This 'n That

[SandyG]

Even though I had moved the Progress Days from yesterday to next Sunday (due to the rain and very wet grounds), Brandon and Jess still appeared and we got the barn stall doors (read that as HEAVY doors) and the steel rod stall panels moved from the old barn (outside) to inside of the new building. That is a huge help and will also limit the exposure of those critical pieces to the weather. Then later in the afternoon, I loaded the rough cut 1" oak panels (read that as HEAVY and WET) onto the skid loader and moved to the doorway closest to their inside destination. Then, when the time comes, we will be able to actually build the stall from dry components. Many thanks to Brandon and Jess!!!

And we have projects for next Sunday. Cleaning the barns, yes, but also fence work from the mysterious damage to two fence section on the driveway to the big barn, broken bucket holders to replace, and the big poplar tree is down. We should inspect to insure our fencing is intact and that none of our horses will wander during the winter blizzards and get themselves trapped. Getting the tree cut up and removed is a great spring project - or even early winter. Too many bugs and too much grass to deal with now and the deer, bunnies, and horses can use it for shelter and scratching. This tree is telling us how wet the soil is and how strong the winds have been! What a change to the landscape this is -

Typical Monday errands and then home to work on the newsletter and plan the old website recovery. Thank you to those who have replied! I appreciate the help in copying and printing. A computer linked to the internet is required but not a printer. We'll get this done before we convert to our new site. HOW EXCITING is this!!!

Have a grand Monday - good breezes today will help keep the kids outside and dry up the grounds!

[SandyG]

One of us wanted the mud to dry up and so 20 mph winds were sent. THANK YOU!!!

I spent the day pulling all of the lumber from the old barn demolition that we had stacked by the biffey out, sorted it, and then stacked it in an orderly fashion in the new barn. This way, as we build stalls and shelves, etc., we will have our lumber in out of the weather, dry, and ready to use. A B-I-G job but with a bit of Ben-Gay, it will all be good in the morning!

My plans for Tuesday are to spend the day in the skid loader. If the wind disappears, I will focus on the outside hay pads until the kids wander out in the evening. And then I'll take as many loads out of the barn as I can although it makes me very nervous to be cleaning the barns while the horses are free in the pastures. Visibility in the loader is minimal, at best, especially in the rear.

Hoping you had a chance to enjoy this day - I found myself wanting it to be a windy spring day with the late spring muds just about dried up . . . . .

[SandyG]

Prayers and positive thoughts of calm and tolerance are needed!

I'm heading into the St. Croix County Sheriff's Department today to request an escort to a property in Glenwood City where we have multiple reports of 3 horses in a muddy round pen without shelter and potable water. This kind of a situation gets "hot" in a flash and I am in need of calm and confidence. Your prayers and positive thoughts are much, much needed.

Thanks - and stay posted!

[SandyG]

THANK YOU to all of you for prayers of support and positive thoughts. It worked! The horses in question are in transition and will come out in good shape. Refuge Farms will continue to monitor the progress and stop in this fall with a few worn winter blankets to help defray some of the costs of raising these three horses. The family is sincere and the conditions are so much better than most - not ideal but not to a level that warrants removal.

Thank you for your support. For a human that cries telling their stories, being "non-emotional" for the investigation takes its toll. Believe me!

Have a GRAND fall day!

[SandyG]

So, I've spent all the time I can stand catching up on daytime television programs! Something knocked on my body in the middle of Sunday night and did not depart until the middle of last night. What a drag! It was all I could do to get them fed and set for the heat/flies and then go out and turn the fans off last night. YUCK!

Today is better although the legs are a bit weak. I'm being very careful on what goes in the stomach and also making time to be grateful for a body that is strong and able to recover so quickly!

Hope all of you are enjoying this beautiful weather and preparing for a wet weekend!

[SandyG]

With this cooler, dry air I was able to shoot home from THE STORE and jump into the skid loader. From 7pm until 8pm, I focused on the Gelding's side of the barn and have it 80% cleaned! YEAH!!! Now tonight, I'm hoping to make a 50% stab at the Helen Keller side of the barn and then finish up both sides - hopefully! - on Friday evening. It all is possible because of the cooler evenings which lets the kids go outside earlier than sunset. What fun to watch them walk into the barn this morning and find the floor about 6" below what it was yesterday!!! A lot of noses to the ground for a while!

Enjoy this day! Make it a good one and remember to do something unexpected to help out a stranger.

[SandyG]

Well . . . sometimes you need to look for the silver lining!

I spent 3 1/2 hours working on fence this evening - cutting weeds, replacing hooks, adding enamel doughnuts, and touching every inch of the 3 strand wire lines on the east side of the property. And I had company - Big Boy and Jeri-Ann while in their pasture and Joseph, Clyde Mare, Helen, and Alexius while in the big pasture. Everyone curious of the noises, the smells, and this funny creature messing around in their space!

The purpose was to make the electric fence as strong as possible to prohibit Billy the Bully from escaping. I was confident. So confident, that I let Billy out of his stall for the first time since Sunday. And what does he do? Walks to the north east most corner of the fence, ducks low enough that he is almost on his belly, and he scoots under the lowest wire and in playing in the soybeans in the field next door!

