Blizzard!

We are expecting a blizzard to roll in this afternoon, and all is excitement here at Bellwether Farm! Fortunately, I had no scheduled meetings or classes at work today, so I was able to stay home, batten down the hatches, and work on my book. But I'm finding it hard to settle down to the book...

This morning, I went to put the horses out at the usual time (7:00 am), and they all turned their tails to me, buried their heads in the back corner, and pinned their ears when I tried to get closer to put halters on. 'Ok,' I thought, 'They don't want to go out! Got it.' I left them in until almost nine, at which time they were more willing, although still not eager. I turned T out in the south paddock, so she couldn't get running in the big back paddock.

I pulled several extra bags of shavings into the barn, in case we can't get into the garage right away, emptied and filled water buckets, swept stall fronts, brought all the muck tubs and wheelbarrows into the hay barn, in case we can't get to the compost heap, moved everything else that might, possibly, blow in the wind, into the hay barn, and then tried to think of anything I might be forgetting. Around 11:30, the neighbor horses started running, on both sides. I went out and watched ours for a few minutes, then decided to bring them in. They'll get extra lunch and night hay tonight, since the temperature is supposed to drop to... oh... 3. With wind.

Chickens have feed and water. I'm worried the water will freeze, but don't have a good solution for that at the moment. Captain is in. Smokey is running around like an idiot.

It occurs to me the power might go out. Maybe I'd better make some stew, that we can heat up in the fender of the gas fireplace, if we need to...