Life is Good

Paula comes in the morning. We sit huddled next to the stove with steaming mugs of coffee waiting for the storm to roll in, remembering other winter storms since we started keeping our horses together. We step out to feed and walk a few steps to the feed room in the enclosed barn. In a few minutes we return to more steaming coffee and the warm fire.

The first year I only had a small one horse shelter. The other four horses slid on the ice in the corral as we stood feeding in the sleet. Then there was last winter…so cold and eight inches of snow on the ground for over a week.

The barn was up then anyway but barely and nothing like it is now with the north and west winds completely blocked and stalls for the ponies. It’s been a year and a half long ongoing project.

The apartment is getting homier with a temporary kitchen set up and the bathroom nearly finished.

I spend the afternoon doing more caulking and weather stripping. It gets noticeably warmer in here. The horses start to look in the windows as it gets close to feeding time again. I think they like Tonka and I living out here with them.

It starts snowing.