Winter Chores

I got in about 6 from doing chores. Without the wind tonight, I actually was too warm, dressed in a hoody, insulated coveralls, thermal gloves, and insulated boots. I put that "big hat" thing on that goes down over your face, forgot the name. I had to pull the hood away from my face. I changed my gloves for cotton ones.

But...I was dragging hoses, blanketed an older horse that I am boarding, threw hay to the steer and to my stud, Duke, and I carried a bale of alfalfa to the 3 weanlings and my older horse, Red. I figured they deserved extra nutrition! I grained the big lot with 2 big buckets of grain. I was huffing. There isn't much snow, but a crunchy layer to walk through! Then I drained the 2 water hoses and carried them back up to the top barn. Who needs a gym when you have this type of workout? I didn’t mind chores tonight, except that with dark coming so fast in the evenings, I finished chores in the dark. Only 1 more day until the official start of winter, then daylight will start to go the other way! Even though we have the winter months of January and February to go through, the days will get longer! More daylight means more time for chores, and, just maybe, horsey time!

I never blanket my outside horses. They develop thick coats. If they get a layer of snow on them, the snow actually acts like a blanket and insulates them, keeping their body heat between them and the layer of snow. I rarely see any of my horses shaking. About the only time I see them shake is if it is a cold rain. My horses are on round bales, though, and always seem to be eating! Eating hay is what keeps them warm.

The next few days and nights are going to be downright fright! Forecast is very cold! Tonight, Saturday, is to be -6, with 15-20 mph winds out of the northwest, even reaching up to around 30 mph. That makes our wind chill tonight at a - 22 to -32 below zero. Brrr.

Sunday is even colder than today! Hard to believe! High of 2°, with 15 to 25 mph wind, wind chill about the same as during the night, but at least there may be sun! Sunday night is forecasted at -10°. Wind is to almost stop during the night! Monday’s high is slightly higher at 13°! Sun coming out in the morning. Monday night is quite a bit warmer at 9! Then a reprieve on Tuesday at 26! Heat wave!

I'm glad I had meatballs in spaghetti sauce in a crock pot, because a meatball sub was great after I came in! I was hungry! Now, I’m going to take a hot shower, and make myself cozy on the couch. I’m going to snuggle under a fleecy blanket, drinking another mug of Irish Crème instant cappuccino, and read a book! Wrapping Christmas gifts can wait until tomorrow!