Stumbling out of my cave..
Jun. 16th, 2013 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
midnightsjaneKind of feel like a bear coming out of hibernation..wow, is that the sun? I've been busy working night shift this past week, and when I've not been busy saving lives I've been out at the farm shoveling manure. (Come to think of it, sometimes the two jobs aren't that different, LOL). So when the staffing office called this morning, waking me from a semi-sound sleep, my answer to their request that I work one more nightshift was, of course, HELL NO! I've had enough, thanks.
I'm looking forward to my trip back east, which will get me away from both the hospital and the farm for a few days. A nice change of pace and scenery.
Things are busy as usual out at the farm. The builders have started framing in the living space in the new barn, so we're getting a better idea of what the apartment is going to look like. It's beautiful. The guys are really proud of what they've built, and they're so excited at the chance to challenge their skills building something they haven't done before. They're true craftsmen. We're lucky to have such a good crew, it makes the building process easier.
We're feeling extremely lucky in another way. Buddy had a potentially life threatening accident on Friday..we had built a fence dividing the paddock into two so we could separate Buddy and Teddy without actually taking them away from each other. We let them have several days in the paddock with the gate tied open, to get used to the fence, then on Friday Sue closed the gate. The boys were fine, each on their own side of the fence, until Buddy kind of lost it, and tried to kick down the gate dividing them. He got his hind legs stuck between the fence and the gate, and scraped a lot of fur off his legs, but thank the gods, didn't hurt himself too badly. He could have broken his leg.
I shudder just thinking about it. Sue, Jack and I talked about it on Saturday and decided that because Buddy was an orphan foal, we have to treat him a bit differently. He's just not as secure as horses who had their Moms, so we have to ease him into new situations; he's very attached to Teddy. So we're going to close the gate between them for short periods when someone can stay and watch and open the gate if Buddy gets nervous. Easy does it. We're also going to look into getting a donkey so Buddy can have a paddock friend who can help get Buddy (and Teddy) used to being around other horses, not just the two of them all the time. We have a friend who has donkeys, so we're going to talk to her about it.
The new dust control system is done in the arena! It's fabulous. Sprinklers on the beams covering the whole arena with a soft rain of water, controlled by an automated system. No more hauling the hose around from one end of the arena to the other. Yay! It's going to make using the arena so much nicer. It gets pretty dusty in there in the summertime.
I went over to the Kitsilano Farmers' Market this afternoon. I've been passing by the market every Sunday, wishing I had the time to stop, so today I took advantage of the whole having to sleep after nights so I wasn't going out to the farm thing, and went. There was quite a lot to look at, lots of local farmers with their produce. I bought some mixed salad greens, some peas, peppers, baby turnips, a bunch of kale, some new potatoes, and three beautiful little eggplants. Bought a turkey drumstick (frozen) from a local turkey producer who raises free range birds, and managed to refrain from buying any of the baked goodies and ice cream on offer. I was tempted by the artisan breads, but the price was a bit much at around $6.00 a loaf. It was a fun hour or so.
Came home and ate a beautiful fresh salad, with the last of my local strawberries. Mmmmgood.
Did some laundry, watched this week's episode of Continuum and now I'm done. Phew!
I'm looking forward to my trip back east, which will get me away from both the hospital and the farm for a few days. A nice change of pace and scenery.
Things are busy as usual out at the farm. The builders have started framing in the living space in the new barn, so we're getting a better idea of what the apartment is going to look like. It's beautiful. The guys are really proud of what they've built, and they're so excited at the chance to challenge their skills building something they haven't done before. They're true craftsmen. We're lucky to have such a good crew, it makes the building process easier.
We're feeling extremely lucky in another way. Buddy had a potentially life threatening accident on Friday..we had built a fence dividing the paddock into two so we could separate Buddy and Teddy without actually taking them away from each other. We let them have several days in the paddock with the gate tied open, to get used to the fence, then on Friday Sue closed the gate. The boys were fine, each on their own side of the fence, until Buddy kind of lost it, and tried to kick down the gate dividing them. He got his hind legs stuck between the fence and the gate, and scraped a lot of fur off his legs, but thank the gods, didn't hurt himself too badly. He could have broken his leg.
I shudder just thinking about it. Sue, Jack and I talked about it on Saturday and decided that because Buddy was an orphan foal, we have to treat him a bit differently. He's just not as secure as horses who had their Moms, so we have to ease him into new situations; he's very attached to Teddy. So we're going to close the gate between them for short periods when someone can stay and watch and open the gate if Buddy gets nervous. Easy does it. We're also going to look into getting a donkey so Buddy can have a paddock friend who can help get Buddy (and Teddy) used to being around other horses, not just the two of them all the time. We have a friend who has donkeys, so we're going to talk to her about it.
The new dust control system is done in the arena! It's fabulous. Sprinklers on the beams covering the whole arena with a soft rain of water, controlled by an automated system. No more hauling the hose around from one end of the arena to the other. Yay! It's going to make using the arena so much nicer. It gets pretty dusty in there in the summertime.
I went over to the Kitsilano Farmers' Market this afternoon. I've been passing by the market every Sunday, wishing I had the time to stop, so today I took advantage of the whole having to sleep after nights so I wasn't going out to the farm thing, and went. There was quite a lot to look at, lots of local farmers with their produce. I bought some mixed salad greens, some peas, peppers, baby turnips, a bunch of kale, some new potatoes, and three beautiful little eggplants. Bought a turkey drumstick (frozen) from a local turkey producer who raises free range birds, and managed to refrain from buying any of the baked goodies and ice cream on offer. I was tempted by the artisan breads, but the price was a bit much at around $6.00 a loaf. It was a fun hour or so.
Came home and ate a beautiful fresh salad, with the last of my local strawberries. Mmmmgood.
Did some laundry, watched this week's episode of Continuum and now I'm done. Phew!
