How IS your winter recovery going?

[chandab]

We have a touch of winter again, a bit of snow and rain, and now mud and slop.

 

[lucky seven]

My recovery is going very slowly, it just keeps raining and adding to the mud. Wish the sun would shine for more than the 5 minutes at the end of the day.

 

[bevann]

Removed the last of the heated buckets from inside the barn and finished scrubbing them today.Put away clean so they will be ready when cold weather gets here.Now if I can just get Mr.Procastinator to get the sheep buckets cleaned and put away before he starts raising mosquitoes in them.(killed my 1st 1 yesterday).He has his own time schedule.Our grass looks like it is ready to be baled for hay.Maybe this week he will get around to it.I'm not even going to say anything.

 

[chandab]

We have a near white-out blizzard today; ok, so not quite that bad, but its been coming down all day and there is at least an inch of snow out there.

 

[Shari]

We have a near white-out blizzard today; ok, so not quite that bad, but its been coming down all day and there is at least an inch of snow out there.

Good grief its May! Think Mother Nature in your area, needs a reminder it is spring!

 

[chandab]

Good grief its May! Think Mother Nature in your area, needs a reminder it is spring!

Yes, a reminder is probably a good thing. Much of the snow is gone this morning, but it's still only like 35 degrees out (well it was 35 like an hour ago, so I'm sure not much warmer). Back to winter coat and boots for chores for a day or two.

 

[Riverrose28]

It's really nice here today, yesterday was nice too. Last week we had four days of heavy rain, lotsw of flooding, and the roof leaked i8n my quest room, it is an addition and has a flat roof. More money out with the rain. So it was dry enough yesterday to cut grass, and I bathed two mares, got them rough clipped this morning, will rebath them tomorrow so they will be squeaky clean and dry faster so I can clip them properly. Mean time they are in the indoor, stalled, blanketed at night, in the round pen during the day. These are older mares and I wormed them, and now that the woolies are off I can see they need more groceries. All the rain sent me muskrat troubles. One was in the back yard yesterday and one in the front today, I cought them and turned them loose in the pond in the woods, we have several ponds and are only two miles from the river, so sometimes when there is alot of rain we get some strange water critters running around. I would hate for them to get in a fight with one of the dogs, nasty bite.

 

[MountainWoman]

Well, it's no longer below zero but this morning we are at 31" and still having flurries from time to time and cold drenching rain. No buds on the trees, no grass on the ground so winter is still here

 

[Charley]

Looks like it might rain today. Yesterday was perfect for working in the yard and we were out with the tractor and trailer cutting out dead limbs and cleaning vines off the fences. We were gone from the farm for 8 years while our daughter and family took care of our horses. I would come back in the spring and fall each year to mow the fields but a lot of things didn't get kept up. So we are not just recovering from the winter but from our absence.

The horses are older so more mellow. They love the attention that they get now and I love my time with them. My daughter fed them but very seldom groomed them. I fit that in and the farrier visit when I came down for a week to mow in both spring and fall. The tack room is organized and a new feeding schedule is in place. The horses look good and healthy. I keep looking at my carts and miss not having a trained pony. Hubby thinks I can train our mare to the cart but I don't really know where to start. The farrier offered to take her and train her but I just got back and don't want her to leave. Sometimes I think it would be better to purchase an new horse already trained. I am keeping so busy with the farm right now that it is not a priority yet.

So far we have the front yard back to looking good (mowed and bushes trimmed, bricks straighter around flower beds) but our land on the other side of the road is only started. We have some trees down that need to be cut up and moved and the trees need to be trimmed so the tractor can be used to mow under them. The fields have been walked and trash that has blown in has been removed. In two fields out of five we have started cutting unwanted little trees and bushes and have moved the horses off two of the fields. They may need to be reseeded.

We are collecting the rocks and stones that have surfaced and are moving them to where we will be putting in a stone drive to the barn. We are filling in a few holes in the yard with dirt from the horses and will be putting some on the flower beds. So much to do.

The good thing is we can see the difference where we have worked and will be taking it one section at a time. Since we have only 3 horses now hubby is converting one five stall building into a workshop and one two stall barn into lawn equipment storage. We will be removing our back yard fencing so it will be easier to mow and cross and making two of our fields into one field by removing another section of fencing. We are debating having a pond put in that field.

Inside the house we have been busy painting and had new carpeting put in. My husband has remodeled the half bath and is now working on the full bath. They new shower is tiled and he is ready to move on to the flooring.

I am finding time to read in the evenings and early in the morning I am able to sew. The granddaughters come over every now and then. So life is good. It is nice to be back home.

 

[Tab]

I think that our visit to TN helped us to start feeling Spring. The reason why it goes too fast is because we are all so busy having fun as long as the weather holds. I feel great. Sleep is great, soreness = happiness. Whereas in the Winter it's just physical pain! Horses are getting played with lots and lots! It took until the end of May to really feel Spring here. We've had lots of rain but no complaints, it just makes the sunshine days more glorious. Hubby cleaned out the garage so I can tie horses in there and groom and trim hooves even if it's raining. It accounts for some great fresh air and bonding time with the horses!