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.