rolling along actually augmented the light breeze at times, increasing the cooling effect. We also have a decent amount of shade from trees around most of the areas I mow, and that definitely helped to limit the heat stress.
All that remains to be cut today is the labyrinth and the areas around the house. I was able to complete 2/3rds of the total mowing by heading back out into the heat after dinner last night. It looks like someone lives here again.
Another way to look at all the overgrown grass is that it doesn’t require an unreasonable amount of work to get it back under control again.
Asher showed great affection for having us home and sat with me at our lookout spot after I finished mowing for the day, so we could survey how good everything looked freshly cut. We watched the horses for a while, and I thought Mix was moving a little better than she was in videos we received a few days ago. She is limping again, like something is hurting one of her back legs.
Cyndie took a picture of Mia (with a fly mask on) and Swings out in the hay field grass. At that time, Mix was staying in the paddock, and Light appeared to be remaining with her to keep her company. By the time Asher and I were watching them, they were all moving around together inside the large paddock to graze.
For the rest of the summer, we’ll only be away at the lake over 4-day blocks of time, so I shouldn’t have this problem of falling behind on the mowing again for the rest of the growing season. That is, if I plan correctly and the weather cooperates.
There’s still some catching up I need to do in the manure composting operation, but that can happen after I’m done with all the mowing. Even though that work occurs in a shaded area, the heat of the composting piles greatly compounds the heat stress of hot, humid days. If I don’t get to it first thing in the morning, it will probably wait until the next day. I can’t put it off too long because the horses just keep producing more by the hour, regardless of how hot it gets.
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Pile Diminished
Amid sweltering heat and humidity, Cyndie forged into hard physical labor on her first day back in our home time zone. I asked if she felt up to moving the horses around to make room for me to dump lime screenings with the big tractor. The horses didn’t get the memo. No matter how she tried to coax them out of the way, they remained a nuisance the entire time we worked.
On the plus side, they weren’t the least bit jumpy about the loud revving engine, the jerky movements of the tractor, or the sudden banging of the loader bucket. They give every impression of fully understanding what we are up to and seem to fully approve.
The added cushion of the screenings is an improvement over the hardpack they have been stomping on to dislodge biting flies. Although it won’t be long before they have the new stuff packed down, too. The old surface we are covering was once loose screenings, too.
The slope to the south end of the overhang is just enough steeper than the north that the tractor wheels would spin before I made it up, unless I made a run at it with a higher than comfortable speed. It made for a repeating series of “Coming in HOT!” situations. I only almost busted fence boards one time.
After working two separate sessions in the heat, we were ready to call it a day.
The pile is now greatly diminished. We may go back to using a shovel and wheelbarrow to finish the rest of it off, spreading it in any low spots or other high-traffic areas that get muddy after rain.
The forecast predicts we will be able to find the muddy spots as early as sometime today. Soaked lime screenings that haven’t been well packed will take on the texture of wet cement. It’s a price we are willing to pay in the short term while making improvements for the longer term.
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Bucket Loads
Today is Asher’s and my last full day managing the ranch on our own. The house has been cleaned by professionals whom Cyndie hired before she left. This girl thinks ahead and knows my ability to endure dust and dog hair is different than hers. Tomorrow, I drive to the airport to pick up the pair of travelers and all the Norwegian souvenirs they collected.
I suspect that Cyndie will be excited to see the changes that have occurred at home since she left. In case you ever wondered why we call our front field the “hay field,” this image serves as a clear example:
They started raking the grass into windrows in the early afternoon, and when I came out of the house after a late lunch, there were already four large round bales parked in the field. That round baler machine sure makes short work of the task.
Conversely, I was making long work of the job of moving loads of lime screenings up to the barn overhang. I opted to use a wheelbarrow to move 15 shovel-fulls at a time, because I was working with the horses surrounding me the whole time.
It will go much quicker when I can use the loader on the big tractor, but I need a helper to manage horses and gates, and be my eyes on the perimeter of the bucket I can’t see from behind the steering wheel.
I got most of the north side of the overhang covered yesterday.
They didn’t wait for me to finish before christening it with the first dump of manure. I’m not sure if that was a message relaying an opinion or simply a show of acceptance for the update.
I would love to get more done today, but we are about to get hit with a thunderstorm that has put any agenda I had for the day on hold. I should probably be thinking about how I’m going to keep the floors clean for a whole nother day for Cyndie. Wet weather usually translates to dirty paw prints.
Not that I tend to notice, though.
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Screenings Delivered
A week ago Friday, I called to order 16 yards of lime screenings and was told they needed to check for availability and would call me back. I didn’t think that would take very long. By the end of the day on the following Monday, I texted a query asking if they had learned anything. Crickets.
This isn’t unprecedented, so I decided to be patient and trust they would get to me as soon as they were able. Well, yesterday, after waiting a full week, I texted simply: “Screenings?” hoping to renew my request. This time I got an answer almost immediately. He said they could deliver in the afternoon.
That’s what I was wishing for a week ago, but I’m not going to complain. They have been delivered. I had them drop the pile directly into the small paddock. Now I need to spread it beneath the overhang and area just beyond. I’m not sure I can do it alone, but if the horses will accept being trapped in the back pasture for a few hours, I could open multiple gates and maneuver around with the diesel tractor to spread bucketfuls with the loader.
