Enough already.

This feels like the winter that will never end.

I got the horses moving around a bit, they tend to just hang out in their feed area - can't say as I blame them, the snow is so crusty I can walk on top of it.

It was a lot of fun watching them- I didn't have my camera at the right setting but got a few fun photos anyway.

Wish this one would have been better.... but I like the way she is in full stretch so I included it. I think I'm going to nickname her Rapid Rosie, she sure can move!

I trimmed Mama Belle's front feet today. And dang if she doesn't look pregnant in this photo, being lopsided and all.

All this snow just makes me want to cry. Just when you think it might be done with it comes down again, thick and heavy.  I am so over this winter. 

Of cats and Coulee

What a lovely day yesterday. Since I usually show you my eastern view of the Skimmerhorns I thought I would show the western view this time. Big difference is that the trees go all the way to the top on that mountain range.

I finally figured out why my two "barn" cats kept coming back to the house- it was because I had given them a different cat food at the barn . As soon as I gave them the one they are used to they stopped coming up to the house.

Dominance discussion.....

As always, a truce; they are basically best friends.

Thumper outweighs Foose by about 5 pounds, but given Foose's fearlessness it would not be pretty if they ever did fight; but they have been together for 7 years now.

I spent some time yesterday re-configuring the pen I had for Belle when she first came home, to make it into a foaling pen for Coulee, and possibly Belle if she is indeed in foal.

Right where I am standing to take this photo is where we will build the shelter as it is level ground. There is a bit of a slope to the pen so I am hoping that it will have decent drainage and not get too muddy once all that snow melts. Coulee will be turned in there at night and let out in the mornings.

Coulee ear-view of the eastern mountains.

Foose gives his blessing. He really is fearless, but not foolhardy. 

Spring fever....

Things are definitely melting here. The snow pack is going down, thanks to a bit of rain and mild temperatures. The ice I was battling with at the barn has turned to slush. So needless to say, yesterday as I headed out for the evening feed I was NOT impressed when this happened!

Huge snowflakes!!! Bleah!!!! However, it backed off and we ended up with only 1 inch of fresh snow.
We are keeping a close eye on the banks on the other side of our road. As expected, they crumble and slide a bit every year, but so far it's just a slow gooey mess.

This one is just past our place.

This smaller one is visible from our yard. I am sure hoping for a drier spring.
This morning at feed time, the fresh snow had the mares feeling pretty good. Rosalee is an instigator!

She ended up getting the whole herd ripping around. Great for them to get some exercise.



I'm just itching to ride! I could probably go ride down the road but that is no fun at all. Gotta wait just a bit longer so there is less heavy wet snow for them or until the driveway to where my trailer is gets plowed out.

Sun!!!!!

After Beamer's little oops, he had to show off a bit. I call this his dance moves.

We had a beautiful misty morning here, but before I could take it all in, I had to do a little bit of ice control.

Had to put soiled bedding on Beamer's path to the water tub, and scrap hay on my path from the haystack to his pen. Sure hope today's sunshine helps clear some of the ice.

C'mon spring, we are ready!

Movin' snow and movin' in the snow

Finally got our buddy in to plow us out. One of my major concerns was the snow piled against my hay, I sure hope I don't lose any to mold.

Although I have the top well tarped, the sides are exposed and the snow piled up against them.

Much better! Pretty sure that back bale is going to mold though.
It is raining non stop now, probably for the next few days and nights. Can you say, ice?
I worry about the horses slipping on the ice, but so far there is enough poop/leftover hay where they walk most to give them some traction.

As usual, Coulee is left out in the rain. Poor girl, the only one she can boss is Rosalee, but the yellow mare is accepted by the other mares so she has back-up. I really hate that I don't have a good set up for Coulee, but the plan is to build her a separate pen as soon as this snow pack goes down to a more manageable level, hopefully by mid March.
The rain has softened up the snow, so Beamer took advantage of it to play a bit for the camera.

Only thing is, he played a bit too hard and wiped out....

and then pretended it was all planned ya know!

Silly boy!

Is she or isn't she?

I better enjoy this sunshine while I can, we have a week of rain in the forecast. I did groom the horses and it's interesting that the black based horses are all shedding but my blondie isn't. Belle is shedding the most, and she really enjoyed getting brushed.

