Jolly January

I decided a few weeks ago to join Facebook, thinking maybe I could Facebook instead of blog. But after one Facebook post I realized that microblogging is nice, but not super nice like blogging. The real thing. Here's what Lilly thinks of social media.

It's been really cold around here a lot of the time the last few weeks. We've also had a lot of icy rain so the road and the woods have been treacherous. This means not a lot of riding for me. But a little weather has not been so successful at curtailing picture taking!

In spite of the cold, I am sticking to my guns about no blanketing of Lilly. But look! I have not needed to. My brumby-turned-wooly bear is doing just fine in the frigid temps.

Last weekend Mother Nature ensured that the conditions were too dreadful for safe riding. First she coated all of our snow with a day of icy rain. And then she probably laughed when I couldn't make my annual Martin Luther King trail ride. Infuriating.

I spent the afternoon rolling around in the snow trying to get a few good shots of the horses. I carried this plastic cow head all over trying to get the perfect shot. One thing about rolling in the snow with a plastic head: it piques the interest of all the brumbies milling around. They went from being very interested to alarmed to very interested to bored.

Ruby refused to leave me alone.

This is the top of Ruby's head which makes me laugh. She looks like a muppet or someone from fraggle rock.

Another darling muppet.

So this weekend the weather was very nice. Except for the wind. The dastardly wind. And there was still ice on the road. But if you managed to bundle up sufficiently, the temperature was just fine. Today I went down into the pasture the get Lilly and discovered the horses had snuck into the ring and were naughtily nibbling sumac trees.

In two days, it is predicted that we are going to have a blizzard! I have heard words like HISTORIC and BIBLICAL applied to the coming storm! When I got to the farm today, Bill was busy getting ready.

I see that Boston might get up to 36 inches of snow. Out here where we are, it looks like 12-24 inches are on their way.

After tinkering with the giant tractor, Bill had to mend the fence down by the ring. The one that had allowed the horses to be where they weren't supposed to be.

Then this tractor came out. More pre-storm chores. I said to Bill with a chortle: No rest for the wicked!!

And then he had to help Lilly since she was missing a shoe.

 I gotta say, Lilly's feet are looking really great right now. They even look a little concave! This is great. It goes to show you that shoes are not all bad. In Lilly's case they are practically medicine for her feet! She'll stay shoe-free at least until the storm is over. Maybe longer. It will all depend on how ouchie she looks. Some years she has been shoe-free all spring and into June.

Spring and June? What are those?

 Oh look, there I am jumping for joy again. Wouldn't you if this were your horse? Your beautiful and tolerant horse?


Parting shot:

Jodie's hilarious little mustache!