November Hill farm journal, 37

The perimeter line to our left is clear! That's the one side we won't be updating fencing on as there is an old existing fence that is just on the other side of our line. I still have some hope to purchase a piece of that property and I'd prefer to wait to see if that can happen before we spend money to fence it in. However, having the line clear of brush is making it so much easier to see what parts of the fence we can repair to make it dog proof.

We're starting to see some leaf fall happen, and although the temps have climbed back into the 80s the feeling of fall is here to stay. I've been wondering what's driving my intense, furiously-paced obsession with projects right now. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have cooked up around 15 new ideas in the past week. Pinterest is fueling this frenzy.

I think the many years of starting back to school in September is also contributing. I'm not taking any classes, have no textbooks to peruse, but I am as busy as a bee planning things to do.

As usual, the remedy for the frenzy is to walk the path to the barn and let the horses settle me down. Today I spent some time grooming and feeling the winter coats coming in. The pony is off to the thickest start at this point. I was considering trimming manes into the annual sport cuts but there are still a few horseflies out there so I'm leaving the manes long for another few weeks.

I'm seeing the squirrels rustling around, the deer are getting active, and the bunnies are out as usual. It won't be long before I'm raking up acorns to toss into the 11-acre wood.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that when I ordered the delivery box for the front gate area I also ordered a bench that opens up for storage, thinking I would put it in the tack room. I ended up putting it in the barn aisle and got matching bins that fit inside - the grooming tools are now sorted into hard brushes and curries, medium, soft, mane and tail, and hoof. I have another bin for tack cleaning supplies. They're all out of the dust and it's pretty nice opening up the bench seat and seeing how tidy everything is. Keil of course had to check to see if there were any treats being stored there.

The bench also makes it easy to sit and just relax with the horses and donkeys. I have chairs outside the barn door and do often sit in them, and off and on have had one chair in the barn aisle, but this bench is right in the middle of the wall and I love having it there.

Another sign of fall is me starting to think about riding after the summer off. When I think about riding, I start feeling the motion of the horse beneath me, feel the saddle, the stretch up and over when mounting, and the sensation of the reins in my hands. I find myself giving "air" leg aids when I think of cantering and the past two weeks I've been putting on riding pants even though I knew it was not quite time to start.

Something to look forward to, along with chilly nights, gorgeous color as the trees change, furry horses, the end of biting insects for awhile, and much less mucking of stalls as the boys stay outside during the days and the nights. Sweaters! Vests! The end of 3-shower days. I'm ready to say goodbye to summer 2017 and move on to autumn.