I have been paying close attention to her, trying to figure out if she is in foal. I originally thought no, but... she is starting to get a little wider in the flanks. If she is in foal, she would be almost 6 months along so she will be starting to get big soon.She hasn't been in heat since I brought her home, but horses in this area typically don't come into heat until March. So I'll continue to observe!
Speaking of baby bellies, Coulee is getting quite round. I keep hoping to see baby bumping around but so far no luck.
All the mares enjoyed getting their grooming, Beamer too. Next chore will be trimming their feet... all those hooves... 20 of them to do!

Meanwhile, we are back on river watch. In this photo, the river is the broken ice/snow and everything to the left of it, and on the right is the dyke which has been plowed off for the excavator access; they are back to breaking up the ice jam and opening the river.
I've been watching the news about the Oroville Dam in California and their fears of a catastrophic failure, and evacuation of all downstream.  I sure do hope that it doesn't happen!
This has been a mean winter so far. Winter storm/blizzard warning today for the east coast too. The usual February blahs have been replaced by unease and concerns for safety.
It's going to be one wild ride this year.

Sunday in the sun

Today I got my hay shovelled off. While I was up there I spotted Beamer rolling... next to the fence.... yes he caught his hind feet in the bottom strand. Fortunately the smooth wire did minimal damage, just a small nick on his coronet band.

After I got done cussing him out I shovelled a nice big spot for him near his shelter where it's nice and flat and far away from the fenceline. He can roll all he wants there!!!

Thumper making his way to the horses water trough, had to stop and get some sun.

Can you see what Coulee spotted?

How about now?

Tomorrow is grooming day. I need to get the shedding blade out!

Goodbye stormy weather!

This is where the snow topped out. It was starting to rain as I took this photo; I wanted a record of just how much we got. The expected storm looped over us to the north and we only got 6 inches from it- whew! It rained for most of the afternoon, but fortunately it was not a heavy rain.
My husband brought a snowblower home; he had fixed it for a friend and was allowed to use it in trade.

He widened out all the paths that I had so laboriously shovelled.... now they are about 4 ft wide. I still have major snow on top of my hay but with nice weather here it should come off fairly easily.

The horses are loving the balmy weather. Apparently, the gate into the corral panel pen that is set up inside the mare pen is the ideal location to sun oneself.

I watched the snow come off the barn roof into Beamer's pen- then I had to shovel through part of it to get his feed in for him. He was down at the far end of his pen watching. There is 12 ft of danger zone for the barn.

That fence post is 12 ft. from the barn wall.

One of my friends had her hay shed collapse, with all her hay and 2 horse trailers under it. Major disaster for her. Of course, she has to battle with her insurance company; I think they automatically tell people they aren't covered and hope they will go away and not fight for it.

Our wood shed didn't fare too well either.

We will be happy to tear this down this summer and build one properly and in a better location.

Which brings me to another thing I was going to mention- although you might think we are a bunch of hill billies when you look at the mare shelters and tarps, we really are just doing the best we can with what we have. Over the course of this year, we will get ourselves and the horses set up better, with a nice shelter and a better and more convenient system for horse care, as nothing was set up at all when we moved them here in November- we only had time to set up their basic pen before the hard freeze came. Plans include at least one 3 sided shelter for the mares- preferably 2; and a separate pen with a shelter that can be closed in for foaling and confinement as needed. A lot will depend on how this melt down goes as it will show us where the trouble spots are; the tendency is always to pick a nice flat spot but not if it will be a water trap.

In preparation for the expected snowfall, I finally got some tarps up to act as wind breaks. I don't want to entirely close in the mare's shelter in case one of them needs to escape teeth or hooves. We put up a tarp on the south side; it wasn't quite long enough for the full side but that's ok, that just leaves another escape route while still blocking wind and drifting snow.

Coulee surprised me by being the most curious and least afraid of all the mares. She was right in there supervising.

We anchored the tarp with snow to keep it from flapping in the wind- fortunately, not much wind with this new dump of snow.
Then we added another windbreak by draping a tarp over the corral panels that are set up inside their pen.

Sorry about the blurry photo- still figuring out my new pocket camera- but I included it because it shows just how Coulee got in there, helpful sort isn't she.

