It has been great being home during this holiday; the weather has been delightful! considering how horrible it has been plus being the end of December. Today is almost balmy!
Yesterday I started my day early, getting my horse-keeping chores wrapped up and hit the road for Gettysburg. While I was there I stopped in to see friends, then on to Southern States Cooperative AND Tractor Supply to buy grain and hay stretcher. All the kids are set for another month or so.
Last night we started the bonfire. We've had debris from trees that we'd cut down (cherry, Tree of Heaven, etc.,) in early October. Didn't find the time or the weather/wind didn't cooperate. Last night it was still, finally, and we lit it up!
I drove over to a friend's party and met some new 'horse' people. I am looking forward to getting my old life back and riding more. That should be a good resolution for this new year. I was home and in bed before midnight.
The fire was still hot at 6:45 a.m., so I started piling more sticks and logs in it. I burned bank statements, old checks, and other personal financial papers that normally would hit the shredder. I also picked up sticks around the lawn and anywhere else I could think that anything combustible would be hanging around.
I let the boys out as soon as they finished their cereal and Skip alerted to something in the adjoining cornfield. I could see a guy in blaze orange on a four wheeler, but as he got closer I could tell it was actually a Cadet riding lawn mower. It took him a while to travel down the field and out of sight, puttering along.
While we were dragging debris and leaves to the pit we could hear sirens. Out here we don't hear much of that. From the barn or paddock we can see the roadway, seeing ambulance, fire truck and the police. They didn't seem to pass our intersection, so Tom jumped in the car to see what was going on. He came back within minutes. He saw someone wearing blaze orange being pulled out of the corn field on a gurney. Later, when we left to go riding, the police were still there.
It's been about a month since we rode and KC was pretty good, but he did a couple things that I didn't like. We rode at the Woodstock Equestrian Park in Beallsville. The way to get there is so convoluted it seemed to take forever, but is still in the county. Ample parking for trailers, the signage is a little confusing at the parking lot, but eventually we found the path that we needed to take.
The park has a field with jumps set up and there were no 'wet' crossings. The trails are mainly in open crop fields, on the perimeter and looping around the farm land. There is probably about 500 feet in total that are in woods. This would not be a good destination if it were hot and sunny, as there is no shade. A good choice if you need to trot or canter for extended periods, as there are no obstructions, sight-lines are excellent. KC crossed the 'dry' crossings with confidence, but was unsure about the mounting blocks that were placed before and after the bridges. A couple of these blocks were chewed badly by Beavers.
Tom continues to pull wire, sometimes this is not easy, but there are several ways to skin a cat, so eventually he was successful. He's now running wire in the side of the barn that faces the house and parking lot. These new lamps will eliminate the shadows on that side.
Still warm, but a cold front is promised for tomorrow afternoon. We'll see what the new year brings.
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