Still Not Spring

Mother Nature is back to being a cruel mistress again. After our glorious few days of 60's and sunshine we are back to overcast, dreary looking and cold. I looked at the daffodils today and they are now not quite two inches out of the ground. They should be in full bloom by now. About a third of the horses are back in blankets again. Thankfully it isn't windy nor is there any precipitation in our forecast, just colder than normal temperatures. So some of the horses are back in their blankies but the majority are still naked.

I mentioned that by the weekend the skunk smell in the barn was largely gone. If the breeze blew in just the right direction you knew the smell was still hanging on, but most of the time it was not noticeable any more. The brief but heavy rain shower we had on Sunday evening took us back to square one. The skunk smell in the barn came roaring back. Not as overwhelmingly strong as it originally was, but still fairly strong. Eleven days and counting on the skunk smell. It did seem better today, we'll see how long that lasts.

I still hold a grudge against Punxsutawney Phil, I hold him personally responsible for the weather. It is good weather for watching the Winter Olympics though. Jason and I aren't usually TV watchers but we have been Olympics junkies. I am pretty fascinated with the curling, and since Jason used to curl regularly in Canada he is excellent at explaining what the heck is going on. He was a bit . . . deflated . . . after the men's Canada/USA hockey game. I have been pretty enthralled by the snowboarders, skiers, ski jumpers, bobsled, luge, skeleton, all of it. So many of these people are crazy!! Who decided it would be a good idea to go head first down the luge track?? Unfortunately the Olympics have not motivated me to ride in the cold. Of course I rode during the nice weather, but this afternoon I could not make myself get on. Just call me a fair weather rider, I'm down with that.

Cuffie rolling; he spent more time making sure his choice of rolling location was perfectly prepared than he did rolling. I didn't record all of his prep, otherwise this video clip would literally be ten minutes long. He was fastidious and thorough in his rolling preparation.

Homer, Ivan and Apollo hanging out

On the left we have Lexi, Sparky the donkey and Sky; on the right Norman, Cinnamon and Bonnie

I thought Cuff Links and Buffy looked like a matched set with their gray hair and purple blankets

Missy and Lily in the front, then Buffy and MyLight, Thomas just behind the fence and then Elfin and Chance

MyLight was not interested in me taking her picture

I watched a repeat of the video I posted last week. First Apollo rolled in the mud . . .

. . . followed by Thomas!

The geese think they somehow went the wrong direction; they thought they would find spring in full force here but they did not.

Mr. O'Reilly

Lucky and Slinky

Elfin, Thomas, Apollo, Trigger and Chance

Ogie and B-Rad

Winston and Faune