Update to last post: the bear has not bothered us further, but he broke into a neighbour's livestock barn and did a bunch of damage so conservation service needed to be called. I'm not sure what the end result of that was (it's a bit of a divisive issue so public updates aren't always a thing) but I haven't seen him around for a bit. Maybe he moved on, maybe he is no longer. It feels mean to say but either way it would be a relief.
I'm struggling again with the weather and the dark here in the ever gloomy winter raincoast. The rain didn't use to bother me badly because I'm still happy to be out and about doing things and the temperatures are normally nice and moderate, even if a bit damp. The past couple of years though, the never ending rain has felt a bit more personal. Trying to maintain a tiny horse property of our own has me worrying about fun things like paddock footing and arena drainage, along side the 'normal' wet climate horse things like preventing mud fever and rain scald and keeping my tack from molding.
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| Another dark and stormy night |
It's more the dark days that really get to me, especially combined with a 9-5ish job that has me indoors while it's light out. I've shifted my hours to start earlier in the morning which means I can normally be done by 3:30. Having that little half hour to an hour of daylight this time of year really helps. I'm forever grateful that my 9-5 office job evolved to work from home/remote with much more flexible hours.
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| pony grooming in the daylight, I love my weekends right now |
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| attempting some cheer on a gloomy night |
I know I said we were scrapping the idea of purchasing a bit more pony real estate, but the owners came back to us and it's back on the table. There are a bunch of things on their side that need to happen (planning approval from the city, for one), so we'll see. I know I should count myself lucky to have the option (and the support of G in this) and let what will be, be, but I'm finding it quite stressful. This wasn't on the bingo card at all and the timing honestly stinks, but it's just too perfect a situation to not at least try.
When we bought the babies with the current space we have it meant Sophie would be moving to a new home eventually. I was OK with that, but now with more acreage possibly in the future, I've been holding off on that and found myself making tentative plans involving keeping Sophie. So, I feel like I've inadvertently wrapped some of the emotions around Sophie into things. I really am going to be OK either way. I'd just like to fast forward to the part where we know how it's going to turn out so I can start planning accordingly :)
In related news, Black Friday happened right when I was feeling very anxious about things, and I totally succumbed to some retail therapy. I feel sort of icky about that because normally I plan and budget purchases very carefully and I wasn't actually going to buy anything. But, for the most part it was things I had bookmarked as wanting/needing and they were on great sales. I got a nice longeing cavesson that I can use now for Sophie, but also will be really nice for the boys when I start ground driving them.
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| Kieffer lunge and ride cavesson I had this filed under 'nice to have but don't need' but after borrowing a friend's I was sold. It's so more stable than using a halter or bridle to lunge and nice for groundwork too. It comes with bit attachments as well, which solves my baby horse dilemma of wanting a halter to lead from and a bridle to ride with on ride and lead trail adventures. |
Also acquired, better headlamps for mucking paddocks in the dark. LED spotlights for same. Haynets because a bunch have mysteriously disappeared. Waterproof saddle covers, because see above about wild winter weather and damp/moldy tack. There were some frivolous things thrown in though too - did the boys need fancy browbands at this stage of their lives? No, not really. But I'll be ready when they do!
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| Load of hay delivered too, which is the biggest expense these days. It's running about $1000 a ton and Sophie wants it, current fence testing situation below. |
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| (Yes I know these taps don't need insulation but I'm baiting my stepdad ;) Relevant part of the story is that Sophie's door latch is to the right of this tap and she knows the door latches somehow...but she's not quite figured out how she's opened it herself previously. Does it relate to the tap? Hence the teeth marks and my sad little misting hose torn off - I think she's now decided pulling that potentially leads to releasing the door latch. She took it one step further hay delivery day and bit through (unplugged) electric fence wire and started pulling on that and then checking the section of wooden fence behind to see if it would open like a gate. Her brain is a funny thing. |