March Madness

 Mid Month March Madness

Aka 10 inches of fresh snow. Let the pictures tell the story....

We knew this storm was coming, so made sure we were prepared for it. 

The day before we bought 2 more round bales and set them up in the shelter; one for now and one partitioned off for later on. 

It is really nice hay; first year timothy and orchard grass, nice soft hay for those old mares. However, they are quite sure it should have some alfalfa in it like the small squares I was feeding. 

I make a few piles in the snow  and of course Gussie thinks the pile Happy was eating must be the tastiest one!

Hopefully this will be the last big dump of snow as spring begins in a week.  We do still have a few flurries predicted for next weekend (of course) . I am so over winter!

Winter's Beauty

 Even though we have to deal with finger numbing, ear freezing, bone chilling wind and cold, there is always something lovely to see. 

The sun rising low on the southern horizon, 8:49 am.  (Yes those are round bales in the back field)

The trees across the river aglow in the late sunrise . We often see deer over there.

Even cranky mares telling me I am too slow opening the gate to their fresh hay! 

We were down to -33 Celsius last night but a balmy -13 C now . Warmer temps coming but still sub zero. This too shall pass.....

Happy has adapted to the herd quite well. Gussie still chases her at morning feed time but they all hang out as a group during the day.  Velvet has buddied up with her.

Christmas day was sunny and cold. Velvet and Gussie were dozing alongside the big barn.

That is, until Velvet saw me coming and had to investigate. 

And headed to the shelter in case, just maybe, I would put extra hay out.... 

The mares are wintering well despite the cold. They have 24/7 hay as well as heated water. 

I did some checking on due dates, it looks like Happy is due around two weeks before Gussie. End of April to mid May should be busy for me! 

The sun comes up and the sun goes down

 We are getting into the monotonous part of winter . 

As I look at the winter weather other parts of the continent are getting though, I feel blessed that we aren't covered in 5 ft of snow drifts or dealing with a raging fire. 

The fire is in the sky in the morning sunrise

But not on the western side; this was taken only minutes before the eastern sky was aglow.

The evenings are just as pretty

Glowing on that baby belly!

And the skies in true form, rapidly change. 

This is our automatic waterer that is accessible from 4 different pens- I love it! Especially when I recall all the years I had to fight with frozen hoses and frozen stand pipes and frozen heated waterers! Even one year in Creston where I had to deal with 200 ft. of hose, through the bathroom window and hooked up to the bathtub tap. Gah! Never again!!!

Its quiet here on the farm. Not a lot of excitement

Tom, hoping I leave soon so that he can sidle into the barn for his cat food. 

7 more weeks until March and the onset of spring weather. We can do this. 

Beauty full

 Painted by the Master's Hand. 

One of my favourite things is to watch the sunrise skies. These wide open spaces allow for some spectacular and awe inspiring views as the colours slowly appear, come to their full glory in the east and glow in the west. I am blessed to live here; our last place had such a small section of sky that we rarely got the full morning glory. But we did have those amazing mountains! There is always beauty wherever we are. 

Smudge and Misty remind me that not all beauty is in the skies! They took full advantage of the straw bedding I put out for the mares. 

Yes, I get an eyeful of beauty every day!

2024

 Well here we are at another new year. That last one went by fairly quickly- is it just me or is time speeding up? Overall it was a fairly good year- I got to visit with family, at least some of them, and Ted got to spend time with his family too. One of my sisters moved close to here so it's wonderful having family that close again. 

We are slowly getting this place set up to our liking; we signed a 5 year lease so that helps us to want to get a few projects done. The big one for this year is setting up some kind of hay shed- I really dislike having tarped hay. Too much goes to waste no matter how rigorously you tarp, the Alberta wind  has ways of rearranging things! And with hay this  last year averaging $200 for a 1200 to 1400 lb. bale, wasting any hay is not an option. I'm hoping this won't be a disastrous year for hay production. 

Speaking of the hay burners...

Did you say hay? 

Velvet is getting to the wide load stage....

Baby on Board

I saw a post on FB where someone was asking for old wives tales about predicting foal gender. Some folks swear by the one where if the mare is carrying low it's a colt, carrying high it's a filly. Hmmm... Belle always carried low and she had mostly colts. Velvet appears to be carrying low, so maybe a colt for her? 

Ruby is carrying high and tight as can be expected for a maiden mare. Filly maybe? 

Shall we sing, I want a hippopotamus for Christmas? 

Sing it, Ruby!

The weather has been just lovely! Above freezing during the day and not too terribly cold at night. The wildlife have started coming back around. A small band of deer were investigating the spilled birdseed outside our living room window, and didn't mind me spying on them. 

And Humphrey is back!

When I turned the outside light on he fluffed up his quills but kept on eating the birdseed. We make sure he gets some if the deer don't leave him any. 

I took a sunrise photo the other day and was delighted to find a smiling face in it.

Can you see it?  Nice omen for starting off the new year.

 This is Misty, the female barn cat.  I saw Bandit breeding her just before he went missing in mid November and it looks to me like she may be carrying a kitten or two in there- due in a couple of weeks. In other barn cat news- Smokey has stopped hissing at me and has become quite friendly, even lets me pet him before and during feeding time. Progress!

Every year, a key word comes to me right at the beginning of the year. This time, my word for the year is Patience. Especially with myself, as I navigate the changes in physical and spiritual life that aging brings. But also with those around me both human and animal, and with all the things that I will be dealing with this year that may not be pleasing to me. 

Hope you all have a good year, and don't forget to always look for and find the beauty surrounding us.

'Tis the season....

 What's Christmas without a Beamer photo shoot? 

All decked out in his ribbons

Hoping the girlz will notice...

Oh girrrrlz, where are you?.... 

(They ran down to the pasture)

Hello handsome!

Come baaaack....
(He rolled and left his mane ribbons in the snow)

This morning we were blessed with a spectacular sunrise. Such a warm day too!  

Here's hoping all those of you who are travelling to be with loved ones and family will have a safe journey. Many blessings for all those who don't have family or are shut ins and spend Christmas alone. 

God bless you all!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fun in the sun

 The morning sun, that is. It was a brisk -10 C this morning, but the morning light was so inviting I had to get one of my big girl cameras out for chore time. I had a bit of fun taking unusual horse photos; what I call bits and pieces photos. When I first went out, the sky was all pink and purple....

but by the time I was done feeding cats and horses, it went orange and gold. 

Velvet is  the most photogenic (apart from Beamer!) because the light captures her red and gold so beautifully. Ruby, alas, would barely lift her head from the hay pile, so  Velvet photos it is!

I am totally smitten with her mane! I have never had any other horse whose mane splits to both sides and hangs below her neck. And doesn't need a lot of brushing to keep it nice!

Mama Belle in the shadows looks completely different than in the bright light:

Well, I did manage one photo of Beamer, but sadly the focus isn't very good- but the expression is priceless!

Please don't tell me you want me to stop eating for photos!