From Rainy to Sunny

Someone made the comment to me recently that too many of my blog posts were weather related. I have to say that when I look at my posts for the last few weeks they were right on the money with their comment! We set a record for cold weather in January with our two weeks of high temperatures around freezing, and now it feels like we are trying to set a precipitation record as well. We had our big snow event a couple of weeks ago with our 4" of snow, but it seems like almost every day brings at least the possibility of rain in our forecast. I am soooooo glad we had all of those loads of gravel brought in for the gate areas this fall. The pastures themselves aren't really too muddy with the exception of the traffic areas. I can't imagine what it would look like around the gates right now if they weren't gravelled, but they do have gravel so I only have to imagine and not experience!

The rainsheets and blankets have gotten more of a workout than they've ever had before. I try to give the horses breaks from wearing clothing as much as I can, and in a typical winter here that is easy to accomplish. With the constant threat of rain in the forecast I worry about pulling off the rainsheets and then having that 30% chance of rain wind up being a drenching rainfall. Thus the horses have wound up in their rainsheets on many dry days. I suppose it isn't really that big of a deal to worry about rainsheets on when they aren't needed, but we horse people are hard wired to be worrying about something, aren't we?

I cannot fathom being in the mid-Atlantic area this winter. They had the storm that dropped 2' of snow on them in December. Then another foot in January, and then another 2'-3' last week, and then whatever they are getting in the way of snow as I type right now. A friend of mine who lives in the DC area made me laugh today. She made the comment that she wasn't even too worried about the potential foot or two of snow they are supposed to get today and tomorrow. "I can handle a foot of snow with one arm tied behind my back at this point." Thank goodness she has a sense of humor about it!

Today started off gloomy and rainy, even with some snow mixed in for awhile, but it finished up sunny and cheerful. I should complain less and appreciate more! In that spirit I did post a couple of sunset pictures I took today on the Facebook page. I took the time to watch and appreciate it. When I owned my recruiting company I rarely had the opportunity to see a sunset at this time of year, and now I can watch one every day if I just bother to look up. The constant opportunity to appreciate the beauty of nature that is all around me is something I am blessed to have.

Cuff Links and MyLight

Harmony

Apollo, Leo and Baby

Clay, Slinky and Lucky

Tony

Baby

Elfin, Tony, Baby

B-Rad sporting the muddy look. Sometimes I wonder why I post pictures of filthy horses, but I guess no one would believe that horses stay clean all the time . . . or would they?

Asterik, Faune, Ogie, Winston, Sebastian

Ogie