Lot’s going on here. I began the day in the usual fashion, by first taking Rainbow for a walk. Lately, Jenna has elected to bypass the morning outing.

After breakfast, Pete and I ventured outside, and worked companionably, with me cleaning the horse pen, and him working on the new compost facility. I hauled the last of the gravel from where it had been dumped last fall, and filled in the hole in the side shelter. There was just enough gravel on hand to do this. It was a near crisis situation – Siggi was up to his rear ankles in water.

Dr. Wellington in his office

Come early afternoon Pete and worked together on the compost facility. I learned today that there’s more to putting on a roof than just nailing some boards on a frame. You have to first lay down the particle board, then put down tar paper, and after cover all with roofing material. There’s also something called drip edges. And in our case, we’ll add gutters so that we collect rain water, which we’ll put in with dry compost.

I discovered that in order for everything to go right, everything has to be in alignment, including the planets. Putting on a roof is very exacting, which is why we didn’t finish the job. We still have to put the roofing material in place, and slap some tar on the sucker.

We quit working on this project at about 2 p.m. and ate a late lunch. Pete resumed working on the facility, and I cleaned the goat pen. The latter is less time consuming than it used to be because I now have my handy dandy cart. After, we groomed Hrimmi, and got her ready for Dr. Wellington’s 4:30 p.m. visit. Pete brushed her, and I fluffed up her mane and tail. She actually stood still for this. Just as long as food’s in front of her, she’ll put up with just about anything. . . .

Dr. Wellington appeared at his scheduled time, and gave Hrimmi her tetanus booster. He, Pete, and I talked for a long time, over an hour, about horse nutrition, wound care, and facility management. He’s an extremely busy guy, so it was nice having his full attention for such a long period of time.

As we were talking, Andre pulled in the driveway with an empty manure trailer –which he swapped out for a full trailer. Daunting, to think of little time it takes to fill one trailer.

Andre left, and Pete and I went for a ride. He rode Signy and I rode Raudi. I again rode her bareback. It was good to see Signy truly enjoying being ridden. I have this sneaking suspicion that she had not been ridden much before we acquired her. Rather, she’d been used as a broodmare. A year ago, she would go a ways and stop. Now she moves right out, and responds to leg pressure.

Hrimmi stayed with Siggi and wasn’t at all bothered by the absence of her dam. So, we again have four riding horses. Pretty soon Hrimmi will be weaned, and we’ll again be able to take her out with us. For now, she’s going on walks with Mom, because we have to keep her from nursing. As was explained to us, nursing stimulates milk production. I can’t see Signy ever indicating to Hrimmi that she can no longer nurse. She’s too mellow for that.

The best news of all is that hunting season ends on September 25. I can hardly wait. The four wheelers are messing up the already muddy trails. Sad but true – we can barely walk on them.

Next: 286. 09/22/12: The Mighty Moose Creek