They Have A Mind of Their Own!

 Good Morning!

The holidays are officially behind us now and we are back to winter life as usual here on the farm.  I woke up early yesterday (4-somehting), did a little reading and decided to get up and build a fire to warm up the house.  Yes, we do have heat (geothermal), but we turn it down at night and reheat the house in the mornings with our fireplace.  Our fireplace was built with a catalytic converter which helps to clean the emissions from the burning wood.  In the end, the fireplace provides much of our heat all winter long, reducing our electricity usage and helping us to bank more solar hours.  We also have an endless supply of firewood from trees that fall in our woods.

We awoke to very cloudy skies yesterday - which dampened my hopes for a magnificent sunrise.  With the farrier coming at 8 AM, we decided to leave all of the equines in the dry lot and feed them hay.  That way they would be contained and we would not have to call them back to the barn early.  Grazing horses are well aware and not fond of foreshortened grazing times.   Calling them in early could spark a mutiny... not something I was up for on such a blustery cold and windy morning.

I had all but given up on the sunrise show, when I noticed a faint pink glow on the horizon.

Sure enough... another beautiful morning in fiery pink!

Our day was off to a great start!

We finished chores and I remained at the barn to wait for the farrier.  As it turns out, he was a little late - which gave me time to brush the dirt off of Moonie and Red.

I sat on the stoop of the barn and quickly had a very large Tom-cat in my lap.  I wish you could have a chance to lift our Pete - he is absolutely huge.  

He weighs more than any other cat I have ever lifted!

Of course, the donkeys joined us... as they always do any time I sit still.  

I'd love to be able to tell you that this scene stayed so peaceful, but before I could tell what was about to happen, Chloe gave Pete a nip that sent him flying off my lap.  Naughty donkey!

By that time, the farrier arrived and got busy on Moonie...

Next, it was Red's turn.  

Only the horses had appointments yesterday.  (The donkeys have their feet trimmed every other visit.)  While Red was being tended to, I parked myself next to the large sliding door that leads to the wood shop.  We keep that part of the barn closed off for the cats.  Because our barn is a bank barn (built into the side of a hill)  that section of the barn is below ground level and it stays much warmer than the rest of the barn - especially with a few heat lamps plugged in,

"Well, hello Moll!"  The cats have a small, round door to enter and exit the warmer part of the barn.

The barn kitties took turns poking their heads through to say hello to me.  The farrier finished in short order and I headed back to the house to warm up by the fire.

"Good morning, Ivy!"  As you can see, we have not shortage of kitties around here.  They just seem to find their way to us.  It's a barn/cat thing... if you have one, they will come... especially when there is food available 24/7!  Ivy is our only house cat.  We found her at the local animal shelter.  She was a birthday present for jack years ago.  He wanted a pet who would sit in his lap.  Guess whose lap Ivy sits in?  Yup, that's right.... mine!  And she is not kind when I am knitting... she is the Great Disrupter!  I keep reminding her that she's Jack's cat, not mine.  If you have ever had a cat... then you know how it goes...