Saturday

I took this photo tonight. I just really like the colors in it cast from the setting sun.

This morning I had my old mail route again. I zipped through it but my car was running hot so rather than go to the tack swap as planned I ended up coming home in hopes of finding some antifreeze. With three "men" here though chances are slim and I was right. So dh ran to get some and in the meantime it took him an hour so that shot my plans for the swap.

I played online a bit, started a facebook page for my model horse hobby since everyone else was. Why not. See what comes of it. I then went out to see my ponies and discovered little stinker Spotz the calf has messed my fence up again so it is shorting out. That little stinker. Dh says she was in there this morning. She and my two foals have a love affair going on and I wish they could play but my stallion doesn't like cows and chases them off. Meanwhile dh didn't fix the fence nor tell me about it. That makes me nuts as he does it all the time. If I don't check it daily all it takes is a few hours for it to be torn down and a lot of frustration to put it back up when just untwisting some wires could have prevented the problem in the first place. But husband wasn't raised with a farm ethic as I was and it shows. Don't tell him that though. He thinks he's the bomb when it comes to farming (gag).

So that wasted my grooming time and it was getting dark by the time I got everything back to working. Now while everything is wet is the best time to have the fence working because the animals get zapped good and learn respect real fast. Some day I would like real fences but unless I win the lotto it isn't happening in the near future.

Come On In

Don't worry about the mud on your shoes. We are used to it. Or perhaps I should say I have been forced to become used to it, being the only female in the household with three men. I had to choose between putting up with it or going mad. Took me 19 years but I chose to ignore it.

Mud season is trying to arrive in earnest, fighting with Old Man Winter who refuses yet to let loose his grip. Tomorrow we plummet below zero again. Such is life in north central Wisconsin. The garden catalogs had arrived along with the Christmas Cards and are long recycled because clutter is another problem I am trying to beat. Garden catalogs should come NOW when the long winter is wearing us all thin, we have cabin fever and we are looking forward to some color and fresh veggies off the plant.

I see the pretty seed packets in the store but do not stop to look. I cannot start seeds in my house as it is too dark and until I come up with some sort of lighting system and a place to do so there is no sense in looking.

My husband has been laid off for five months and finances are getting tighter every week. For the first time yesterday I realized I didn't have any money to get groceries. The last three unemployment checks went out to pay farm insurance, our few bills and school needs for our youngest. He is a senior in high school and so things like yearbooks and a lock-in have come up that need paying for.

We have aprox. 30 acres that need planting this year. Another 70 or so are on their last season for hay before they need to be replaced. But we worry about that next year. It is this year we need to plan for. We try to do one large project a year here. Last year it was a new well. Our little hand dug collapsed and we went all last winter without running water in the house. That was when I decided fighting dirty floors was a waste of my time.

The year before it was a new roof.

So far this year I have gotten my hallway insulated and drywalled. Husband finally had enough of laying around and did it. I told him he's much better looking when he's doing something! Ha ha. Here is a before of that mess (with my eldest son and my "adopted" son).


I will get an after photo when they get out of there.

I lost my wall I used to hang my horse gear on. Perhaps that means I will actually get my BARN this year. In the meantime I need to find another place to hang it all.