Once we got it up and anchored, Rosalee gave it the taste test. Nope, it isn't edible, leave it alone and don't chew holes in it!!!!
Meanwhile. Loretta and Belle stood together at a distance and watched all the proceedings.

We got it done just as the snow started again. Apparently it's mare approved 😤

We are partway through the Pineapple Express snowfall. We have at least 6 inches and it's still coming down. I am sure getting my exercise shovelling! Gotta wear off all those Christmas goodies somehow.
I shovel the path at the horses because I use wheelbarrows to feed with  and I don't have monster snow tires on them! Rosalee is always the most impatient, she hangs out at the gate pawing  or paces the fenceline.

Beamer was not being helpful at all this morning.

Beamer, back up. I'd shovel right to his feet, he'd back a step. Shovel, step. Repeat. Silly boy.

I think he's as sick of the snow as I am!!! It's coming down really hard right now but the good news is that we have a weather change coming, a week of warm weather without snow. Meltdown.... which could bring floods and where the heck is it all going to go? With paths having snowbanks 5 ft. high I might have to wear hip waders! It will be interesting to see if the ground is too frozen for it to sink in  but even if it isn't there will be a saturation point. Stay tuned......

Here is a snow day puzzle to keep you busy.

Batten down the hatches

We are under another storm warning, for about a foot of snow. This sure seems like the winter that won't quit! We still aren't plowed out from Monday's storm so we won't bother until after this next one which is supposed to hit tonight.

The snow in the foreground of this photo is what is on top of the tarps covering my hay. I will get around to shovelling it off eventually!

The skies cleared off last night and there is a 3/4 moon (barely visible in the first photo). Supposed to be a full moon and a penumbrial  eclipse as well as a comet. Click on the link for more info.
This full February moon is known as the Hunger Moon or the Snow Moon. Aptly named!
On the bright side, we are supposed to be back in the sunshine by Friday.  My wonderful husband also put a little sunshine in my life the other day with some lovely yellow carnations. 😍

Snow snow go away

What a day this has been. The howling wind woke us up about 2:30 am, and of course the dogs heard us stirring and had to go out for a pee..... I opened the door for them and quickly shut it again and got into my coveralls and boots and grabbed a shovel to make them a pee trail as there was a lot of snowdrifts that were too deep for Reba to navigate with her weak hind legs.  Not exactly fun in the middle of the night!!!! Got back to sleep for a bit, and in the morning opened the front door to this:

Good thing I placed the shovel right beside the front door after my night shovelling session.

I was plenty worried about the horses as they really don't have a wind break so I headed to the barn after only 1 cup of coffee..... it's usually 2 or 3.... and was wading thigh deep through the snow to get there. I grabbed the calf sled from the wood shed and pulled it down with me as I figured there was no way I could use a wheelbarrow to feed in that kind of snow.  The horses were really happy to see me and plenty hungry but they had to wait while I shovelled a path from the barn to their gate.

They got a couple of bales from my emergency stash in the barn as I had to dig out my haystack.

Won't be using the hitching rail in the near future!!!
The mares did have a lot of ice and snow on them but they weren't shivering. They were insulated pretty well as Loretta shows:

They all had icicles hanging from their flanks and they clinked as they walked.

Coulee looked quite pathetic and she let me know that she was in a hurry to get fed.

I left them happily munching as I went to tend to Beamer. He has a better shelter than they do, but with only him in the pen the snow doesn't get packed down much. I had to shovel from the gate to his shelter so I could get his feed in there.

I ended up giving them a mid day feed too as they went through their morning feed in about an hour. They looked much better this afternoon as there was a bit of sunshine, enough that they shed all their snow coats.

That black thing in front of Rosalee is their water tub, which is about 2 ft. high. I figure there is about 2 ft. of snow where it isn't drifted, and 4 ft. or more in the drifts.

Just over knee deep on me after shovelling.

I had to shovel my way back to the house (that's the neighbour's trailer) so about a hundred yards. Shovelled my way to the woodshed too. Thea was enjoying the paths as I cleared them.

Ted got called out to work for a local plowing contractor, and he gets to bring the tractor home to plow our driveway. I sure hope this is the worst of it over with, but we still have snow in the forecast until Friday. It was a snow day in town with schools and lots of businesses closed.
Now it's time to head back down for the evening feed before dark.....