A Special, Nordic Side Trip

Tuesday, Carrie wanted to show me the Fjords. 

Yes, that 'j' is not a typo. 

Carrie went to visit a breeding farm while I picked up Shane on Saturday. She found it therapeutic, and wanted to show me. I was excited that she was excited, so, of course, I agreed to go.

We were just leaving as someone from a local farm pulled up to give Carrie flowers and express their condolences for Kit's passing. It was greatly appreciated. Carrie had to wait until her eyes cleared enough to start driving. "This is why I'm not ready to see anyone!" 

We did get underway, though. We had to take a pit stop for Carrie to get gas at Costco. I walked over to Qdoba for a burrito while she was in line (It was my bribe!). The fjord farm was a little over an hour and a half away near Culpeper. Margaret, the farm's owner, was standing amongst her herd as we drove up.

Carrie went immediately dived into the herd with her. I stayed outside at first, because (to Carrie's horror) I was in sandals. "This was for you to touch the horses!" she said. 

"No," I replied, "this was for YOU to touch the horses. I'm here for support."

Carrie cared but Margaret didn't, so Carrie got over it. I was unsurprised. I hadn't intended to touch any horses whether I was in sandals or not (and in summer, you wear sandals unless you have a specific reason not to!). 

It was a noticeably happy and healthy herd. I was surprised that the stallion was in the mix! Most farms I've been to with a stallion keep them separate. Margaret, however, used Blitzen as her babysitter. When a foal was weaned, she'd remove the mother from the herd and leave the weanling with him! 

Currently, there were three foals in the mix.  They were curious and friendly.

There was an abandoned barn that Margaret said the herd sometimes bedded down in (and could be packed to the gills!).

The youngest mare's hair was curly.

It would straighten out as she aged and eventually she'd get the distinctive mane of the breed. 
"The upkeep's easy!" Margaret said. "You buzz along the top!"

The little mare was the shyest of the bunch. Margaret said she keeps all her foals until they're 5 months old before she lets them leave the property (idyllic childhood guaranteed, I guess!).

The mother of one of the foals was so relaxed she'd let any foal feed from her that wanted! You can tell of the foals is a young colt by the fact he was poking around somewhere other than the milk region. 

And enjoying it (Pretty sure it wasn't his mom...). 

The herd munched and lunched around us as the women talked and I took my pictures.

Yes, I found the colt highly amusing.

Margaret took us around back to the pregnant mares' field next.

There, Carrie showed me the mare that she felt comforted her the most when she was at the farm on Saturday. "She came up to me, put her head on my chest, and I just cried while petting her," Carrie said. "She was the sweetest thing."

Her name was Josefina and she was a drooler!

But Carrie was smiling, oohing and ahhing, so whatever. 

She and Margaret trades stories about this that and everything.

The horses did whatever they could to scratch that itch (whether they did it themselves or had help from the humans!).

I amused myself trying to get a picture of the longest strand of drool possible. Quit a pool formed, as the ladies talked!

There wasn't a ton of direct talk about Kitsune, but that was fine. Carrie doesn't want to talk to anyone too close to her and too close to the barn about it, so I'm happy for her to talk to whoever she's willing to talk to! I believe talking things through is part of the healing process. 

Granted, in this case there's a little bit of a double-edged sword to the process. Carrie is determined NOT to breed one of our horses again to relive the trauma, but she, also, still wants to raise a foal again one day. Margaret supposedly has a wait list a mile long and only sells a horse to whomever she feels like because she can (She's found her niche and done well in it)......but you can tell she likes and feels for Carrie. Is that a good or a bad thing in this case? I'd tell you that I'm undecided. 

I got one quick pic of myself on the way out saying bye to all the horses. 

We went by Yoder's on the way home. Carrie got herself a sandwich (a club on tomato herb bread!) and I got a hand pie for my dessert.

Yoder's is a fun Mennonite run grocery store. We discovered it driving 29 and still make a point to stop in from time to time. If you like cooking it's great.

Or in my case, if you like your significant other cooking, it's great!

Everything is packed plainly. While they have some 'normal groceries' like cereal, I find many to be more expensive than a grocery store. But there's an exhaustive amount of ingredients. Notice all the premade piping bags!? 

Carrie picked up some crystalized ginger to try in an ice cream recipe. I requested natural peanut butter and we had a fun time picking out a few things. Carrie bought some dried soup mixes on a whim and thought they were fantastic (though a month later, she looked up the caloric information and lamented the amount of sodium!).

It was good to get Carrie out of the house. She's been so antisocial lately and I think she needs to get out there and talk to work through her grief. 

She may give me some grief if she sees I posted this. I can't recall what was being talked about, but I caught Carrie making the perfect face!

If Carrie kills me, look no further than here for the motive! Still, you have to take some risks, enjoy the simple pleasures, smell the 'roses,' etc.

WOOOOHHOOOOO!