I spent most of yesterday getting ready for the storm that is pounding
midMichigan right now. The bay mare above is Abbey who is 30. She and the nearly blind pony, Kelly, get
Phenylbutazone (
Bute) powder on their grain twice a day to help them move around better. I liken it to the Ibuprofen that I take daily to keep me moving. They were just about out so I drove down to St. Johns to the vet to restock. Would hate to be snowbound and not be able to medicate them.
Here's little JR from yesterday morning. He's up to 33 pounds (should be 60 to 70) and I wonder what would happen if I weren't supplementing him 3 times a day with his gruel. I had to run to town for strained carrots, yogurt, and
Glucerna just in case I use what I have mixed up.
While I was down at St. Johns, I went to Tractor Supply because as you can see from this picture, I am just about out of shavings for the horses' stalls. Usually I have the shavings delivered from a sawmill and dumped in the indoor arena. I haven't called Jim because either the snow has been too deep or it would have been too muddy for him to get in.
I don't really like to buy the baled shavings because it's so expensive, but didn't mind yesterday. Middle daughter gave me a very generous gift card to TSC for my birthday. She knows that I buy most of my clothes there ☺ and I'm sure that she won't mind that I bought bedding for the horses.
I'm taking interval pictures of the storm to post later.
We were supposed to have 5 to 7 inches of snow today. The 7 a.m. picture above shows a nice quiet morning before I went to do chores. It was nice enough that I was able to shoo the horses out with a little hay while I mucked their stalls. I checked the weather map when I came in at 9. The storm is about an hour away in this map. I am in Ithaca - the very middle of the mitt.
Here we are at 3 in the afternoon. Not nearly as nasty as predicted, but I'm glad the 'pacas and horses are snug in the barn.
This is what the weather map looked like at 3. Way worse on paper than out the window. The storm was coming from the south and swirling around so that the wind was from the north east.
And here is the barn at 5, just before I went out to do evening chores. We got only about 3 inches but I will have to shovel out those doors in the morning to get the horses into their paddocks.
....and here she is.....dear, sweet Cassie, who is actually a ham about having her picture taken.
