Fall Frenzy

Ok, the first thing is that I have to make a complaint to Google Blog site.  Something is going on with Google because it will not let me upload a photo.. some sort of server error ... So I will post without a pic .. and try again later... grrrrrr...

The fall frenzy has begun here. We have once again been blessed with an Indian  summer. September and most of October have  been beautiful. So much so that I have been shirking my duties when it comes to work around the farm to get ready for winte and have been spending  my weekends riding (f your on facebook, I have photos to prove it, I swear!)  or otherwise goofing off , rather than working on fall /winter preparations which is now at it’s crucial point. I have been enjoying getting out for easy trail rides with Maggie and JB.  JB is finally getting some concerted work again after two years of really not being ridden and he is doing very well. I forgot how much he enjoys going.

After these last several frenzied weeks ,  I am going to request that weeks are 3 days and weekends are 4 days long.  We seem to be having to cram 4 days of activities  into two days.

Deny it as I may, it’s time to get the  winter readiness stuff done around the place. This is the part about property ownership that kinda drags.

I often dream about what it would be like to  live somewhere that this task is not required. That would be so nice! Not to have to think about winter…have someone to do all your maintenance stuff for you ... hmm... maybe living in a condo isn't so bad.. no lawn care, no fencing, no cold frozen fingers trying to get livestock fed in a storm, no frozen pipes forcing me to haul buckets of  water so the horses can drink, no wood to split, a garage that can actually be used to house my vehicle so I don't have to scrape ice off my windshield at 6:00 in the morning, as opposed to a place that we store EVERYTHING else that doesn't fit in the hay barn or storage container......wouldn't that be the life on easy street..

..but I digress....

I suppose my dislike of all this winter chorse stuff stems from the fact that  it means the long days of being outside in the sun and fresh air in shorts and tank tops  are replaced by long dark days of cold,  having to wear boots and multiple layers , being held captive to our home as winter blows down on us and generally everythiing just being a bit more difficult.  I suppose that is why I procrastinated so long  on getting outside stuff wrapped up and tucked away.

Nonetheless, we reluctantly  managed to finally get some of the garden boxes cleaned up, and plucked the last of the onions out of the dirt, which was totally  cool to still have fresh produce  in October. We put most of the outside furniture away , and  weset the  wood crib up on the back porch and filled it.  We got the horse troughs switched out and stock tank heaters tested and installed, ready to be plugged in at the first sign of nasty weather.  There is still much to do, like fill the garden boxes with compost, put away more patio furniture, coil up a couple more hoses,  mow the yard one last time, get the lawn equipment winterized, and pull the snow blower out from the barn.  I hope we haven’t procrastinated too long!

I even did some heavy duty  indoor work that involved a lot of housecleaning and rearranging,  in preparation for  finally  getting a real home office set up. This was no easy task. It required us to switch what was the guest room downstairs and move it to the upstairs loft, which has been serving as a storage area.

Think tornado and you will understand what my storage area looked like.

 After atleast 250 trips of going up and down the stairs, 3 bags of old paperwork that had to be burned or shredded,  two car loads of goodwill donations , a full vacuum bag and a lot of empty boxes ,  I had a guest room again  and the downstairs  room  was beginning to look like a real office, like it was always intended to !  It will be so nice to have a dedicated work space instead of a desk shoved in the corner.

 After our full day of work on Saturday and most of Sunday morning, we decided we deserved to go for a ride on Sunday afternoon….

ofcourse one did not have to twist my arm too hard on that… housework or ride?? Hmmm, not a hard choice there.

…..and ….since it was opening weekend for hunting, Tom brought along his rifle and JB packed it for him. JB was quite disturbed about that thing bumping against his shoulder, but pretty soon he relaxed and set off at a pace that was on par with Maggie’s walk. 

 The ride was great, other than I nearly froze.  We started out with having to saddle up in a  snow squall and I quickly realized that  I had not dressed appropriate for today’s outing.  Apparently , I have still not made the mental shift that it’s late fall and one has to dress in more than a fleece, vest , jeans and light weight gloves. It didn’t matter, I was just happy to be out of the house and on my horse. I improvised and when I got cold, I just got off and did some  hiking on my own two feet . The hunting wasn’t great, we saw a few deer  and a lot of other hunters. The place was crawling with hunters in fact. We toyed with the idea of heading up to one area that was a bit higher in elevation and about 5  more miles in , where hunters on foot would likely not be, but it was getting too late and JB was at the end of his energy reserves so we opted to head out instead.

 The cooler weather is here and snow is predicted for this week. In spite of the cold, I thoroughly enjoyed the day on the trail .  Hard to say how many more opportunities we will get to ride out there again before there is too much snow and ice.  

I suppose while I am putting patio furniture away, I might as well  pull out the skiis and snowshoes… and the snowshovel..