A week ago, I didn’t know that the hay field would be mowed. Now both things have happened at about the same time.
I was able to take care of cutting the grass around the edges of the hay field with the Greenworks electric mower, so that goal has been achieved. That mower continues to outperform reasonable expectations since I replaced the blade motor that kept overheating. I’m shocked at how well it works at cutting field grass that should be too tall, too thick, and on ground that is too uneven.
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It looks like lawn grass where I mowed what the hay cutter didn’t reach. I think the horses are going to like this when we can open up the field to them again after the hay has been baled and removed.
Hopefully, they will also like having a fresh layer of lime screenings to stand on beneath and around the overhang.
It’s a special honor to be able to give these rescued Thoroughbred mares royal accommodations.
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Happy Moments
There are so many happy moments at Wintervale, I hesitate to label one over another for preeminence. Usually, at the time I am experiencing a joyful situation, it tends to feel like it’s the best. Maybe all of them are the best. I’ve often written about how gleeful it is to clean up a pile of accumulated fallen branches by turning them into woodchips.
Every time Asher lollygags around on our property in close contact with us, regardless of what we are doing, it always feels like a best moment.
Yesterday, we received one of our favorite good moments when a nearby farmer showed up to cut the hay field.
Initially, the horses showed absolutely no concern with the activity, which surprised me a little bit. Especially since Mia is normally on high alert for anything out of the ordinary that shows up. Eventually, Light stepped up toward the fence to supervise the operation.
She seemed to approve, because she soon rejoined the others in ignoring the tractor entirely. For the record, it is a very happy moment whenever I find the horses remaining calm and comfortable while noisy machines are making a racket in their proximity.
Seeing the field freshly mowed makes me want to get out right away to cut all the tall grass that remains along the edges and in the corners where his mower didn’t reach. Having all the edges cleanly cut also creates happy moments for me every time I see them.
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Mole Caught
Yesterday, Cyndie reported that they had crossed the Arctic Circle. It looks like they are having a fabulous time. Life at home is much less spectacular, but I’ve no complaint with that.
Asher appears to understand that I am being much stricter about keeping him in my line of sight. This has reduced the amount of work I can accomplish in a day, but it has given me more time to catch World Cup matches. They have reached the third and final game in each group, so now the four teams in each group play their two games at the same time. That splits my attention across two screens at once.
It beats working hard out in the hot sun.
For having had three vaccination shots all at once on Tuesday, the horses showed no signs of discomfort yesterday. Our log guy, Matthew, brought his young son to work, so I had fun showing off things I thought would entertain him. He was particularly fascinated with the labyrinth. After walking it with him, he was determined to have his dad come walk it, too. Matthew was power washing the siding of the shop/garage, so he couldn’t do it at the time.
His son asked if he could walk Asher down to the labyrinth to wait. That was fine with me, but then I decided to tag along at a distance in case Asher looked like he was going to run off. By the time I arrived, Asher had pounced on one of those many critter tunnels and come up with a mole in his mouth. Matthew’s son and I then ran to keep up with Asher as he sought the perfect spot to bury his catch.
At least he didn’t do any digging in the compost staging area this time. He ended up picking a location beside the driveway, very near the shop/garage. It’s a trick to monitor this because it seems like he gets hesitant if we get too close, so we tried to hang back as much as possible without letting him get too far away from us.
Thank goodness there will be one less mole making a mess of the labyrinth. Good dog, Asher!
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Rain Came
Excitement started bright and early yesterday with a farrier appointment at 8:30 a.m. sharp. The horses had barely finished eating their morning rations. There were two more people in attendance than usual, and one of them brought vaccines. The horses each received three shots.
All four horses queued up calmly and showed no need to mess with each other. That doesn’t mean they didn’t make the farrier work up a sweat. She used a lot of muscle to hold their feet in position against the horses’ frequent decisions to pull them away from her.
It seemed to me that their hooves were a mess, but the farrier, Jamie, said they hadn’t grown a lot since her last visit, but they had chipped, cracked, and “pancaked” out a bit. She did a lot of filing, but didn’t need to do anything particularly drastic for any of the horses.
After tending to the horses, I turned my attention to mowing the labyrinth, which hasn’t been trimmed in a long time. I soon found that I couldn’t leave the mower at my usual low setting because it kept bottoming out over the shocking amount of mole activity.
It’s either one or two very busy critters, or a large population has decided our soil has the best grub worms ever. Getting the center of the lanes mowed was good, but it made the tall growth amid the rocks even more ridiculous-looking. We should probably spend more time walking the path to pack down those tunnels and annoy the moles.
Meanwhile, Matthew, our log guy, has made progress replacing rotted boards on the shop wall.
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Then the rain came, and all activity ceased. Well, not all. I still succumbed to a little nap before feeding the horses. They didn’t show any reaction to the shower. Asher shortened his walk to get out of the wetness, which was just fine by me.
Although I’m grateful that the rain meant I didn’t have to water Cyndie’s flowers and gardens.
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Relative Something 