Blue Skies

One more day into spring! 8) When I got down to the hay barn this morning before breakfast I realized I hadn’t packed the bags yesterday afternoon … Hmmm… this spring weather is very distracting. Ha! The herd was quite happy to get loose hay to start their day.
I know they like the loose hay best … But as with my realization that bowls of carrot cereal are not the best all year round – so I know loose hay isn’t our best option either. The occasional treat isn’t bad though.
Look at that periwinkle popping out of the snow. Today we got back to a wet melt. For the last two weeks we’ve had strong winds and the snow has been disappearing right into the air. Interesting reading about the Polar Vortex Wobble that has developed over the north pole. It’s being credited (or blamed) for our terrible cold blasts in the winter and dry hot spells in the summer. Enjoyed listening to ‘Climate Hope’ on CBC’s Ideas … that’s where I first heard about a Polar Vortex Wobble.
The back paddock is good and dry. Even the snowbanks are ‘good and dry’! Dry snow is brittle and hard at the same time. We can easily stand on top of the giant snowbank by the gate. I wonder if it will last as long as the hard ice pack where the snow falls off the roof on the north side of the house…? Sometimes that is there right into May!
This bank has melted / evaporated to about half its peak size now. It is still up to about my shoulder height. The drainage pipe that we buried last summer is under this bank. We can tell that the water that is draining off the back hay field is feeding under this bank and bypassing the paddock. That is great! Last year the Bully Barn ended up being an island in a lake of snow melt. We’re looking at adding a gate to this side of the paddock so that next winter when I plow the paddock out I will be able to plow the snow directly to the side garden instead of letting a snowbank get this big at the end of the laneway. This snow came from both the laneway and the paddock. By the sounds of what I read about that Polar Vortex Wobble these past two winters may end up being more the norm. YIKES!
The donks and I sheltered in the barns this afternoon. There was a wicked wind out of the south west. Once the sun comes around the barns are so warm and cozy. Today everyone was itchy and vying for the best spots to get my attentions with the brushes.
I noticed that Darby has worn off two bald patches just under her jaw … on both sides. She has very pink skin that stands out when her coat gets rubbed off. I haven’t been able to figure out how she did this … I’m pretty sure it wasn’t like that yesterday. She tends to walk with me and I hold my hand under her head to caress her as she does. I felt the dry skin and sure enough when I looked she has two pink stretches under there. It could be that she’s rubbing her chin on the feed bins … or even perhaps on the box of the Bully … Can you read her ears in this shot?! She wanted the other jennies OUT of her barn so I could totally devote my attentions to her itches. 😉
The champion cuddler these days is Bella. She can scoot across the paddock to press in against my legs. She is merciless in nibbling at the others to get them to move out of the way and then will use her body to shield them from interfering with her brushing time.
I think if Bella could figure out how – she would crawl right into my lap! Her coat has a beautiful mix of colours with her winter browns starting to thin out enough to show her summer black undercoat. If you’re in a good cuddle with Bella you can notice her blue eyes. Do blue eyes show up more on a sunny day …?