And if you haven’t already discovered it, check out Angels We Have Heard Are High, a seasonal weblog devoted to Angel Kitsch.
Reluctant Hiatus
I have been trying to minimize keyboarding and mousing since I have had a flareup of some RSI symptoms that plague me from time to time. Today is better: my right arm is not actually throbbing. More to follow soon, I hope.
Hap Nap
Although it is still very cold out, Hap seems to find it comfortable enough to take a nap in his stall which opens south. (This photo was taken with the zoom, and the autofocus seems to have found the fence instead of Hap.)
Cold Snap
We got the forecast cold (-9F) but not the forecast snow. There is an inch or so of new snow, just enough to make things look pretty. We were slightly concerned when the lights flickered several times last night before we went to bed, and I was reassured to wake up in the middle of the night and find out that we still had electricity.
The horses, viewed from the house this morning, look fine. Hap is doing airs above the ground while Rags sees what he can find in the outside hay feeders. I threw hay to them in the barn yesterday afternoon, and called down blessings on whoever invented stock tank heaters. I can’t imagine taking care of horses during a cold snap like this without stock tank heaters.
The Calm Before the Storm
“They” are predicting significant snowfall today, and a high tomorrow of 1F. I am hoping that “they” are wrong. Since we are tucked up against the Palmer Divide, which is a snowfall magnet during big storms, we usually get close to the maximum amounts forecast for the area. I will never forget talking to Jack (who was in Texas at the time of the October 97 blizzard) about my worries of getting lost on my way to the horse field. He suggested I follow the extension cord that then led from the house to the stock tank. I looked out at four feet of snow, with near whiteout conditions, and thought “The man has no idea.” Fortunately, we now have fencing that contains the complete path between the house and the barn, so getting misdirected during a whiteout is no longer a risk.
Kansas Is Flatter Than a Pancake
Having driven there, I can concur that Kansas Is Flatter Than a Pancake. (via Letters of Marque.)
Fresh Snow
Hanalei Bay
Jack spent the weekend at a golfing resort in Hawaii on Kauai. This was the view from his window.
Crescent Moon
Smoke’s Image
Smoke’s Image 1977-2005
Two weeks ago, I realized that a decision that we knew we would have to make about Smoke sooner or later was going to be sooner. Saturday, I watched him lurch down the hill to the barn and saw that his right knee, which had been bad for a long time, had given up functioning all together. Bute gave him a little relief through the weekend, and today his vet came out and put him down. Jack and a friend came to be with me while it happened.