snow, and more snow, and more snow, and finally power

We finally got power back this afternoon, after two very cold sub-freezing nights. Last night it was 9 degrees outside and 40 degrees in the house. Yeah, not a great time at all. We had the wood stove going but with no power to run the fan through it, the stove wasn't doing much to heat more than the living room area. We blew up an air mattress using an inverter plugged into Kenny's truck and slept on that in the living room as close as we could safely get to the wood stove. We both had multiple sweatshirts on, two layers of pants, a few pairs of socks, and Cairo had her fleece jacket on and slept buried under the covers with us.

Saturday morning...my car is buried on the left and Kenny's Silverado
(i.e. not a small vehicle!) looks shrimpy on the right

The truck had no problem!

9am on Saturday, no plows in sight. Some roads still aren't plowed.

finally I made it to the barn and the driveway hadn't been plowed. One of the
trees had lost a few big branches that were blocking the driveway. Kenny and
I returned later with a chain saw and moved the branches out of the way
so that the plow could get through.

all the horses were happy to be out once I finally got them out there!

Lucy also had a branch come down in her paddock but the fencing was not compromised at all, and I didn't want to leave them all in just because she had this branch in her paddock. I decided to turn her out and just watch her for a little while to make sure she wasn't going to be stupid with the branch there, and she was fine.

Each morning I was actually excited to get out of bed and get moving, so I could warm up. I did a whole lot of shoveling this weekend! I even dug my elderly neighbour out this morning so I could feel warmer. Kenny and I went driving around in the truck to get the heaters on us. We went to Maddy's house this morning to take a hot shower, which made me feel so much more human. Then we went home and puttered around and then all of a sudden, the power came back on! We had a little dance party.

I had wanted to ride yesterday but by the time I got done shoveling the cars out, clearing the snow from the house, getting to the barn (when there was still a driving ban, by the way), shoveling the barn out,  cutting down the tree blocking the driveway, getting the horses out, and doing the stalls, I was exhausted. I was way too tired to ride, anyway. All of the other rough boarders were snowed in but I didn't mind helping them out. We all pitch in and help each other when we can. That is what makes a rough board barn work!

Today, though, Maddy and I finally got out and enjoyed ourselves! We did a bit of work at the barn and then tacked up and ventured out onto the trails. Lucy was very, very spooky. Lots of snow was falling off the trees and making loud SPLAT noises in the woods, which she did not like at all. I sat several pretty big spooks and went right over her left shoulder when she pulled a quick and dirty spook and spin.

BUT...

I was using the rope halter/longe line set up again today, and it worked PERFECTLY! I executed the most textbook tuck and roll, dropped the reins mid-air, landed lightly in the 2.5 feet of fluffy white snow as Lucy flew backwards for a stride or so, she stopped immediately when she felt the rope halter, and I got up and yelled happily, IT WORKED! Then I asked her to come back to me, which she did happily, and I let her know she was a really good girl.

LOL.

Then Maddy and I cheered and I was absolutely thrilled.

Ahhh we are so weird.

I wasn't hurt at all and after bushwhacking through some trees to find a good spot to get back on, I was back in the saddle and off we went. Kenny met us in the woods (the trail runs right past my road so he just walked to the end of the road and met us out there) and took some photos, then came back to the barn with us to get some more pictures. So, a huge thanks goes out to him for taking lots of wonderful photos today for us.

she did get a bit excited at times. this was one of them, and she ping-ponged
back and forth across the trail, so excited but not really sure where to go.

forward is always better than ping-ponging, even if she makes nasty faces

back at the barn, in the outdoor ring

this is what it's all about :)

silly moment

and one of Pretty and Maddy - I will leave her to share the rest of her photos
on her blog! :) - click here if you don't already have the link.