Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[framing fowl]

Sounds like a great day to reheat leftovers and snuggle in. Sounds like thats what a lot of folks are doing today. That's what we did yesterday, it was great. I'm stuck at work today...

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds like a great day to reheat leftovers and snuggle in. Sounds like thats what a lot of folks are doing today. That's what we did yesterday, it was great. I'm stuck at work today...

I'm on my 2nd helping of apple crisp.

One thing I forgot to say earlier. A couple of weeks ago, I put blankets on my horses. The forecast called for a cold, wet rain w/falling temps. And, since my guys are out 24/7, when we get weather like that, I blanket them. Otherwise, they can and do start to shiver. When I checked on them the next day, I didn't like how Stormy's blanket looked. W/his age and his heaves, I worry about him, so I checked under his blanket. He was wet! Even though I had put some stuff on to water proof the blanket, it hadn't worked. So, I ran to my favorite tack store to get a new blanket. He (B) had just sold the last one in that size, but was supposed to get more in that week. So, I took home the blanket, and let it dry in front of the fire. The next day, since both the weather and the blanket were dry, I put it back on him.

Last Friday, I get a call, the blanket was in. I didn't have a chance to go to the store on Friday, so instead I went on Saturday. And, I couldn't find the blanket. It wasn't out w/the other blankets. It wasn't in the side room where B normally puts stuff that he's holding for people. It wasn't behind the counter. B was busy w/another customer. When he was done, he asked me if I had the blanket. I told him no, I couldn't find it. So B started to look. And, he couldn't find it either! That's when he realized what had happened. Several people had been in at the same time and one of them had bought a blue blanket. He never checked the size. He knew they had gone in the side room, but since there's other stuff in there that's for sale, it didn't dawn on him that they had gone thru the other stuff. (There were a few other blankets, some polo wraps and I don't know what all else.) He felt really bad, but I didn't blame him. Stuff happens, and getting upset about it would not have done any good. Only problem being, there was no way he could order just one blanket. He needed to have more for an order and things have been rough on him since the economy got bad, and he hasn't been ordering stuff unless he's sure it will sell. So, I had him get out his catalog and look up a few other things I wanted, but didn't have to have right then. That gave him almost enough for the order, but he didn't expect it until after Christmas.

Well, he got it b4 Christmas! The blanket is red instead of blue, but that's OK. Stormy is wearing his new blanket, and is warm and dry, and that's the most important thing.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's about how I'm feeling right now. We got over a foot of snow last night. I had dug all around my truck hoping to make it easier to dig out this morning. Didn't work. The wind has been really whipping the snow around. I opened my front door, and had a drift almost up to my waist! So, I had to dig that out to even get out of my house. I then dug a path to the driveway.

Once I had the path dug, I went back in the house, and got my snow shoes. My hubby thought I was nuts a few years back when I asked for them. But, I cannot walk in snow this deep w/out them. I would fall. I put them on and was able to walk to the rabbit cages to give them water, then to the chickens and give them water. Then I walked back to the goats. The snow was up to Sugar's belly. And poor Gidget, who is much smaller, couldn't really walk that well. So, I went and got my shovel, walked back to the goats and was able to push the door of the pen in. Then I proceeded to shovel some of the snow. Their food buckets are just hung on the fence. They were pretty much covered. I dug them out. I dug a path to the water bucket. I dug a path to their house and I dug out an area where I could put down hay. Once that was done, I got food for the rabbits and chickens, and hay for the goats. I also was able to get most of the snow off of my hay shelter.

Right now, I'm in the house. I need to do some dishes, then I get to go to the farm and feed all the horses, cats and chickens, then go to work. I don't really want to go, but if I don't, the stalls will be even worse tomorrow. Right now, I am seriously considering quitting my job at the end of next year. It doesn't pay that well, she can't afford to pay more, and it's really getting hard on me. There's nothing I'd like to do more today than to just stay in the house and relax. It's days like this that I really wish I had my own farm so I could have all of my animals together. It would make my life so much simpler.

Oh, and b4 I can leave, I have to get either my truck or my husband's Durango dug out. He didn't go to work, and he has 4 wheel drive. The neighbor (R) has a snow blower which isn't working right now, but my hubby is going to see if he can fix it. What's really bad is the neighbor next to us (G) got a new snow blower. R has used his snow blower to clear G's driveway in the past. We have another neighbor w/a snow blower (B). B has also cleared driveways for other people. But, it's highly unlikely that G will do anyone else's driveway. Most of the people in the neighborhood will help one another if there's a problem. Not G.

 

[Javamama]

for neighbor G.

Wow that's alot of snow!

