Walking in the snow

Sometimes the chores around the ranch feel like this, a long walk:

This was my walk today out to the west pasture to feed the black horses, Nina and Gemini. They’re locked up out there and we have to walk hay out there a couple times a day and check their water. It’s not much harder than feeding the others, but it’s definitely a walk across the 500ft or so to get their. I saw the clean, unbroken snow and took that route, making my own path.

Tia’s arm was hurting, so I went out there to check on things. It’s not hard work, and it doesn’t take that long, but it’s a constant trudge. We have to do it every day to take care of things. Today it was a steady set of chores:

• fill the wheelbarrow with hay
• pull it out and make piles for the main herd
• fill the wheelbarrow with hay
• pull it out to the west pasture
• muck manure out of stalls.
• check water
• Feed and water the kittens
• Check for cat poop on the ground and scoop it up

and with snow on the driveway, I fired up the tractor and ran it down our driveway and the road. It wasn’t that bad, and Kyle got out OK in his car (I used the truck for the little kids), but the less that melts on the road, the less erosion there is. So a couple of sweeps with the blade push a lot of the snow off, preventing it from melting and pulling off road base.

So about 45 minutes of steady chores. Something that doesn’t come often enough to complain about (for me), but it does happen enough for me to appreciate the value of steady effort.