Thursday, March 01, 2012

the equine center...



A few days ago, my friend Mae called and asked if I could trailer her horse to the equine center for a dental procedure. I am always happy to truck horses, and I have never seen the equine center, so I was happy to go. I told Mae it was so fun to go to the center as a guest and not a client, because even though we are so fortunate to have such a great facility close by... no one who owns a horse really wants to be there!!!!



It's an amazing place, probably the best in New England, and I don't think there is anything that they can't do.












It's modern, bright, certainly geared to horses and there are equine specialist of all kinds. As we were going threw the hospital, I saw this beautiful horse in one of the exam rooms.









This is the "hospital barn". Very impressive!!!













There weren't too many horses in on this day... but this one caught my eye. Looking at his ears, I assumed that he was there for some kind of injury that had happened.










But I was surprised to see that there wasn't just one horse with "funny ears"... but two. So, I had to asked why they were there and "what had happened to them". I was even more surprised to learn that nothing has happened to them... they are actually boarding there for a time.. and the ears... well, that's a trait of the breed.








They are called "Marwari's" a rare breed of horse from India. According to the staff there are only nine of these horses in the United States. What a treat to see such an unusual horse and learn a little bit about them. They are "small and slight" sort of like an Arab... but seemed very sweet.






The staff was very nice, and happy to answer all sorts of questions and let us look around. Again, it was so nice to see this under good conditions, and it's such a comfort to know that they are there if we ever need them. And for Miss Molly and her mom, the dental procedure went very well.. and even though it's such a nice place... they were happy to be heading home.

workin' in the cellar

When the winter winds are blowing and it's a little too cold to play outside, there are always inside projects to be done. Our main focus over the past month has been the cellar. We have a really nice cellar, that walks out to the back yard. The "kennel" area is there, and it's bright and sunny and very pleasant to be in. The stairs have been a huge deal, for the longest time they have been "open" with no sides. This always made me nervous when the dogs were scrambling up and down.. pushing and shoving to see who could be first, I lived in fear of someone going off the side. But Ed has them all closed in now, with proper railings and I feel much better.









We got the one back wall all insulated as well. Suddenly it's so quiet, and the wall isn't cold when you walk by it. We now need to get the sheetrock done - which will be fun, because there are some really neat things that we can hang up.














Along with this great project has been the radiant heating for the first floor, which as you see, is in the ceiling of the cellar. This has been an interesting project, getting all that tubing going to it's proper place... but we did (and let me tell you, it's warm on the first floor!!!!)











It amazes me how well this radiant heat works. We have it in the cellar floor as well (and the doggies are always toasty warm).. but it's neat to walk across the floor in your bare or stocking feet and feel how warm they are.












We still need to finish this insulating as well. All the tubes have to be covered so the heat can work efficiently... but it will make a nice clean ceiling for the cellar when all the insulation is up












And last but not least, real lights. Up until now, we have been working off a sting of construction lights, which I had to plug in everytime I needed lighting in the cellar. Now I can just flick a switch and it's magic!!! I also have plugs, so I can run my dryers to dry the doggie's after bath time. It's really nice. So, bit by bit,it's coming together. We still need to get our back deck built (hopefully before the weather gets too hot or buggy) and there are a few small things to do.. but the house is really getting close to "done"

March roars in....



so, with the winter being so mild (and really - quite wonderful). I took down my winter decorations, and put up "spring". The mornings have been relativity warm, the birds are coming back early and singing once again, we are ready!!!!




The bit of snow we got last week was quickly fading. I am sad that we didn't get to use the sleighs as much.. but there's always next winter.....












And just as we're getting all excited.. Ol' Man Winter shows up again. I guess just to prove that we aren't out of the woods yet!!!!











March roared in like a mighty lion!!! Not so unusual for this time of year, in fact.. March can be quite snowy. Ed put the plow on the truck, and we enjoyed a nice inside snowy day.












The rockers on the porch wait patiently, but looks like we can get that sleigh out again afterall.....