The wind chill factor

When I got up it was zero degrees out. ZERO. Zero’s not even funny, as a friend of mine says. One is funny but zero? Zero is nothing. With the wind-chill factor according to my weather app it felt like -17 yep, thats with a negative in front of it. My god. Around noon i got my ass going and went to the barn. It had warmed up to 6 by then with a wind chill of -5  improvement of sorts. I was bundled up as warm as i was going to get.

Smartpak base layer pants, fleece lined breeches, Smartpak base layer top, t-shirt, red mid-weight Dickies hoodie, black sherpa lined Dickies hoodie, sock liners, smart wool socks, paddock boots, Marmont gloves, and a hat. I was set for the cold weather, as set as id ever be. I still needed to be able to move. When i got to the barn my ponies were inside munching hay, i had asked to keep them in today because the wind chill factor was predicted to a possible -20 or even lower. My goal today was to make them drink water, Jez is a good little drinker but in weather like this you want them drinking, a colic impaction is not something i ever want to deal with. It was going to be a wet sloppy warm mash. I scooped out my mash mix into feed tubs and then went to our heated bathroom for hot water.. um yeah no water. Apparently the waters off in there and has been for a while. Fuck. My plan was being thrown for a loop. I found a working  outside facet connected to the well, i just needed to make the water hot.. then i remembered, the microwave! I had a small rubber feed tub that would just fit in the small microwave so i filled it with water and pushed the button and nuked it. It totally worked, i had to do it several times but at least it was bigger then a coffee mug, that would have taken me forever.

I mixed the mashes very sloppy with lots of water and then just fed it to the girls in their stalls. Jez was so excited she did that whole lift up her hoof while shes eating thing she does when food is delicious and because it sooooooo good! Circe was slurping away as well. I hung out to watch them eat and make sure the ate it all. While i waited my gloves froze. I had gotten them just a touch damp mixing the mash. And they just flipping froze. I was freezing my ass off and i started to notice my throat was getting scratchy. No! I will not get sick, i will not get sick i will not get sick! I texted my barn owner that there were feed tubs in my stalls (in case she was looking for them) and drove my freezing ass home. i know some people have it a lot worse then i do but i sure hope this cold snap ends quickly. Cuz im never going to get used to a freaking negative degree wind chill factor… ever.

As I was parking my car i noticed it, a giant package on my front steps. It had to be and it was earlier then i thought, .. my jump blocks! UPS must have really had a fire under them, i didn’t expect them until the end of the week. I dragged the big package into the house and made my self some soup and crawled into bed cuz the throat thing isn’t getting any better. As soon as the ground thaws i’ll get my rails (i’m gonna be  using landscape timbers) and then jump school can begin for Miss Jez. Circe can do ground poles for now (still gotta fix the head tossing thing but Jez, Jez is going to learn to jump!