That describes the manure piles waiting for me this morning. The Fraser Valley is experiencing an arctic outflow, so it is unprecedentedly cold and very windy at Farcical Farm. Almost surreal after a week in Hawaii.
Melissa did a great job of keeping everyone comfortable in our absence, and none of the sporadic power outages lasted long enough to freeze the heated water buckets/troughs. I did take some time to insulate the pipe stand in the horse paddock before we left, but it obviously needs a better spigot cozy because the handle is frozen solid. Fortunately it's only 150 feet from our downstairs bathroom to the water trough, so I was able to service the horses with four big buckets from the shower. A time-consuming process because the water pressure in the Ruddy Beast is awful, but much easier than what other Fraser Valley horse owners are probably being forced to do.
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Oh Baby!! With the windchill factor...everything is frozen at my boarding place too..pipes because the power went off too long. And why a boarding facility like mine does NOT +#O+X*!!! So I worry...not enough water outside with them picking it out becasue it is frozen. I brought beet pulp home so I can take it tomorrow with alot of water in it too!!
Glad you have the memory of wonderful and warm still so close!
KK
Thanks, DP for the definition of "artic outflow." For my part, I define it as s**t-eatin' cold! We decided it was the coldest night we've spent here in the Kittitas Valley, 'cause it was the first time in 6 1/2 years that we had to turn on our "auxilary" baseboard heaters!
We figured the wind chill at our place yesterday was in the -12 to -15 d.F. range, -25-ish at night!
And the wind, coming from a different direction than usual, completely took out the 2 by 4 framed tarp at the open "hay" end of the barn (20 high for harrowbeds by 24 foot wide).
So I had to move horses around --tho the blowing 2 X 4's in turn took out a gate, so my two three year olds were where my old Arab upgrade should have been, and HE was in their pen--'cause he's deathly afraid of tarps! (especially those which fall down over his head--tho I suspect it didn't fall so much vertically as horizontally, from where it ended, wedged against a fence 100 yards away from where it started). So I left them in that configuration, rebuilt the gate, and adjusted my feeding routine (all at that -12 d. climate).
But at least we didn't lose power, like Daun and Mr. Brego did, along with much of New England, so I guess we can be thankful for small blessings!
By the way, we refer to those rock hard manure balls as "poop-sicles" in honor of our old Aussie's penchant for collecting them to gnaw on...
We are in several inches of snow here now with blowing winds and a blizzard warning for the Fraser Valley. Hope you ladies and your horses are fairing OK. We still have power and propane, so no complaints.
Not doing so well on this end. The wind stopped, and its warmed up to the teens. Starting to snow.
But my one old man, Corky, was down this morning, and I spent the day at the vets trying to hydrate him enuf to pass a nasty impaction. Vet says he thinks we caught it fairly early, but even after 19 liters of IV fluids, nothing seems to be moving. We brought him home to his nice stall: 15 X 18 and a foot deep in straw. He seems to be resting fairly comfortably. I've hooked up my broodmare camera to keep an eye on him tonight. If he doesn't pass anything by morning, we'll have some hard decisions to make.
Corky is a great old guy: coming 29, and I've had him since he was three. Used him for everything from competitive trail to dressage to ponying yearlings. He's been retired for a few years, since he started having seizures, but still babysits any weanlings (no duty this year). There's a spot chosen at the south end of the pasture, under a willow, overlooking the baby pasture, for when the time comes....
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