Happy New Year 2023

 Last night around 11:45 I went out to the barn with my husband with sliced apples and mare pheromone gel. We gave the apples out, I smeared some calming gel along the edges of nostrils, and we gave hay in the stalls. It was so warm here and slightly damp from yesterday’s rain, I turned on the barn fans to create some drying air and some white noise. Keil went in and out a few times to listen to the noises, but mostly they all munched their hay.

We stayed with them until the fireworks and gun shots ended. It occurred to me yet again that I spend every July 4th and every New Year’s Eve in the barn, listening to sounds that mimic a war zone. Not the way I want to celebrate freedom, democracy, or a new year, but I do love being with the herd and helping them remain calm. 

A half hour or so after midnight people got tired of being out in the damp, foggy night shooting their guns and for me the real new year emerged. Horses eating hay, calm and peaceful in the finally still night. I hope calm and peace wrap around all of us in 2023. 

I did not take any photos, but the night was billowy with fog and the lights on our Christmas tree twinkled like stars as we walked back into the house. 

Today I’ll change out the gate wreaths and work on painting the bathroom upstairs, which I did yesterday and it made me happy. An audio book, my paint brushes, and working on trim with a color called White Dove in a pearl finish - it was a calm and peaceful couple of hours and will be again today. The Benjamin Moore paints are a joy and very forgiving. I brush it on and think, okay, I’m not a professional, and then it dries and looks terrific. 

Maybe in 2023 we can all applaud our own efforts this year, the things we do that maybe we aren’t perfect at doing, but the results are nonetheless good enough, and, sometimes, spectacular. 

Happy New Year!