November Hill farm journal, 59

We’ve had 5+ inches of rain since August 1st and about that much the last two weeks in July, so it is a jungle here. The arena desperately needs harrowing, I’ve been too busy to do it, and now the pollinator beds need some work replacing mulch which has been displaced by all the water flowing.

On the plus side, I haven’t had to hand water anything in a month!

We’ve had a break from high heat until this week. Several days nearing the mid-90s have necessitated hosing the horses again. Yesterday evening I went out to the barn to find Keil Bay sweating and his nostrils were flaring a tiny bit. A good hosing and scraping cooled him down, and I got him set up in his double stall with hay and fresh water while the daily thunderstorm blew in.

A few signs of hope (ie autumn approaching): acorns starting to fall, horses shedding summer coat, muscadines still green but large enough to be visible.

Last weekend I had my first botany class and really enjoyed it. I brought home two new asters for the pollinator garden and three new books to read. I just realized I haven’t done my homework yet! The week has flown by, one of the busiest weeks of the summer. Tonight my son and his significant other arrive for a visit and we’ll be gathering with my family to send off a nephew to a brand new job in Denver. The young ones are growing up.

The pony is in daily work still, with a marked change in his weight and muscling. The (not that huge) fat pads at his shoulders are gone and his withers is now much more prominent. His muscling has developed again and he has that sleek barrel curve that indicates fitness. I need to get a photo of him and wish we had thought to do a before photo as well. The important thing is he is looking good and seems to be feeling good too. He loves the work and I suspect especially the attention from his girl.

Keil looks older to me this week. I won’t put him back into work until September but as fall nears I hope to get him into an easy work schedule and to get Cody back into work as well. I miss riding. My body misses riding! I’m back in massage therapy after a long summer without it, and have a chiro appointment next week.

In other news, which I don’t think I’ve shared here, we purchased back in April a small cottage in town for my mother-in-law. Honeysuckle Cottage is a cute home on a very large lot, and it has huge potential to be something really special. We’re renovating it bit by bit, starting with a few necessary updates/repairs, and then on to things that will make it beautiful. As if I need another list of things to do! But thankfully it’s being a good home already and will only get better as we go. The first improvement was repairing some soft sub-flooring in the laundry room and installing beautiful tile in the laundry room and kitchen. Now we’re working on furnace/AC repair. Seems it’s the summer for that here AND there.

The next project here on November Hill is not a fun one but has to be done. The drainage ditch that runs from the top of our lane on our strip of property needs to be cleared. With all this rain, much of it coming very quickly, we’ve had some road damage. Nothing too bad but it will help to clear the ditch, and that’s on the docket for next week.

A friend posted a photo of her barn aisle recently on Facebook, and that got me thinking about our own barn aisle. Anyone have thoughts about using pavers in sand instead of mortar? Hers looks so good and so elegantly classic, I am tempted to do it here. Once the horses can stay out some during the days without being savaged by biting insects, we can move on with some barn maintenance.

I’m resisting the urge here to list the next things on my list. Right now I just want to focus on this cooler morning, the sun shining, and the hummingbird outside the front porch. And these two keeping me company.