By now, the sun has set and it is difficult walking due to the darkness. But I need to retrieve him and so I grab his girlfriend, Spirit, and halter her and start out to find him in the 120 acre field of beans. Now Spirit knows the routine and she wants to eat grass instead of go for a walk with me. And so she hollers. LOUD enough to about burst my eardrum and it worked! Billy came galloping up - just as he was called. We all turned back and walked back - in the dark.

Spirit is very dark coffee brown with black legs, mane and tail - hard to see. Billy is black with a touch of white on his face - almost impossible to see in the dark on a black pavement road. But we made it and he is safely back in his stall. I will add a lower line of hot wire in that corner and then try it again after we retrieve and stack our 200 donated bales of small squares tomorrow. Until then, Billy will need to munch on his hay and dream of galloping in the beans. And tomorrow, I will watch to see if I have blocked his passage or if he finds yet another route!

We typically don't have these issues - blind horses cannot see the beans and our sighted horses are old and without limber joints any longer and so such a squat is impossible for them - let alone to get so low and then walk! Interesting what a healthy horse tests and helps us repair around here!

G'nite!

[SandyG]

What a grand turnout and what a day of crossing things off the TO DO LIST!!!

Nick and Brandon joined Trish, Tim, and Emily from Madison and then Theresa (Trish's Sister from St. Paul), Mac, Gabby, and even an exchange student from the Middle East all pitched in to move the hay! We had 20 hands and the 200 bales were moved, stacked, and even the trailer was cleaned out before we began the next series of projects!

Theresa brought sandwiches and so after a quick break, the fence line was tackled and repaired entirely. AND we found out that one of us is a whiz with the chainsaw, too!! Then on to Miss April's broken board and the fence line to keep Billy the Bully in his pasture instead of running free all over St. Croix county! And yes! The posts for the box stalls are standing tall in their holes in the hospital building!!

A late dinner at Denny's got very quiet when the food arrived - we were all very hungry. And then every one of us stayed quiet - we were all very tired and dirty!

A ton of thanks to Nick and Brandon for staying true to their devotion to THE FARM. And to Trish and her family, blessing heaped upon you for driving FOUR HOURS to help get us ready for winter.

Today we are at THE STORE from 10am to 12noon and then they need to hit the road to get home around 4pm or so. Any help will be appreciated and needed - our arms are a bit weak today!

Thanks, Crew!!!

OH! I forgot that those heavy, steel feeders in the Helen Keller barn and the 2 box stalls were also moved outside and the gate between the 2 box stalls was taken down. That's the final step in the final cleaning of the barn!!!!



YEAH!!!

[SandyG]

Morning! I was too pooped to pop last evening to give you an update, so thought I would post this morning.

True to form, Trish and Tim and Emily (all from Madison) arrived at THE STORE at 10am and got working diligently until 12noon. AND Brian joined me as I was unlocking the door and, thankfully, Brian stayed and helped until past 2pm. Thank you to all of you!!

THE STORE is reorganized with the dish displays in the front and the boutique displays in the rear of the floor. I spent until 6:30 walking dishes up to the front and arranging the new setup. It is looking very inviting and interesting - hopefully it will draw more crowds into our store.

I'm back at THE STORE this afternoon from 12noon to 5pm if anyone is willing and able to help move "stuff" - dishes, clothes, pictures to rehang on walls, etc. I have one case to slide about 6 feet and one clothes rack to setup. One dresser to find a home for and a set of bookcases to setup and fill with books. And yes, there still are dishes to move from the rear to the front. Tomorrow will be swallowed by the raffle setup and also tweaking the newsletter for mailing so today is the final day to get the store "shop-able". Help would be great!

If I don't see you, have a great - but wet - Labor Day!!! And again, many thanks to Trish and her Crew and to Nick, Brandon, and Brian for getting us ready for winter at THE FARM and at THE STORE!!!

A grateful Sandy and The Herd

PS - Before heading to THE STORE, Brandon and I went to a business in Menomonie and loaded the Exiss full of good, oak pallets for placing under our precious round bales of hay! I should say that I drove and Brandon did the work - but I know that you already figured that one out!! As it sits, we now have TWICE the pallets we had yesterday ready for our hay supply. Thank you, Brandon!!!

[SandyG]

So much for getting the remainder of the Big Barn cleaned out today! We are swimming again! The ducks that have been living in the dry run all summer are playing and quacking and having a blast. The horses no longer stop to listen - they have accepted their new neighbors completely.

Will be working on the newsletter and the September raffle at THE STORE and also running a few errands. A full day but a most relaxing one - the big cement blocks that were on my shoulders are gone thanks to the dedicated work of Trish and her Crew from Madison, Nick, Brandon, Brian, Chris, Toni, and Mandy. Not only is THE FARM prep'ed for winter but THE STORE has been redesigned and looks very good! Worth a visit to check out the new layout! Thanks to all of you for your efforts!

The TO DO LIST is long and so it cries for my attention. Be safe today in the floods! And enjoy it for sure!!

