Farm weekend - Friday

We had made arrangements with the farm owners to watch the farm this weekend so that they could take a long weekend. They were supposed to go over Christmas, then New Years, but the weather this year hasn't proved too cooperative for traveling.

Escapees

They were able to get away this weekend finally, as aside from lingering cold weather, things were relatively clear. G always leaves extensive directions as to which flock of sheep gets fed what, and this time of year we watch for new lambs, as well.

Ummm... You guys are not where you belong!

The Black Hills Stock Show is underway out in Rapid City - and two sets of friends headed in that direction this weekend. The vet, where Rufus is staying, has a horse competing. His place is also pretty easy - a couple buckets of grain, check the cows & horses, and fill the water tanks. It's cold standing, waiting on the tanks to fill, but not too strenuous.

Run, sheep! Run!

The other stop turned out to be more of a drive-by. We were just back-up feeders in case of emergency.

Friday evening, other than the sheep escape that occurred prior to our arrival (and didn't get beyond the alfalfa bales) things were pretty uneventful. After herding the sheep back where they belonged, haying the horses and collecting Ayisha, we headed back to town.

First order of business? A bath for the little dog. She's so low-slung that she pretty much drags her coat through everything. At the farm she sleeps in her kennel, so a bit of doggie-odor isn't a big deal. But when she stays with us she sleeps on the bed. And she likes to snuggle.
Much nicer to sleep with a cover-hogging but fluffy-clean dog than one that smells of - politely - sheep raisins.

Faces of Winter

Last week...

Today...

That roaring noise? That's the wind.

And finally,
just because this one reminds me of Yoda...

And this one reminds me of somebody...

I just can't think of who.

Can it just be spring now?

(wails)
I wanna complain about MUD now!

I gambled on a trip home this weekend. It's never good when it rains in SD in January. Which is what it did on and off from Wednesday until Saturday last week. Thankfully, it was warmer than predicted, and what Mitchell got was, for the most part, spitting wet and almost no wind - not enough to soak the horses through, and not really raw.

They weren't cold, or at least they didn't seem to be. And with plenty of hay and a windbreak they weathered that portion of the week just fine.

But unfortunately my gamble didn't pay off. By Sunday we'd had about an inch of fluffy new snow. Marginal, you say? Oh, but that inch of snow hasn't actually hit the ground yet. It's rampaging its way around the eastern end of the state. Visibility is somewhere between an 8th and 1/4 mile - sometimes under. The road underneath may be dry, but seeing where the road is, now there's the challenge.

So I'm working from home today. I had a web meeting via Skype (kind of cool, actually) and cleaned up cat yak in between updating library resource guides. H didn't have school today either, but she hibernated until one of her friends called about 10 minutes ago. Lucky her!

The horses got extra hay last night (and they will again tonight) and they're sheltered from the worst of the wind, so with the temperature staying in the 20's they're in good shape for now. And tomorrow is supposed to be better. I hope so!

No cows for me

Cow moving started bright and early. T gets to have the fun - unfortunately, H has Saturday school and somebody needed to get her there. (Apparently, if you decide to take two lunches instead of one because your friends all have the second one, you get an unexcused absence - well duh! That plus two tardies and you get to spend Saturday doing homework with a teacher. Kind of seems like punishment for the teacher, too, if you ask me.)

Anyway, since it's the vet (where Rufus is staying) whose cows they're moving, T got the long straw and I got to play chauffeur.

So I'm at home working on funeral scalloped potatoes and ham (one of T's friends lost his mother late this week), dishes, and bread baking. My horse time will be this afternoon. Sunny and I are going to bust through a few drifts - at least that's the goal.

Sharing is good

Pennie, Sahara, Star, Thunder, Amyra, Sunny

That's the gang, minus two at one of the tire feeders. New bale tonight. I can tell when they've been waiting to be fed, because Sunny gets possessive of the feeder, but tonight they were almost all squeezed in peacefully.

You know how the media a couple times a winter cover stories about kids getting their tongues stuck to street signs and bicycle racks shades of A Christmas Story? (And we won't mention snow plows. Nope, not a word about them!)

Ever wonder why livestock don't get their tongues stuck to things?
For some reason the snow on the bale fork was mighty darn appealing to these two. Silly!

And speaking of silly - you don't dare leave laundry unattended for long around here this time of year.
I went downstairs to grab the rest of the load out of the dryer and came back to find what I'd just brought up occupied. She was snoring.

Tomorrow we're helping friends move cows. If I can manage the camera and the horse at the same time, hopefully I'll have pictures.