Springtime Horses

Blue and Remy still get a half cup of grain each morning in separate stalls to keep them from fighting. That's not enough grain to make them fat but it is enough to keep them coming when called - usually:

 With the grass growing now, they spend most of each day outside, searching for the newest, tenderest grass:

 The cows now join them and on rainy days when the fields are sodden, they know a high spot where they can graze:

 Violet and Remy were hanging out together by the edge of the gravel road, where white birch trees grow in abundance:

 Blue was over by the county road, near the fence gate which is electrified. I hadn't intended it that way, but I put an "Electric Fence" sign on it to warn passersby. I imagine it's even worse when there is a puddle there (I wasn't about to go touch it to find out):

 Remy was looking mighty cute and I thought he needed a portrait shot:

 "Here's a side view for my publicity photo:"

 But mostly their days are spent grazing green grass and sleeping:

 Blue doesn't look so fat since he lost his winter coat. He also doesn't look so black either, but instead more brown:

 One morning I found Blue in the barn, waiting for his breakfast:

 Remy, however, was sprawled on the floor and didn't move a muscle. Was he sick or dead?

 No, he was just sleeping. The sound of the grain bin being opened brought him suddenly to life:

The Beginning Hours Of A March Nor'easter

Another (our third in a row) nor'easter had just begun and it was frosting the woods and fields like white cotton candy. I'd recently taken the tractor driving tour around the north field but decided to hop into my car and start down the gravel road to again see what beauty the snow was creating. I began with this field, backed up by a brushy woodland:

A former gateway into a field which hasn't been used in many years:

A patch of Staghorn Sumac, the red clusters of berries seemingly covered with powdered sugar:

My neighbor's maple sap lines. It was certainly sugaring season, but I hadn't seen him out and about. I worried if something had happened to him:

But then I found him and his uncle stopped along the road, transferring the sap into a giant tank to be boiled down. They are friendly and some of my favorite people. I'm always glad to stop and chat:

I continued on my way and began looking for places where beech trees added a bit of color to what otherwise might make the photos look like they were in black and white:

A beech tree and pine tree among the aspens, with an old barbed wire fence paralleling the road:

An old stone wall where I once released a mouse I'd caught in a live trap:

The snow was sticky and causing an intricate, lacy beauty:

I'd been expecting the Red Pines to be exceptionally lovely, but they seemed to be holding less snow than the hardwood branches. They were still beautiful, though:

More piney woods:

Pines and beech. I stopped at my Amish neighbor's field where he appeared to be digging a well. I asked him if he'd come and trim my horses' feet on Saturday, which is the day he has assigned for such jobs. He said he'd be there in the morning. This was the end of my driving tour, so I headed home to get some work done:

Snowy North Field Perimeter - Part 1

We missed one nor'easter, but got caught by the second one. The morning after, I decided to get on the tractor and drive around the outside perimeter of the north field to see the snowy sights. I drove past the cattle and horses in the south field as I headed up the gravel road for the north field:

Just past my north field are the remains of a former house trailer. This collapsed shed used to be their front entrance. It also sheltered the fox kits which I photographed  last spring. You can see those baby fox photos here:

That trailer used to have old fashioned pink roses which grew by this fence. They still bloom each year, though they are now in so much shade that I'm not sure how long they can continue:

I turned left to travel along the outside of the north field fence line. I planned to photograph the snowy beauty which surrounded it:

This open field used to be connected to mine, but they were separated when the property was sold:

I often drive down the gravel road after a snowstorm to photograph snowy pines, but hardwood trees are also pretty after a snowstorm:

I stopped to photograph this wild grass, which offered a bit of wintry beauty:

These brushy woodlands, with lots of small branches to collect the snow, looked dazzling:

I came to the corner of my field, where I'd turn left at the gate and follow the back fence line:

White birches didn't look quite so white with all that glittering snow around them:

At the corner of the property was the apparently dead trunk of an old tree which had sprouted and is now growing up again. It occurred to me that I'd never bothered to notice what kind of tree it is. I'll try to do that when the leaves are on it:

I passed an old lane which leads down into the woods and off into another field, a tiny portion of which I own. I've been piling brush along the side:

As I traveled along the edge of the field, I looked back toward my barn and house, with the neighbor's red barn across the county road:

The tractor is the best way to travel in deep snow. I sit high up where I can get a great view and it can pretty much go anywhere. If, however, I did get stuck, I could use the bucket to push my way out of a tricky situation (I've had to do it before). There was more to see along the perimeter, though, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Fixing The Electric Fence In Winter

One day I noticed the calf touch his nose to the electric fence but didn't jump. Even worse, he then licked it - and still didn't jump. I checked the charge and found none, even though the charger said it was putting out 7 to 7.1 kilovolts. I discovered that there was a charge where the wire left the barn, but by the time it traveled all the way around the field and back to the other side of the barn where the cattle were, it no longer held any charge:

 Luckily, most of our snow had just melted, so I put all the repair tools in the bucket of the tractor and began driving the inside perimeter of the fence, looking for shorts. I brought along a snow shovel, figuring that some wires might still be buried in snow despite our brief thaw:

 I made it to the giant rock pile, which I also believe was the site of an old cabin:

 I went through a gate and continued on to the farthest corner of the south field, where I saw a shut-off switch was open. This would stop all electricity from going beyond that point:

 I was happy and surprised to find such an easy fix, but then discovered that the switch was not only open, but broken. I managed a temporary repair by closing the switch and allowing friction to hold it in place, but I know I can't count on that to last. I have another switch, but will wait for warmer weather to replace it. Of course I wondered how it got broken. Was a deer trying to jump over the fence? A hunter, trespassing? I'll never know, of course, but that doesn't stop me from wondering:

 But just in case, I continued on around the rest of the fence line, looking for shorts. I found some places where the bark on the cedar fence posts had come off and was touching the wires. I fixed those:

 I returned through the electric rope gate and noticed that it was sagging, so I tied a knot in it to shorten it just a bit (it now has three knots in it):

 I drove on, looking for shorts, and found this sign askew. The signs are plastic so I almost didn't even stop. But when I looked more closely, the wire loop which hangs the sign was touching both the wire and the fence post. I slid the sign back to the middle of the wire where it belonged and where it wouldn't short out the fence:

 I came to a high spot in the back field which overlooked the gravel road down below. It was pretty and peaceful, so I stopped to admire the Birch trees. A double fox den is just below me on that bank, though they haven't used it in a couple of years:

 This old, dead elm on the fence line was a potential problem, but so high that there was nothing I could do about it. I did, however, remove some tree bark which had come loose and might touch the wires in the future:

 I found some places where the bottom wire was buried in the snow, but the bottom wire is not live, so I let them be:

 When I was all done, I tested the fence charge at the end of the run, where the cattle are spending the winter. It was variable, but went as high as 4.5 kilovolts. Even 3.7 was enough for the time being. I'll work on the fence again in the spring: