oops - fell off the bandwagon a bit!

Alright, so the New Year has gotten off to a bit of a slow start...I was hoping to blog at least every couple of weeks, and here it is a whole month gone by with no word from me!

I spent a lovely 4 days out on "the farm" house/horse/dog/cat sitting for Hil while she was out of town.  It was a MUCH needed break from the chaos of my life in the city and it was a nice way to be able help out when needed.  The solitude of not having the phone ring, no cable, a good book and great animal companionship was just what the doctor ordered.  Things have been hectic in the final stages of our new home construction and it was lovely just to disengage from that for a bit.

There is something absolutely magical about being welcomed by the horses in the pasture first thing in the morning.  My first day of morning barn chores dawned with unseasonably mild temperatures - even the wind was warm!  I stumbled out of bed, bleary eyed and sleepy and threw some clothes on.  Out to the garage - aka the feed house - to prepare the chop mixture and then out to feed the kids.  The soft nickers of welcome "hey how ya doin' mom? what's that - breakfast? why, I don't mind if I do" were heartwarming.  I know they were mostly happy because of breakfast, but I can pretend I had something to do with it too :)  It was such a surreal and calm morning that I really did not want to go to work...I somehow managed to drag myself away. 

The weekend, which was supposed to be mild and no snow, turned out to be the beginning of one of those FANtastic Manitoba storms.  It involved trudging through near blizzard conditions, knocking ice chunks from manes and tails, and scaring the "boogeyman" (ordinarily known as snow falling off the barn roof) away for the night.  It was damp as well, so for Merle it was a multiple sheet change as I apparently need to get her something a little more water proof... guess what the next paycheque is heading for?

Hoping it warms up - our playtime this weekend might be pretty short...

until next time :)