It got cold

It wasn't a surprise the weather turned cold. Maddy flipping her hay bag over the electric fence, so she couldn't eat was a surprise.

Mid-November mornings dropping below freezing? Par for the course. Maddy's had a thin skin of ice I broke through, so she could drink for the day.

We haven't had much freezing weather this year. Freezing weather means extra work. It's less comfortable to do the extra work in, too. We have to make sure water buckets aren't frozen, break ice when they are, and be vigilant about draining the hoses and water heater to prevent water freezing in them.

We ran out of propane early in the week. I had to haul down buckets of hot water from the house. Shane's bathtub is right next to the water heater, so the water heats quickly. It's a lot heavier than it looks to lug down to the barn, though.

Horse blankets are the other source of new work. Whenever the weather dips below a certain threshold (which varies depending on precipitation), the horses get blanketed. Most have two different blanks for different situations and some of them got new gear this year.

Laura got Ernie a new heavy blanket with a 'scarf' for his neck.

Carrie bought Eowyn a fancy, clearance blanket with a neck extension, too. Eowyn's clipped, so she's almost always blanketed at night.

The hope is that if properly blanketed the horses will stay warm, healthy, and eat a little bit less (They eat "to get their engine going" and stay warm).

As you might expect, the blanket situation changes with the weather. Carrie was out and I got the call to "Please change out Ernie's blanket" on my lunch break.

I'd swapped him into his light blanket and Ernie decided it was a great time to pee. 

He must have failed to appreciate what I was doing for him.

The blanketing situation is going to be on and off for the next several months. By the time spring rolls around, I'll be thrilled to put the blankets away and turn the horses loose on fresh grass!

COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Crazy Wind

We get some crazy wind around here. I don't remember the gale force hitting in Cville, but I've heard it blasting and whistling across the house many times since moving.

We have a tarp in front of our pole barn that serves as a brilliant example of the wind's strength.

Carrie hung a plastic tarp in front of the hay to prevent rain blowing in. She tied the top corners with baling twine to the support beams and then attached the bottom corners to wooden pallets.

The wind is capable of blowing the tarp so that it lifts the pallets.

They've gone high enough and slammed back down hard enough that boards have broken! The bottom of the tarp has slowly been ripped to shreds.

I went out one day and started to cut vertical slits and some gaps. I hoped that it would allow enough air through that it would prevent the pallets from 'sailing away.'

Half an hour later, I heard Shane yell, "WHOA! That went flying!"

I bet there are people dealing with fallen trees somewhere not far from us.

The first time Carrie found the pallets moved and hay littering the front of the barn she thought someone had stolen some of our hay. I started to take some pictures of the hay piles whenever I thought of it (once every week or so) to keep something of a log. I even thought about getting a webcam, so that there wouldn't be any doubts.

We know the truth now! The wind bided it's time. As we removed hay bales the pallets weren't quite as heavy and got wiggled into position for their future flight.

At this point, the tarp is a lost cause. We'll have to consider how we set up a future rain shield with metal anchors the next time we refill on hay.

Soccer Update

Soccer is still going on....when it's not rained out. I think we had six out of eight scheduled games cancelled this season! I haven't counted how many practices we've missed. The coach wrote everyone to say, "It's Tuesday, which means practice is cancelled.  Evidently this is the new normal." 

The weather isn't anyone's fault, but it sure plays havoc on outdoor sports. 

There have been some reschedules including Sunday games. The season has been extended to end on December 1st! 

We had a game this past weekend. I am not taking as many pictures, because I'm on the sidelines coaching.

It's a shame about all the cancellations, but I've really liked U10.

Year summaries:
Hot shots - There is a ball. Kick it. Don't cry.
U8 - Competing swarms all converge on the ball. Every game is somehow a tie.
U10 - There's a real game going on all of a sudden! Goalies, too!

It Rained....A Lot

Hurricane Michael sped up and hit the Florida panhandle hard. For us, it caused a lot of rain several days later. This has been the year of the rain.

The kids left before it really started to hit. A couple nearby counties closed early (Fluvanna and Louisa). The rain started to pool outside our main building and leak through the mechanical room door.

We reported it and someone from maintenance came by to dig a trench and help the water drain. I was the only one in the building at that point, so I let him in and talked to him about what was going on. I took a video to show my boss the next day.

The rain started to let up and there was no major issue. Just rain. Lots of it.

No time of work off for any of us.

Hurricane Florence Weekend

Hurricane Florence was on many minds all week. The governor of Virginia declared a preemptive state of emergency. The Navy released sent it's docked ships at Norfolk out to sea. The weather channel reported that Florence had increased from a Cat 3 to a Cat 4 threat early in the week. The forecasts all pointed to a storm of historic levels.

Then, Florence suddenly fizzled. She dropped to a Cat 2 and curved southward to hit North Carolina head on.

While the impact and damages done along the coastline can't be understated, the impact here has been negligible.

Everyone was speculating we'd get a day off of school. When that didn't happen, thoughts turned to the sandbags put outside the school's mechanical room door. My coworkers and I hoped it wouldn't rain all weekend and flood the building!

More personally, I hoped it wouldn't rain all weekend and trap me inside with a hyper Shane and a high-strung from they hyperness Carrie!

It was largely a non-event for us. The rain has been constant and cancelled Shane's soccer practice and opening game, but that's about it.

UPDATE: Unless you lived in Richmond on Tuesday. Tornadoes! That's over an hour away, but that's still a lot closer than any other major weather phenomena has come lately!

Look to the Skies

"Are you sure the game is still on?" Carrie asked.

"No one's said it's cancelled."

And it wasn't. We showed up and there were players. Game on!

The other team only had five players show. We were up at bat first.

The skies had their own plans. Darkness pulled closer with each batter.

The wind picked up and it got darker still as we took the field. Dust swirled and Shane hollared at the clouds above.

Orange's first batter never took a swing. The game was called. There was time to grab a snack and head out as rain drops stuttered and started. We got home right before the downpour began.

They called the game at the right time. No make-up required. I wish the other team had a chance to bat once, but I'm sure everyone was happy not to get soaked.

Hot Day

88 F was the high. The air smelled funny this morning, too. Like smoke/cooking.

Then I remembered the news I heard this morning.

The Shenandoah National park was cooking. Carrie called me to tell me about the smoke she could see over the hills. Pretty crazy. 

I picked this up from a different article online:

The National Park Service says:

"The fire is within the park's Fire Ecology Zone, where the fire is allowed to occur to achieve natural resource benefits commensurate with the park's responsibility to protect life and property, and keep the fire within the park boundaries."

Simply put, they are allowing the fire to burn within a designated area and doing everything necessary to keep the fire contained within the Shenandoah National Park.