 

[lorihadams]

My husbands brothers are lazy too. His middle brother is 28, I think, and the youngest is 22. Middle brother is skipping town to avoid jail and left youngest bro in his apartment with no heat, no food, and no job or car. Youngest bro doesn't have a license and is perfectly content to spend what little money he can borrow from people to smoke pot. My MIL went to visit them xmas eve and xmas day and gave them a big box of food. We gave them $20 each cause we didn't want them to go buy dope. We knew if we gave them any more than that they would smoke it.

They don't clean or cook or do laundry or help out in any way. MIL went and got the youngest bro cause he had no where else to go. He slept here at my house last night. At least he was warm and got a good breakfast before he went back home with MIL.

She finally had to kick them both out of the house. They are adults and sooner or later they have to learn how to fend for themselves. It's hard to cut the apron strings but if they keep trashing your house and making life miserable for you then maybe you should wait till they leave and change the locks.

 

[Denim Deb]

I was shocked! G actually went over and used his snow blower on R's driveway. He didn't use it on ours, I'm wondering if it's because we have rocks, and the rest of the neighbors have paved driveways. But, he did get a snow shovel and help dig us out. I had been working on digging out my truck. But, my hubby came out and started to complain about where I was putting the snow. So I went back in the house. I figured if he didn't like how I was doing it, he could do it himself. So, while the men were working on shoveling, I did a bunch of dishes.

When I was done w/the dishes, I left. I took my shovel and snow shoes w/me. As expected, I couldn't drive back to my tack shed. So, I put on my snow shoes, and walked back. I took the shovel w/me. There was a big drift in front of the door to my tack shed, so I shoveled that area out. Then I started to try to round up the horses to feed them. Normally it's easy. Not today. The first horse I went to catch was Misty. She wouldn't let me catch her! I don't know how long it took me to finally catch her. And it wasn't easy. It's hard enough to walk on snowshoes as it is, but when you're trying to catch a horse, it's even worse. I was finally able to catch her and tie her up. Stormy is no problem. He's in love w/Misty, and they eat in the same area, so he followed her in. Then I had to catch Licorice. She was also a brat and hard to catch. I was finally able to catch her and tie her up. Then I went to catch one of RU's ponies. He gave me a bit of trouble, but not as much. Then I went to catch the Haflinger. While it was bad enough trying to catch the other 3, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as catching her. The pony had a halter on, so I was able to clip a lead on to him fairly easily. And both Misty and Licky will stop walking if you have a lead around their neck. Not the Haffy. Plus, w/her bulk, she's not that easy to hold on to. If we had doors, it wouldn't be a problem, but if I don't tie her up, she'll finish her food and then kick everybody else out so she can eat their food. Once she was caught, the rest were easy. There's only one other one that needed to be tied, and he was standing by his feed bucket. So, I got them all fed.

While the horses were eating, I checked on my chickens. They were out of water. I have a feeling that they may have tipped it over. So, I filled it back up, then filled up their food bowl. I gave the roosters water and checked their food. Then I went to check on KN's chickens. If you remember, she had tried to redo the netting I was using to keep my chickens in. I was never able to finish getting it set up, but one thing I made sure I did was have it at an angle. She didn't see the need. She used the same kind of netting to keep her chickens in, and it's basically all at the same height. Well, as I expected, the snow has caved it in. I don't know if it's destroyed or not. I wasn't about to try and do anything w/it. I didn't have the time, nor did I want a bunch of snow down my neck. I gave her chickens water, checked their food and collected the eggs. Then I went and untied the horses, fed the cats and went to work.

I'm really, really, really considering quitting. I don't know if the girl that cleans the stalls on the weekends doesn't do a good job or what. But I do know that it takes me longer to clean the stalls on Monday than any other day. And, I'm tired of cleaning stalls for somebody else. She keeps her horses locked up at night. Even if I had my own farm, I wouldn't leave my horses in at night unless there was a reason. So, if I can find another way to earn some money that's easier (and legal), I'm going to quit at the end of next year.

 

[BarredBuff]

I aint got any ideas but I have some hugs.

 

[Denim Deb]

They're always good! I'm praying about it, so I'll have to see where God leads me.

 

[savingdogs]

I know exactly how you feel about wanting to stop working! I felt like I dragged myself through this last year and came out of it all worn out and used up!

 

[Denim Deb]

I know exactly how you feel about wanting to stop working! I felt like I dragged myself through this last year and came out of it all worn out and used up!

That's about how I feel. I'm getting too old to work this hard all the time. I never have the time to sit back and smell the roses. I have a bunch of puzzles that I've never done because I don't have the time to work on them. I rarely have time to play the piano, and don't know when I last played my guitar or clarinet. I want to bake cookies and bread. I want to go canoeing and ride Misty. But, I never get the time, so something has GOT to change.