Priorities

 There's a lot to do around here.

The morning broke crisp and clear, and downright cold. With the dogs' insistence upon an open door at all times, the house gets cold, too. The central heating in this place isn't very good under ideal circumstances, let alone with the front door hanging open. 

So, the priority is getting a sliding glass door installed in place of the double French doors, and putting a dog door insert in it. No big deal, really, in the overall scheme of things. Not exactly an arduous process. Won't take more than a day to do the install.

Except....

I have horses up to their ankles in mud. It's so bad, there's standing water. Those pens need a good tearing down and resurfacing. But there's nowhere else to put those horses. Hoss and Nova need to be close to the house. Sere, being open (not pregnant), is a bully to her sisters, and there isn't another pen in the lower turnouts for her.

Upper Pen Pond

I moved Hoss and Nova to the arena, and Sere to a small pen, so they'd all have somewhere decently dry to stand and lay down. I could hear Nova ramming around the arena as I went about getting their breakfast together. Later in the day, I saw Sere taking a nap in the sun. I know Hoss laid down, based on the dirt on him. Nova seems more relaxed in the drier space.

Hoss and Nova

The only solution for this problem is another pen. The only way to make another pen is to buy more corral panels and haul them home. Oh, and clear out the space where we plan to put the pen. Then, once that pen is built, tear down the big pen and use many of those panels to create a 6th pen in the lower turnouts, so Sere can have her own room.

Sere, happy to be sorta dry

Not complicated. Fairly straightforward. Lots of work.

The list of things that need done seems to grow faster than I can tackle it. In order to get a new sliding glass door home, I need to get the truck rack built and on my truck. I'm still waiting on the roofer to give me an estimate on what that's gonna cost me. We need a new refrigerator. A new range would be great. New dishwasher wouldn't be bad. We figured out there's an outlet behind a cabinet in the kitchen, and we'd really like to be able to use it. Certainly would make more sense to have the microwave in the kitchen than in the random little alcove. 

Then, the neighbor let me know the dogs were barking at him and his parents. I'm not clear if they're just standing on their side of the property line and barking, or if they're actually approaching people. Either way, that can't be allowed to stand. I had hoped I'd be able to plow some money into getting the property fenced, but with the roof being in a state of critical disrepair, that has to come first. Some time ago I bought an underground fence system, which I haven't installed, for the very simple reason that I wasn't going to install it only to have to dig it out if we ended up forced to move. Now that we're for sure staying, I'll have to put it in, as well as put up some panels between our property and the immediate neighbor's to break up the energy if the dogs do decide to bark at or charge people. The ultimate goal will, of course, be a fence around the property. 

So much to do. So few hours in the day.

Traveling up Middle Peak

So I went for a ride. Demon and I have an endurance ride (the 3 day Fire Mountain Pioneer) coming up in a couple of weeks. I need to get him out and ride him and make sure we're doing well. I had a mind to go up past Ramona to ride to Eagle Rock. Got as far as the turn to go through Julian and discovered everyone was going to Julian. So I turned back and we rode up Middle Peak instead. It wasn't a long ride, but the smart trot on the ranch road back to the trailer was refreshing. On the way back down, when we passed the turn onto Middle Peak, Demon pointed his nose that way, and I gently turned him back to the trailer. Several times, as we approached the gate, he made efforts to turn back. He'd rather be out there. So would I, really. Keeping the priorities straight is challenging enough.

Above the snow line

Ready to head out