norseofcourse's journal - spring and show update

[Bruce]

Well, we made it through our deep freeze - temps got into the single digits for awhile, and we've had snow, freezing rain, sleet, rain, rising temps, more rain, falling temps, more snow, more freezing rain, sleet, and right now snow again. Only one casualty - put a hammer right through the side of a water bucket. Yeah, I know you're not supposed to hammer on them to break the ice out I've done it before, but either the temps were too low or the bucket was too old. Got it many many years ago at Equine Affaire, a company was giving free buckets to the first 100 people at their booth, so a friend and I got there really early

I have a leg of lamb defrosted and ready to cook today. I am more confident about cooking lamb since I got a meat thermometer. Here's some of the last leg I cooked, took it to just under 150°:

View attachment 25439

That's a small plate, I didn't have room for the vegetables! The lamb was very tender and juicy, and had a nice mild flavor. I haven't had enough lamb to really compare it against anything, and I've never had strongly flavored lamb or mutton, but I'd say it's pretty good lamb

Temps will be close to single digits again for a few more nights. It'll be nice to have a white Christmas. Then just a couple more months and it'll be spring!

 

[norseofcourse]

Merry Christmas everyone!

There's still enough snow here to qualify for a white Christmas, although a lot of it has melted (some yards in the area don't have any). There's more snow left in the pasture, and in the woods where the trees shade the sun (what little sun we get).

I went out this morning to three deer walking through the woods beside my house (it's a known deer route, although I don't often see them). So that was a treat to see deer this morning.

I have horse feed to unload and put away, and brownies to make to take down to mom's later, but I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music and being lazy

It's warmed up enough to use the outside water hose for a few days, so I've cleaned and refilled the ponies water tub. And i have tomorrow off so I can get some stuff done, if it doesn't rain.

 

[norseofcourse]

I got the horse feed unloaded and put away. All the other ponies do fine on just hay and pasture, but my oldest pony (28) has needed pelleted feed for the last year or so, as well. Right now she's on a Tribute pelleted senior feed, with some of their higher fat feed mixed in for more calories.

A local horse rescue group has a container at the feed store counter, asking for Tribute proofs of purchase, which they can redeem for money. I spent all this year bummed because cutting out the proofs of purchase, at the bottom of the bag, made the rest of the empty feed bag unusable for a trash bag.

Last month, I had one of my rare - but absolutely brilliant - flashes of genius: open the *other* end of the bag!!! Duh... I can't believe I never thought of that before.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Some 'Answers' to our situations are right 'Before our Eyes' if we weren't too distracted we'd see it much Sooner....

 

[Ferguson K]

Merry Christmas!

 

[norseofcourse]

Time for an update! Things have just been so busy here lately, with so little daylight to get things done. Up in the dark to feed before work, home after work and it's nearly dark again, then I'd come inside after chores and not have much energy for anything else. Much of January was warmer than normal, with a lot of rain, which meant a lot of mud. Occasionally it froze, in bumpy, hoof-marked ground that was difficult to walk on. But mostly it was mud... I nearly lost a boot several times. Many parts of the country have had it much worse, though. And if all that rain had been snow we'd have been buried up to our eyeballs!

I separated Elding from the ewes this past Sunday. I put him in with the ponies, and his hormones immediately kicked in as he tried to get to know these 'new sheep'. He tried getting in a headbutting contest with Flekka, but she lifted her head at the end of each charge he made, causing him to stop and look confused. Things settled down for awhile, then he would not stop chasing my oldest mare (didn't help that she ran from him), so I put him in a paddock in the corner of the main pasture. He's been with the ponies before with no problem, so I'm hoping it won't take long for the hormones to get out of his system and they can be together again.

The ewes are looking good, we're now two months away from lambing season. I'll get some updated pictures soon - for most of January it was either raining, snowing, or too dark. Druna is fitting in well - sometimes I've seen her butting heads with the sheep, trying to determine her place in the flock. And the other day she was making rushes past everyone, and then taking off down the pasture at a run, then circling back and running past again - sometimes doing the 'sproing' 4-legged leaping they do more often as lambs - I swear she was trying to get the others to run and play with her!

I'm not going to do the udder checks as often as I've done in previous years, since it really didn't tell me much about due dates. But I have checked enough to find that Rose has the biggest udder so far, followed by Gracie and Lukka. I didn't feel much on Druna, but she did well letting me check, so I was happy about that. I may not milk her this year, but I may get her used to the milkstand and the process.

In other news, as of today I'm.... retired! It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. But I have a to-do list a mile long, and I'm looking forward to having a lot more time to spend working on the pastures, and fences, and milking sheep, and doing more riding and/or driving with the ponies. I'll also have more time to work on increasing farm income, it's either that or a part time job, and I know which one I'd rather do!

 

[NH homesteader]

Congrats on your retirement!!

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for the update and CONGRATULATIONS on retiring.

I don't know that I am normal (probably not) but the first really weird thing that hit me when I retired 3 years ago was: I had NO IDEA what day of the week it was. When you don't have a regimented schedule, standing meetings on given days, etc there just isn't a connection. And we don't watch TV there isn't even that schedule to keep me lined up. My wife works M-Sat at the P.O. so I know if she doesn't get up at 5:10 AM it is Sunday. And if she was home "yesterday" today must be Monday. Then I get TOTALLY screwed up when she has a day off.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

In other news, as of today I'm.... retired!

Congratulations - I'm just a LITTLE bit jealous, lol. Only 1016 days to go for me!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Congrats!!
After ya get used to a new routine, you'll look back and wonder just how ya did what ya did for so long. Something I have never missed was getting up and going to work..Ever! I stay busy for the most part and could care less what day it is...it is always just another day.
I have a calendar gadget on the puter, so I can keep up with it tho. I Love the peace and relative quiet and spending time with our "Projects". You'll be lost for a bit til ya get your routine going and you'll wear yourself out wondering what Time it is, but it won't be long before ya will cycle by the Sun...just like the animals do.