Productive Friday

Well, the first thing Mark and John did this morning was replace the fence between between Duke's and Lizzie's paddocks.  Originally, it was this 5-wire fence.  Normally, that would be more than sufficient since it would ordinarily be electrified.  But because it's between the paddocks and not connected to the majority of the wire fence, it can't be electrified.  So . . .  

as soon as Duke would finish eating, he'd try to get over to Lizzie's stall and check out her buckets to see if there were any "leftovers."  So he would kick or bite at the wires and by the time Mark came home this time, that 5-wire fence was down to only two!    So Mark and John removed all those wires and instead hooked two heavy steel panels to those fence posts.  They dragged those panels from where they've been stored outside the cottage in back and up into the paddock with the van.  Not easy.  We bought all those panels a couple years ago from a welder who had made them himself out of extremely heavy steel.  They were going to be a round pen, but I think we're going to use them all in places where the fencing is "iffy" instead.  Anyway, now that those first two are in place between the paddocks, Lizzie can be certain that her ENTIRE meals will remain her own!    

Those red panels may LOOK light, but it takes at LEAST three people to lift one.  Getting them onto a flat bed to haul home back when we bought them was a serious challenge!

And as you can see, while they were at it, they also moved the HayHut up from the back pasture and put that between the two paddocks, as well.  That way if the ground stays soggy, we'll be able to keep them both in their paddocks to keep them from trampling the grass in the pasture and they'll still have plenty to eat. 

So now as soon as Mark gets something to put on the ground inside it to keep the hay up off the ground, we'll put a round bale in there so they will never run out of hay through the winter.  I think we'll also be putting rubber mats outside the HayHut.  If it rains for more than a day or so at a time, the paddocks will probably turn into a muddy mess.  And since we won't be able to just move the HayHut anymore when it gets muddy around it, we'll need to do something to keep the horses from sinking up to their knees in mud to get to the hay!  Always something, huh?

Buddy and Lisa came over today  instead of on Saturday and worked like crazy all through this cold, miserable day.  Buddy brought his power washer and cleaned the house AND the back patio  (his idea - what a sweetie).  I knew that patio was a "bit" grubby, but I had absolutely no idea just HOW filthy it really was!  LOOK at this!!   Yuk!!

I'll tell you - it looks just wonderful now -- and it'll probably be a lot healthier place to eat again now too come spring! 

Oh, and they brought me a really wonderful present, too -- a huge picture of Ladybug.  It's hanging here in my office now.

It was VERY hard to get a picture without reflections - but it's wonderful in "real life"

I miss her so so much.  Lizzie is a very comfy ride, but her personality doesn't begin to compare with Bug's.  She doesn't seem to have much of a personality, actually.  But maybe over time it'll come to the surface.  Looking back, it did take a good year for me to get really close to Bug, so I guess there's some hope.  And I really hadn't tried that hard to get close to Lizzie when Bug was alive, so maybe down the road . . .

But even if we do get closer, I don't think I'll ever love Lizzie the way I loved Bug.  I really did adore her.