As much as Alayne and I would like to take some 'emotional time off' when we lose an animal like Smokey, the fact is that we can't ... every day we just have to get back into the routine. Each morning there are 70+ animals clamoring for their breakfast! And attending to them really does help get our minds off the grief.
So I had 'restocking the pantry' in mind when our volunteer Kathy G., who was out here last weekend and spent nearly an hour grooming poor old Smokey, came out again today to help. Kathy and I took the truck and flatbed trailer over to our neighbor's hay barn, where our remaining 80 tons of hay are stored, and loaded up 2 tons. The photo shows Kathy on the haystack just before we unloaded it into Scout's Barn, where we can store small amounts of hay for daily feeding. (Most of this barn is taken up with horse stalls.)
It was 4 degrees below zero when I took the photo at about 2 p.m. this afternoon. We started the day at 20 below zero (again!), and tonight as I post this at 9:45 p.m., it's 19 below zero. Just about where we began!
Kathy and I managed to stay pretty warm the whole time. That's what working out with 2 tons of hay will do for you.
(Click on photo for larger image.)
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