Today's Blog

  

Check our some recent articles and posts from our blog.

Frozen Pipes

 I couldn't believe it when Ruth and Joan decided we should walk. It was -2 this morning but had warmed up to 0 by the time we actually started. I went first to the apartment and used another whole can of Fabreeze as that smell was still in the apartment. We have guests coming in tomorrow and I'm getting a little desperate. Ruth brought a bowling set and donated it to the barn so that was dropped off in the barn.

When we stopped at Joan's house Berlica was already out skating on the lake and by the time we got to mom's house Faith had joined her. 

We stood out on mom's deck for the video below.

I speeded up the video a bit then of course slowed down the spectacular fall at the end to see if I could find out what happened. It looks like Faith's right foot hit something really rough and it threw it out to the side.  That is what happens when it is a lake instead of a skating rink but still a lot of fun. Faith did not get hurt. 
We had cut the walk short it was just too cold when facing the wind.  Mark and I worked together bringing more wood into the house from the wood shed as the porch is now about empty. I had just sat down to enjoy the heat coming from the wood burner when Sarah called to ask if the water to the barn had been turned off. Nope, the pipes had frozen.  She was with the home schooling group that was using the barn this morning and there was a good size group there.  I grabbed the extension cord I had here at the house and my hair dryer but needed more cord so hiked up to grab an extension cord we had plugged in at the breeding shed keeping the pit warm. That was unplugged and taken down to the new barn pit. Mark took the golf cart up to his shop to get the key to open the pit. After getting the hair dryer going I covered it all with a horse blanket to keep as much of the heat in as possible.
From there I went to the barn to check the water and was thrilled that after only 10 minutes the water was flowing again. We caught it before any pipes broke.  I know this because I checked about 4 hours later and the pit was as dry as a bone. The kids at the barn were having a good time. I went upstairs to see the progress on the windows and took the picture below.
All 3 windows are now framed in, now we are waiting for the actual windows.
I took a quick video of the kids playing in the gym before heading back to the house.

I was working in the stall barn when Emma from the vet clinic called to cancel Dr. Hoerr again. He is still too sick to come out. She rescheduled him for next Thursday.  Mark left for his therapy appointment and when that was over stopped at Kroger for groceries. When he got home he ordered the lumber for the 3 triple bunk beds. That will be delivered tomorrow. Taunya dropped off Hope for a couple hours. We worked at her recall and she is such a smart puppy she was figuring it out pretty quickly. 

Hope is a Cavapoo and I think she might be available. She is a fun puppy and loved playing with a teddy bear.

After she was picked up Mark was in the living room, looked out the window and saw a bald eagle flying right towards our house. I tried to get a picture of it but it went right over the house by the time I had my phone and I didn't want to go outside in the cold. It really is neat that we are seeing them more and more often. We also saw a fox run right through the yard. A nice well fed fox so we are hopeful the rabbit population is taking a hit this winter.  I'm thankful that the weather is moderating and supposed to start warming up. It is no fun dealing with frozen waterers and broken pipes (last cold spell) and frozen pipes (this cold spell). 
This evening I was sent a text about an ozone generator. Someone who knows what they are talking about sent a link of one that is exactly what we need to remove the marijuana smell. It won't come in time for the guest coming tomorrow but at least I can tell them it is on the way. We read the reviews and it looks like we wont even have to run it long. The only bad thing people complained about was the smell so I might need to wait until this guest leaves before trying it. Speaking of guests. I am pretty sure one of the crazy people here last weekend that caused such a mess tried to book the apartment. This time it was a lady with no reviews, no address but a 309 area code phone number. When I asked her why she wanted to come to the apartment she told me it was for a small party of 10 people celebrating her and her husbands anniversary. I explained that we don't allow parties at the foaling apartment, it only sleeps 4 adults and because of no reviews she would not be able to come without meeting me in person, but she was welcome to cancel and right away she did. Her profile picture made her look like a lady of the night. Not the best way to present yourself.