Slight improvements

[altivo]

Weather seems getting ready to break a bit. Here it is 10 o'clock at night and we're still well above zero F.

Gary got a plastic kids' sled today for hauling water. I haven't tried it yet, but he says it handles three buckets full without difficulty and with little or no sloshing. At least while we still have snow on the ground this is going to make it easier.

It takes four buckets of five gallon capacity to do morning feed chores. A couple more are needed while cleaning stalls to top up heated buckets in the stalls. About two more are needed to set things up in the evening for feeding. And the boys have a heated water trough that needs topping up every couple of days. My only concern with drawing water from the house is that it has been through a water softener and has a lot of sodium in it. I have no idea whether that's a long term risk for horses or sheep. I'm guessing that we won't be able to replace those hydrants until April at the earliest, though by then we should be able to use hoses rather than having to haul buckets.

Went through a bunch of plush animals that had been in storage since our move eight plus years ago. Cleaned them up and returned a lot of small ones to a couple of better plastic storage crates that should keep out mice and such like. A few cute ones were "rediscovered" and moved into the house. I was hoping to find a Dakin lion that I know I had, but no luck. I can't imagine what became of him.

Off to bed now, a busy weekend starts early tomorrow.

Comments

Toboggans and such..

[bonnie-tiler.livejournal.com]

The plastic toboggan we bought last year for bringing in wood has worked wonderful so far, and when there's no snow we use an old bicycle trolley that I've fitted with a bigger loading tray. The large wheels on that makes it easy to pull over rough ground, that may be a solution if your snow doesn't stay?
I follow this story with great interest...
Do you have any piccies of your place somewhere? I'd like to see if it's anything I imagine..
Happy to hear that you got the shutoff valve fixed

Re: Toboggans and such..

[bonnie-tiler.livejournal.com]

Ooh! and i just remembered, you could ask at your local builder equipment rental store. (I guess you have them ?) there is thawing devices you can rent, either gas,oil or electric powered. The ones I've seen thaw about 3 feet of ground in 24 hours. That may solve the problem temporarily with you hydrants..

Re: Thawing devices

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I figured such devices must exist, but I'm not sure we are that desperate yet. They may help in a month or so once the temperature is already above freezing if the shade of the buildings is keeping the earth frozen too long.

Re: Toboggans and such..

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are some autumn color photos right here.

We have several carts and barrows on wheels that might serve. The problem is that water sloshes a lot when you start hauling it. I'm looking for covered containers or those large plastic bottles that go into office water coolers to help solve that when the snow melts.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

just think of the work out your getting :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think that will hurt either of us, but it really isn't that much. Not as if we had hills to deal with or anything like that.

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Oh, a water softener you have, huh? :) Haven't had one of those since I was seven, except when visiting my grandparents. Still, I don't know that from here to April is such a long time as far as sodium risks go. You could always ask somebody who would know better than I, of course. :)

*lots of hugs*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And Pennsylvania Dutch you must be, no? ;p

Yeah, we have a water softener. It does good things when it comes to laundry and washing dishes, but I really wish it were only installed in the hot water lines and left the cold alone. It removes calcium and magnesium and iron from the water, and replaces them with sodium. Anyplace that water evaporates, a crunchy white crust of sodium carbonate is left behind, so I know there's plenty of sodium in the water that comes out of it. Fortunately I use little salt in cooking and we aren't overly addicted to salty snacks, so probably it isn't hurting us much.

they actually need the salt

[bladehorse.livejournal.com]

And softeners,dont add That much salt to the water for ion exchange.If your really concerned, you can always push the 'bypass' valve, and just have untreated water. just flush out a couple of mins between switches..I would be more concerned of the minerals the softner removes, than the salt it adds.

Re: they actually need the salt

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It seems like a lot to me. Not actually salt, I know that isn't in the water coming out, but the sodium is still there in the form of sodium carbonate. The water is measurably alkaline and has quite a drying effect on your skin. We've cut back the setting on the softener as much as we can without having our laundry turn brown from iron in the water. What's needed is to bypass the cold water line except where it goes to the washing machine. Softened water to the hot water heater and washer, unsoftened to the cold water taps would be much better.

Rationally I do know that the horses and sheep need salt anyway, and of course we give them salt licks, but still it bugs me to have it in their water supply. They get a mineral supplement with their food, so shouldn't come up calcium deficient or anything like that.