Not Much of Anything

Just a very short post today. Not much has happened in the last week or two. The most notable thing was the sub-zero temperatures that hit Colorado for several days. It was awful. The boys had no school for two days because apparently diesel buses don't like degrees with negatives in front of them and stall out. Which makes me wonder, how do the northern states and Canada cope? Why do their buses run and ours don't? (I'm thinking electric motor warmers.)

We, fortunately, did not get the snow some of the other states did. We had a little bit, but it was the light dry snow you can remove from your walk with a broom. Yesterday it snowed, but again, not much, just a couple of inches. Wonderfully, the temperature was in the twenties. Practically springlike. It will be warmer today, too, in the forties. Yay!!

For any of you who were wondering, no, I do not ride my horse when the temperature hovers around zero. This does lead to the problem of a large cooped up animal who is finally let out of his stall. On Wednesday I did go to the barn and let poor Raymond out. I put him on a lounge line (a long rope, essentially, that allows you to move the horse in a large circle around you) and since the indoor arena was empty (except for Tracy hand walking Summer) I let him lie down and roll in the dirt. Happy, happy horse. He then got up and decided bucking would be a very good idea. Luckily, because I was standing about fifteen feet away at the end of a rope, he stopped when I scolded him. He then behaved very nicely while I lounged him in a walk and trot. Too cold for cantering. Then he got stuffed back in his stall, which he was delighted about because his dinner (hay) arrived just as I put him away.

The boys were figuratively let out of their stalls on Wednesday as well. Stephen had a voluntary basketball practice at school which was handy since it is 10 minutes away from the barn. He was very happy to get out of the house and move. Harrison went to a friend's house and got to be social for a few hours. Both boys were very pleasant the rest of the day. Yesterday they went back to school and my schedule has returned somewhat to normal.