Off to a good start

Since it was not a good day to be outside, Rick and Brian worked in the garage yesterday, building this shelf on the wall in front of where Rick parks his vet truck. Although we are one of the few families I know who actually park two vehicles in their two-car garage, it's still nice to get some of our stuff off the floor and out of the way. Rick also cleaned the woodstove so thoroughly it looks practically new, inside and out. A fire would have felt good this morning, with frost on the ground. Maybe later....

I started the first day of the new year off with a bowl of yummy oatmeal cooked in skim milk and sweetened with stevia, with more heart-healthy mix-ins - ground flaxseed, chopped walnuts, and frozen blueberries. The rest of the day I alternated between fun and necessary things: in addition to vanquishing clutter, balancing checkbooks, and paying bills, I wrote a blog post and caught up on others, spun a little, wrote a letter, knitted, put in two miles on the treadmill, and sat on my horse for awhile. The last is my only real New Year's tradition; I try to start each new year with some time on the back of my horse. It is said that "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a (wo)man," and I heartily concur. Leaning forward and resting my cheek on Russell's crest, breathing in the wonderful smell of "horse," stroking his soft neck with my fingers, is soothing and centering.

This morning dawned mostly clear and sunny, a welcome break from yesterday's unrelenting rain. I put the girls and Browning out in their lot, and decided to put their hay in a bucket up in a clean, grassy area. (The fenceline feeder and surrounding area is slimy and sodden.) This seems to be working well.
Then I put Braveheart in the horses' lower pasture so he could have green grass and room to roam; his usual lot is a mud slide right now.Unfortunately, the grass held no interest for him; he looked longingly at the girls and ran around looking for a way out to join them. (He has shredded both sides of his coat pacing the fence of his lot.) I would put Browning with him for company, but am fairly sure Braveheart would run - or ram - the little wether into the ground.

That's day two of 2009 from . . .