Soggy Boggy

Sunshine After Five

It was raining and chilly practically all day. I went to church, went to lunch, came home, did some work, took a nap, then went out to feed the Boys dinner. The rain had stopped.

I decided to poo pick the arena. It was very wet and boggy out there with the top layer of sand totally soaked through. I considered dragging it to help it dry out, but I'm not sure the tractor itself might do more harm than good. If I wait until it soaks in a bit, it will be better--tomorrow?

As I was working the sun came out and the temperature rose by what seemed to be ten degrees. After I was done, I took the Boys' sheets off. Then I put all the displaced fence rails in the arena back in place and began to work on the little ditch that drains into the abandoned groundhog hole in the woods. It was full of leaves and debris and was no longer draining water from the arena on that side.

By then, the Boys had gone out to the pasture to enjoy the sunshine and the little sprigs of grass greening up. I need to take the drag out there too to stir up the soil so I can sow the pasture mix. I probably should have done this earlier in the season, but I didn't so I will just have to hope some of it grows. Tomorrow will actually be a good day for that as well. I hope I have the energy and determination when I get home from school to do it. Today would have been the day, but it was too wet.

I picked the stalls and swept the barn floor and decided one more time to skip riding. With the arena that wet, the woods trails will be wet as well and since it's still so early in the season, slippery. A day of sunshine will sort it out, but there is a potential for severe thunderstorms yet tonight. No sign of anything so far, but I will keep an eye out on the sky, and my ears open.

Then we will have about three dry days before more rain on Thursday and Friday. If I do drag the arena at least once between now and then it will help a lot. Keeping it groomed in the warmer weather helps the footing dry out more quickly.

Things are greening up quickly and the Boys seem to be finding all kinds of things to nibble on. I will never have lush grass out there. I do not have enough land to really support three horses on pasture and the pasture area I do have is on a hill with places where the grass just doesn't thrive. There's enough to keep them busy and satisfy their urge to graze, but that's about it.

I guess I've kind of faltered again this weekend. I just don't have enough ambition at the moment to fight the weather or my aching knees for the sake of riding. I haven't quite lost the desire, but I am no longer as driven as I was years ago. Kind of sad, in a way, but I am quite content just having the Boys here, cared for as I want them to be.