[SandyG]

My hunches were agreed with by Mother Nature last night - an early fall, for sure because:

1. Josephina is hairing up - she is my forecaster of weather

2. The first formation of geese flew overhead honking and trying to find their places. This I usually see in early October! Early September means I need to get Lanna planted!

Hoping all of you are well and enjoying this fall weather. For more information on our Helen, please see her bb notes. Thanks for the prayers for her!

[SandyG]

What a truly wonderful and refreshing day this was!!!

Before 8am this morning, Charlie was here and working to move the clay/gravel pile we created when we built Clyde-Mare's wading pool. The goal was to get the mixture to the outside door to the Big Barn on the Gelding's Side. We need it desperately in the tie stalls! Now, when it rains, the floor in the tie stalls is lower than the ground outside and so the horses stand in 1" - 3" of water! Not good and hard to keep the mold from building. And, of course, in winter it means a sheet of ice for 5 horses every day!

Well, the stalls are cleaned out down to the original floor and the piles created from that were hauled away by Charlie. Then, he gently placed a scoop or two of the clay/gravel mixture at the door to each of the 5 tie stalls. Finally, Charlie pushed the mixture right up to each doorway so we literally can stand and spread the mixture without taking a step. MUCH better than I would have done! MUCH better!

Then, I cleaned up and took the time to visit our friends at the Zurah Horse Barn for their quarterly brunch fundraiser. Reconnecting with Lowell, who rode Randy - a beautiful quarter stallion that had been used at stud and was so weak when we picked him up that he laid himself down in the trailer within the first mile -, Tim, the Caretaker of the barn, Chris, the son-in-law of our Dick and a few others. Chris extended an offer to me to join the association as they participated in the Wayzata parade and so I went with them! What a performance these horses and men produced! Kids in the streets, flags whipping in the strong winds, bands playing, bands singing rock songs, a hot air balloon lighting his burners every 4 seconds, and the carnival rides within 3 feet of the parade route. Amazing to see how calm they remained. So proud to know them!

Chris introduced me to his new horse, Lefty, who is one-in-a-million. Nothing bothers that horse. Sensitive, wise, experienced, and as calm as POINY! is . . . read that as falling asleep while waiting for formation or to move while in the parade route!

The highlight of the day was, however, when I saw our Dudely. It was a brief time together but truly one of the most memorable reunions I have ever had with one of our horses. I saw him and scanned to get a feel for his aging process, his overall condition, and his pride. He was still a strong horse with a definite sense of himself. I then stuck a finger into his stall and scratched that white nose of his while leaning in to exchange air with him. It took only one breath. We exchanged air and I was then given that big blue eye of his right in my face. He new the smell of me and stared right into me. Calm and sincere, this horse was content and full of recognition..

I have had reunions with many horses. This one, however, is how I dream it will be when I cross over the bridge. This one that happened today in the Zurah's barn on this side. This reunion was a deep recognition and a deep connection. I whispered my thoughts to him - how I'm so glad we looked under that tarp on that Easter Sunday so many years ago, so happy he chose us to trust, and so happy he had landed with Dick and the Shriners. That blue eye continued to stare at me and when I finished speaking, he blinked, rubbed his nose against my finger and then resumed his eating. Our reunion was complete and I was the happiest creature on God's earth!

[SandyG]

My Brother-By-Choice was here yesterday and we trimmed over half of The Herd! Isaac focused on Jeri-Anne and then we turned our attention to the little feet. All were trimmed except Unit ,who requires a bit of med to relax a bit. She looks good so she can get trimmed on Isaac's next trip.

So, for a change, we took time to eat a lunch and then headed back to THE FARM and set all 5 of the posts for the box stalls in the hospital. Door openings are 48" on center with the 6" side of each post facing the front of the stall. The ground is packed around each post once it was plum and so only about a foot of packing remains to be completed. We are ready for the cement!

Today I spent working on the newsletter and prep'ing for the raffles at THE STORE and the Summer Sale about to begin of our summer merchandise. Busy, busy, busy!

But thought I would take the time to brag about our accomplishments a bit . . . since the body really doesn't want to move much today!!! HAH!

[SandyG]

These very cool nights have the flies very sleepy in the morning, giving me time to feed at leisure and put on only a few fans for the day. You can actually hear the radio in the barn again!!

The kids continue to thrive and be so calm and content. They, too, love this time of year it appears. Even Clyde Mare's legs are calmer and stay cleaner between sessions. Her swelling reduces, as well, without the humidity and heat. Good all around, eh?

Have a good one today yourself!

[SandyG]

The typical rush of fall is upon us - plants to get in the ground for spring bloomings, grounds to get cleared for winter, equipment to winterize, hay to stack, setups for the blizzards to get mapped and planned out, and then there's just the normal stuff - getting the barn floor raised before Fall, moving 240 round bales 7 at a time only on dry roads, THE STORE to move from summer to fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas, the raffles at THE STORE, newsletter to print/fold/tape/mail . . . this is only possible with the help of others who love these horses as much as any of us do!

Thanks to all who respond to the emails for help! Enjoy this last swing of summer heat!!!