Damned scary weather...

[Huaquelah]

I just know Rush Limbaugh is gonna be on the air today sayin' "So much for that Global Warming nonsense!" 

    Asshat bastard.

LOL Hoss, we can certainly agree on that.   

And, it ain't global warming so much as it's global climate change, yes?

[OldHorseman]

And, it ain't global warming so much as it's global climate change, yes?

   Overenergized atmosphere...  Seen in thermal form as increased global average temperature, but also seen in kinetic form as violent storms and radical weather front movement.  Sometimes that means that there is enough swirling energy to scoop atmosphere from the artic and dump it on Dixie.

   I don't know how much of it is human-caused and how much is the natural warming/cooling cycle... But it's causing me some serious problems either way.

   Of course, most people are only outside long enough to get from their climate-controlled cars to their climate-controlled buildings, so they hardly notice.

   For now.

[Michelle]

I just got an email from New Hampshire relatives. 4 inches of snow on the ground
and a nor'easter forcast for the weekend. DAMN.

[OldHorseman]

Hoss is goona be a BABY'S DADDY!!!!!

   More like granddaddy, bein' as how I raised the actual father of this foal from a weanling back when we had a peanut farmer in the White House.

   I hope it's a good, strong colt. The old stud needs an heir, and I need a primary mount for the future, as the stud is finally starting to show his age a bit.

Have you got any names picked out?

   Yeah. The full name includes aspects of the paternal and maternal pedigree, plus the colt's individual name... Depending on its color, that'll be Fancy, Traveller, or Richmond.  Barn name will probably be "Reb" unless he demands something else.

   Other names are on-tap for a filly. But I'm thinking positive right now for a colt.

YOU WILL take pictures right?!?!?!?

   I need to take pictures of the mare right now, while she's all robust and pretty.  Her hormones shift too far into estrogen mode after she foals, and she looks like a bony milk cow until the foal is weaned.  She won't fully settle a new pregnancy while nursing like most mares will either.  (Could probably "fix" that with progesterone shots, but I'd rather just let her be an every-other-year broodmare and work her on the alternate years.)

[Log hauler]

           We are gettin Blistered Again Up Here!! 15 inches and countin.  Heavy Wet snow tooo.  never seems to End. Things were just startin to dry up a little, pasture will "float a boat" right about now

[OldHorseman]

   The wife wakes me up this morning to send me down to fix the western fenceline of the main pasture which was wrecked by the flood last night... Had to do that in a hurry so that the young mares could get put out. They commence to smashing up the joint if they are kept in much past dawn.

   After getting the fences mended and the horses settled, I finally got to sit down with my coffee for a little morning 'net surfing.  I noticed after a while that the connection was too good. That meant the electric fence wasn't interfering like usual.  I checked it, and the charger was popping, but apparently not putting anything out onto the line.  Must've been damaged by the lightning last night.

   I found and hooked-up my old battery-powered back-up charger.  By that point, it was warming up enough to peel the top blanket off the old stallion.  He got double-rugged yesterday when the temperature dropped from about 80 to 40-something, rainy, and gusting wind in a couple of hours and he caught a chill.  I left one blanket on him to break the hurricane-force winds we had today.

   I flipped on my shortwave and noticed there still was no background clicking from the fence.  I tested the back-up charger and it wasn't putting out either.

   The fences are under a lot of "pressure" this time of year, so I had to get some juice back on the line.  I would've just run to the farm co-op store and bought a replacement charger, but the creek was flooded from the storm and we were stranded here.

   I found an old, non-functioning charger in the back of the tack room. Took it and the one that broke last night apart, mixed and matched parts, and eventually managed to produce one functioning charger. 

   By this point, I needed a nap.  But, upon entering the bedroom, I discovered the wind had torqued the stovepipe so much that it had managed to twist loose from the stove.  So I had to find a way to fix that too...

   This weather is just getting freakin' ridiculous.

[lady-t]

no doubt,  where do you live old horseman?

[Log hauler]

           We got 18 inches yesterday total. Now we are in for a bunch of rain. 80,000 in NY, 60,000 in PA, out of power.  Bunch of trees down across my fence, Guess the critters will stay in the barn till the snow melts.

[Mule]

Up here in Missouri about everything that had a flower was frozen out last week.  Dropped down to a record of about 18 degrees.  Lost all my pears, wild plums and I think all the gooseberries are toast.  Hell, even the damn leaves on the fruit trees were killed.  The early warm weather set us up for a bad freeze damage.....I'll bet that is something the global warming gurus havent' thought of.

Horseman, we are gettin' hammered up here with rain too.  I think everything that can hold water is full to overflowing.  I have lost a couple tons of soils and gravel off of my pond spillway....that will be a chore to replace later on.

Ground here still to damp to plant anythng.  Still do not have taters in the ground and no one has planted corn here.  Hell, it was so damn cold it burned the winter wheat!

Another very odd thing.  Folks around here are seeing an awful lot of young fawns.  Looks like does are poppin' em out in the late fall!  Now, that is wierd.  Warmer winters??  Armadillos are movin' in too.

[OldHorseman]

Folks around here are seeing an awful lot of young fawns.  Looks like does are poppin' em out in the late fall!  Now, that is wierd.  Warmer winters??  Armadillos are movin' in too.

   We've noticed the fawns too. No armor-clad possums movin' into this part of Dixie yet though... Although, at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to find gators in the creek in a few more years!

   Last year this time we were breeding mares. This year they're still in their winter coats (somewhat), they haven't shown obvious season, and I'm still looking for a nice warm day to get the stud cleaned-up.

   I think Mother Nature must be smoking crack or something.

[Michelle]

It finally looks like I can put the garden in . . .next week. Yeah. M
   

 


 
 
 
6-10 Day Forecast   



 23   24   25   26   27   
 Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday 
 
Partly Cloudy
High 80°F
Low 56°F

Precip. 10 %

   
Partly Cloudy
High 82°F
Low 57°F

Precip. 10 %

   
Isolated T-Storms
High 85°F
Low 59°F

Precip. 30 %

   
Mostly Cloudy
High 78°F
Low 54°F

Precip. 20 %

   
Few Showers
High 79°F
Low 51°F

 
 
 
 

[Log hauler]

            must be nice Michelle, any thing other than potatoes or onions before Memorial day here and your on your own. This could be one of those years, like it was when I was a kid, snow under the lilocs when they bloom in May.

[Mule]

Yup, neighbor wasted a possum on the halfshell about two weeks ago.  They have been seen in Kansas City as well.  The little buggers are fairly harmless, except for the holes they dig and they do carry leprosy.  Bad ju-ju hittin' one in a car.....tend to scuff up the front end.  They will appear fairly common in an area they are known to inhabit, then they will dissapear for years only to appear again.

[lady-t]

very few actually carry the leprosy thing, but, they sure can be eaten if you are hungry.  and if you need a carry basket- kill one, cut out the body part and leave the tail- take wire and tie the tail to the spot where the head came out and it will be curled sort of like in a ball, set it on an ant bed and walk away til the ants do the clean up job.  macabre but unusual.

[Mule]

Ummm, O.K. Lady-t.  Carry basket.  Alrighty then.  Interesting idea, but I will stick to using an old shirt for an emerg. bag.

As a kid I grew up in Louisiana...deep Cajun country....we ate everything that moved.  Yeah, you can eat one of the beasties, but it is a lot of trouble.  Even Cajuns don't make a regular practise of dining on them.  Possum is much better fare and the small ones make cute kabobs.  Protein is protein I suppose.