Noble enjoys her grain while the snow swirls around her. I'll be bringing them in the barn in a little while so they can sleep on a nice dry bed of shavings, out of the weather.

Here's the scene this afternoon during the snowstorm. The horses are desperate to find something to graze on (even though I gave them hay about an hour before this).

Sailor Moon, my Appaloosa. She's 10, a very sweet girl, but needs to be more dependable for me to ride. She dumped me last July and I haven't gotten over it yet. I don't know how many good bounces I have left in me! She's had some good professional training, but is the kind of horse that needs constant work to keep her head and not get flustered. And that's hard to do in an area where winter lasts 6 months.

Noble getting a treat from niece Kristen, taken a couple of years ago. I loved this moment. Now Kristen is 13 going on 14, and WAY too cool for sweet moments like this.

Snowstorm

We're in the early stages of a snowstorm that could dump 14" of snow on us today. It's starting to get thicker, and the wind is whipping up. The horses are out, blanketed, but still getting covered with snow. They do have the option of going in the run-in shed, if it gets too bad. I was supposed to go to Glens Falls today for a haircut, but that got cancelled because my hairdresser (who lives in Saratoga) didn't want to make the drive either. So here I am, snowed in with not much to do. Yuck. And the stores are all having great sales. Tomorrow it's back to work.

Frozen solid

It was way too cold today. I didn't realize it was below zero when I went out to feed the horses this morning. I couldn't understand why my hands got cold so fast in my gloves, to the point of physical pain. So I fed them, cleaned up their stalls a bit, and ran back to the house. The farrier was supposed to come at 9 am, but he called about 8:45 to say that his truck wouldn't start because of the extreme cold. It runs on diesel fuel, which gels up in these temperatures. He finally got here about 12:30, and I just about froze to death just hanging out in the barn visiting with him while he trimmed the horses' feet. At one point, I excused myself and went back to the house so I could feel my toes again. After getting warm, I went back out while he finished the second horse, Sailor. The stalls were trashed from them spending so much time there today, so I cleaned until the pain in my hands and feet got to be too much, and then ran back inside. I have very warm boots and gloves, but I've come to the conclusion that they just don't make them insulated enough to keep me warm. How many months until spring?

Cold again

After one pleasant day of warm temperatues in the 30s (on Friday) we're back to the icebox again. Today's temperature is around 15 degrees, with a very strong wind. It's no fun to be outside. Even the cats go out for just a few minutes, then ask to come back in. The horses both have warm blankets on, so I think they are as comfortable as I can make them in this weather. The only saving grace is that it's been sunny most of the day - but that doesn't matter a heck of a lot.

Last night we went out to dinner, at one of our favorite restaurants, The Barn, in Pawlet, Vermont. It's a real 100+year old barn that has been converted into a rustic restaurant with fine dining. Even though it was a Saturday, this usually busy place had a lean crowd. I'm assuming we're seeing the effect of the lame economy. But the good news for us was that we got a great table, right next to the immense floor to ceiling stone fireplace. Great ambiance, great food, and a much-needed night out.

Today is a quiet day, with various indoor housekeeping things to do. Tomorrow, my farrier, Larry, comes in the morning to trim their feet. I'll have to bundle up to sit and visit with him for the 2 hours or so it will take. But he usually has great gossip about the local horse community, which is nice when you have your horses at home and can feel isolated.

Great inauguration!

Still basking in the glow of Obama's magnificent speech and all the pomp and circumstance of the inauguration. It feels great to have a fresh start - a chance to start fixing the horrible mistakes of the past 8 years. To go from a Divider to a Unifier - now that's progress!

Inauguration tomorrow!

So, like most of the rest of the world, I am psyched about the inauguration tomorrow. Here's hoping for a massive sea-change in this country! For my little part, I have to set up a streaming video of the event at the bookstore tomorrow. We have customers who want to watch it at the store, so I hope I don't run into any technical glitches (as I'm prone to do). At least our IT guy should be there, just in case. Go President Obama!

More snow

Well, the good news is that the temperature finally warmed up a bit. We hit a balmy 28 degrees this afternoon, making it feel almost like spring after the sub-zero weather of the past week. But the bad news is that we got more snow, so I didn't go anywhere today. Tomorrow there are more flurries on the way, but I hope it will be driveable because I'm thinking of going to Albany to visit my mom, who is in an assisted living facility there.

The cats, Lacey and Freya, are going crazy from being house-bound. They have not wanted to go outdoors for most of the past week because of the extreme temperatures. So they are bored out of their minds, chasing each other around, searching out long-lost cat toys, and yelling at me to do something for their entertainment. So much for barn cats! Lacey is Freya's mom. In April 2007, Lacey gave birth to 4 kittens in our hayloft. I discovered them when they were about a week old, and Lacey was starving. So I brought her food and water, and made a box bed for the little family. For this kindness, Lacey has bonded with me and is stuck to me like glue. I convinced JD to let me keep Freya and her mom (both have been spayed) and found good homes for the remaining kittens.

The plan was to have 2 good mousers. We already knew that Lacey had great talent in this area because she had cleaned out our barn of all the mice that had plagued us. Alas, things have not worked out quite as well. Lacey has taken to living the good life as a kept cat, and only hunts for amusement now. She is no longer skin and bones, thankfully, but has filled out to be a full-figured lady. With her long hair, she's quite a commanding presence. So I was hoping Freya would take up the slack as mouser #2, but she finds it too convenient to attack the birds who hang outside our back door on their way to the bird feeder. Yesterday she brought a bird into the house, and it was quite a sight - me and 2 cats all trying to be the first to capture the poor scared thing, which was flying into the windows trying to escape. I finally prevailed, and after checking it over, released it back outside. Meanwhile, this afternoon I found a dead mouse out in the trap in the tack room. So our cats are not earning their keep, and the bird population is literally looking over its shoulder at the feeder, waiting for the next terrorist attack. So much for my great plan.

Welcome to Noble Ridge Farm!

This is my attempt to create a literate blog about life on a small horse farm in upstate New York. You'll hear about the trials and tribulations and joys of taking on such a venture in midlife, along with possibly a little editorializing about anything that happens to get my dander up. Right now we are in a deep freeze, with temperatures going as long as -26F at night. But it does go up to about 10 degrees during the day, thankfully. Horsekeeping in this weather is not for sissies. In fact, I'm off right now to bring the beasties in for the night, to give them a chance to warm up on a bed of fresh shavings and chow down on some sweet second-cut hay.