More Snowpocolypse

This past Tuesday we got hit with more snow than the last time.  Last time was a couple of inches, this time it was closer to half a foot or more.  Not only did we go home early from work on Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday the bases were closed.  Which makes everything really sweet since my command had already granted everyone a four day weekend.  Six days off!  Woo hoo!

So recap over the snow-cation so far.  Yesterday as I was trying to sleep in a bit superhubs called at 5:30am and said he'd gotten our truck stuck in a ditch and could I send him the US Rider info.  If you don't already have US Rider I highly recommend it.  They will provide roadside assistance no matter what vehical you're in, whether you're hauling a horse trailer or not.  So worth the money.  Anyway, I got the info and went back to bed.  Where I tossed and turned for 20 minutes before texting him to see if he needed anything.  Pick me up.   Arrrg.  I throw on clothes then manage to get my car out of the driveway to go rescue superhubs.   US Rider, due the weather couldn't come out for a long while so he and I dug out our ancient SUV and managed to get the truck out ourselves.

Thursday I wake up to find that Cowboy has broken in to the hay shed.  Fantastic!  My bull terrier Agate had chewed a piece out of my aging mud boots, well I needed a good excuse to replace them.  And there is still tons of snow on the ground.

Here a few photos from my snow-cation.  Keep it between the snowy flags everyone.

Snowpocalypse 2014

On the day before the first snow of the year, interspersed between text messages to superhubs about what I was cooking for dinner and me having to stop by Tractor Supply to restock grain and alfalfa cubes, he says "I am building your horse a shed on Monday."  Monday was his next day off work, and that following Tuesday and Wednesday the weather forcast said were going to be more snow and crappy weather. 

I was immediately filled with warmth and felt all melty.  Superhubs may leave his clothes on the bathroom floor, prop his feet on the coffee table, leave crumbs on the counter, and leave every light in the house on but he does know the way to my heart.  You want a hug and heartfelt thanks, you do the dishes before I get home.  You want me to jump your bones you offer to build the one horse in my little herd without a run-in shed a shelter. Oh yeah that man has my number.

When I returned from foraging dinner from the grocery store, and resupplied by Tractor Supply I found my mare out in the side pasture and superhubs in her pasture very obviously building the frame work for a shed off the boy's current shed.  Insert sigh of undying love right there.

I changed clothes, put the groceries away and then headed out to help.  It took us four hours in the cold, then sleet, then snow and darkness to get two walls and the roof on.  It wasn't the best, or the fanciest but it would keep the wind off Seneca.  Except no one told her that.  All she saw when I brought her in was a man eating dark hole that had suddenly appeared in her pasture. I put hay in her new shed, but knowing her as I do I also left some out side the shed.
 

Not only did she refuse to go in that night but in the morning she had ice hanging off her blanket and mane.  My work was on a three hour delay that then turned in to a closure. SNOW DAY!  When I was young and lived on the top of a mountain in West Virginia I didn't know what a snow day was.  A few feet of snow on the ground and they put chains on the bus tires. No big deal.  Then when I was going in to the sixth grade we moved to North Carolina.  A few flurries and the whole state would go nuts.

Before leaving I had laid a trail of hay flakes in to Seneca's shed hoping it would lure her in.  She resisted most of the day but by 1pm she had deigned to step foot in the shed. Yippee! This weekend we are putting the third wall on the shed and more weather proofing for the roof.  She will propably freak at the change and refuse to go in for another day but she will learn to love her new cozy cottage over time.

Along with all the other things that went on I learned something new about Fox.  I had picked up some beet pulp shreds from Tractor Supply intending to give my herd something warm and water infused as a treat and guard against colic. True love of horses is mixing up beet pulp in your guest room so the dogs won't get it and then hauling it out warm and steaming to yoru horses.  Except Fox didn't like it. WTH?  Both Seneca and Cowboy love it, especially warm.  They slurp it up with horsey abandon and lick the buckets clean.

Fox on the other hand took two bites and said "BLECK!, this is icky, no like this Mom."  He went to check out Cowboy's found it lacking and proceeded to murmur at me from the fence until I brought his grain. Cowboy was happy to snarf down his share and Fox's left over.  At which point Seneca had licked her bucket clean and was patiently waiting for her grain.


And to end out the snow adventures an update on my hand.  I got the stitches out a week ago.  Let me just say that people who haven't taken that many stitches out should not try learning on me.  After the first two screams that I am sure made those in the waiting area either cringe or rethink needing to see the Corpsman(Navy medical people somewhere between a paramedic and a physicians assistant)the more experienced Corpsman took over.  He was fantastic I barely felt any of it.  I still have lots of swelling, and I don't have the dexterity or range of motion I want. I'm hoping in a couple more weeks that the swelling will stop and I'll have my hand back completely.

Keep it between the flags everyone.

How Not to Ring in the New Year

With Christmas over and the New Year not yet arrived I ran off with Superhubs for a weekend away at my mothers house in North Carolina.  My Bull Terrier, Agate, got dropped at boarding because for me he is only a little crazy but in a house not his own with new smells and people he is more than most people want to handle. While Superhub's golden retriever went with us Agate got to spend his weekend  romping with other dogs and being treated like a prince.

The horses and my cats got entrusted to a new care giver.  My previous two feeders, sisters, are off to college and in their last year of high school. The new person is an old friend that I trust. Its hard for me to leave my horses with just anyone. Finding out one of my good friends did caretaking was icing on a sweet cake.

The weekend at home went great. I crowned myself queen of making the traditional chocolate silk pie, ate tons of food, argued over cards, spent time with everyone. Then I came home and all hell broke loose.

I swear all I wanted to do was go get the mail from the mailbox I had been home for all of twenty minutes. But on the way Fox came up to the gate I would need to pass to retrieve the mail. How could I pass up that cute face? So I stopped to stroke his nose, then discovered some horse treats in my pocket so fed him one. This, of course, attracted Cowboy.  I gave him a treat, then tried to give him a mint. *Sigh* In hindsight I wish I had ignored the cuteness and walked by.

I spent four hours in the ER, six shots for numbing, a bag of IV antibiotics and morphine, an xray, and the piece de resistance 12 stitches. On my right hand. Always my injuries are on the right. Anyway the gist of what happened. I went to give Cowboy the mint he thought Fox was going to steal it and he made to snatch it and tried to take my fingers with the mint. The funny thing? Fox hates mints.

God bless Superhubs. He was previously an EMT/Paramedic. He doesn't panic in the face of human injury/trauma.  He took care of me, called his work to let them know he wouldn't be in, I called my work to alert them to the situation, then more calmly than when I broke my ankle he drove me to the Naval hospital's emergency room.

So for the beginning of the New Year I have...*GROWL* another month to wait before I can get on my horse.Yipee.