Joy Comes in the Springtime

MY HORSE IS SHEDDING

WE MIGHT MAKE IT THROUGH WINTER AFTER ALL.

Wordless Wednesday: Winter

FOO Blog Hop: A Day in the Life

Thanks to Tracy from Fly On Over for what's become a really fun little blog hop to read and think about. I thought I'd give it a try.

One of the good and bad things about my job is that it changes practically every single day, so there's really no "typical" day. I'll try to aim for an average day. We'll also assume this is a riding day, and not a day where every 15 minutes from 1pm onward I check the temperatures and sulk.

So, here we go!

7:00 am - alarm goes off; I roll over as best I can around the dog, who has probably returned from her morning walk to settle between my legs with her head on my stomach. Check email, check work social media accounts.

7:20 am - shower

7:35 am - what the hell am I going to wear today? ugh.

7:45 am - breakfast and a cup of tea and a few minutes of reading

8:10 am - how on earth is the living room so cluttered and what will the puppy destroy today? Just to be safe, better tidy up everything, ever. Typical setup also includes locking the cat upstairs (they get along fine, but the puppy loooooooves the litter box), locking the trash in the bathroom, locking the bedroom door.

8:20 am - leave to walk to work

8:30 am - arrive at work, start sorting through more email, check to-do list for the day. On a perfect day, I've written it the night before.

11:30 am - lead a school tour

12:45 pm - lunch, maybe, if I'm lucky, while sorting through what's happened while I was on a school tour. On a really good day, I read during lunch.

1:30 pm - cover the front desk

2:30 pm - put out fires

4:30 pm - leave work and walk home

4:45 pm - arrive home, let puppy out, walk her around the block. On a sunny day, take her down to the ball field to run like a lunatic for 30 minutes; on a day below zero, a quick trip around the backyard for her business

5:00 pm - change & leave for the barn

5:30 pm - arrive at the barn, tack up if I'm feeling really motivated

5:45 pm - ride! or longe, some nights.

6:45 pm - get off, toss on a cooler or straight to a blanket, tidy up his things; in winter, heat some water to add to his bucket

7:00 pm - head home, usually stopping somewhere on the way for a quick errand; figure out dinner on the way

7:45 pm - arrive home, change, start making dinner, tidy kitchen and clean up any dishes from breakfast or soaking dishes from the night before while it's cooking

8:30 pm - sit down with fiance to eat dinner, usually while watching TV of some description

9:30 pm - take puppy out one last time

9:45 pm - in bed to read for another ~45 minutes, or as long as I can before passing out; some nights it's until midnight

I admit, I'm envious of those of you who can get up early and get to the barn. I have tried many variations over the years, and find it nearly physically impossible to get up earlier than 6:30 am. I'd always rather eat dinner at 9 pm than wake up that early. Just. Can't.

Farm Hunters: On Hiatus

Sort of. Kind of. I'm still scanning property listings, but alongside properties with horse potential we've been looking at just houses for less $$$ and within walking distance of a downtown.

On Sunday, we went back for a third viewing at a house that we've both fallen a little bit in love with. We're still cautiously investigating all of our options, but this is feeling really good.

So that, for the first time, is the actual house we're looking at.

The basics: 4 bed, 2 bath 1928 Dutch Colonial. 2700 square feet on 0.5 acres (double lot). City water, city septic. Primarily oil heat powering a steam radiator system, but confusingly also has baseboard electric and a gas stove (the heating kind) in one room. Attached 2 car garage.

The budget (1 being bottom, 5 being top): Let's say a 2.5. The house by itself is a 2, but when we run the numbers on necessary renovations it moves to a 2.5.

The pros: Exceptionally well-maintained, large kitchen, tons of space, huge living room, office space for me, man-cave space for the fiance, sun-room (on the right), sleeping porch. Gorgeous exposed original custom maple throughout - including hardwood floors in perfect condition under the current carpet. Nice but not spectacular neighborhood with an excellent location for both commutes, and 8 minutes from the barn (not that I timed it...). School system is somewhat meh but that is not really a concern for me.

Overall, the biggest pro is how right it felt the first time we walked into it. Fiance and I haven't agreed wholeheartedly on a house yet, and after 45 minutes in this space we were in love. 

The cons: Taxes are the highest of any property we've looked at. The city it's in is on a definite upswing but it's too early to tell how far that will go: will it become a trendy young professional city, or will it level off as the half-industrial city it currently is? Will property values really rebound?

The size will make it expensive to heat through the winter, though it has a ton of room for energy audit improvements. 

Biggest cons: it needs a not-inconsiderable amount of rewiring to remove old knob & tube, and two new bathrooms. They are livable, but not terribly functional. Both are 75% gut jobs. It needs a few thousand dollars in energy audit improvements as well, though I would probably do that on any house we buy.

The intangibles: It just feels right. I can't explain it more than that.

Stay tuned, I guess!

Bread Delivery and Other Barters

Once or twice a week, I get a call on my cell phone. Usually it's late morning. The number on my screen comes up as "Manghi's Bread."

Seeing that number on my cell phone almost always makes me smile. It's a signal that the owner of the local bakery is calling me and asking me to make a delivery for her. The only time it makes me sad is when I'm out of town and won't be back by 5pm.

On the days I can make the delivery, I leave work right on time, walk home, grab my car, and stop by the bakery. It always smells delicious, and everyone is cheerful. I take the slightly longer route to the barn and I pull over a few times at a small local hardware store, or coop, or country store.

It only adds 15-20 minutes to my evening, and it makes me happy to have my car smell of fresh-baked bread. Each time I make a delivery, I can order off the menu: I get one of anything I want. Usually, I opt for a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread, but sometimes I'll get a honey bran, or maple walnut, or oatmeal.

I honestly can't remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread. I think it's been over two years. Either a Manghi's delivery run comes along at just the right time, or I bake some bread of my own. I love bread, and would happily eat a loaf every two or three days, so I try to limit myself to really high-quality bread with straightforward ingredients. It's my own small version of portion control.

Delivering bread is also great because it adds in an ironclad guarantee that I'll go to the barn. Especially in winter, it's much too easy to look at the temperature, get discouraged, and not even go out to groom. The last stop on my typical bread run is just 5 minutes from the barn. On days when I know that it's too cold to ride, I often grab Arya and bring her with me, and we work on some training at the barn. I tie her leash to Tristan's stall and we work on a long wait while I fuss over him.

I've bartered for other things in my life, too, horsey and not. I work with my friend to trade either a bag of home-baked goodies or business/website work for Tristan's massages. I've done many, many hours of chores to earn lesson credits. I've traded tack, or hauling. I've taken barters in return when I've provided help or services for another person. There's something more personal and satisfying about it to me - and it helps me afford a lot of things I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. I quite simply don't have the $200 a month in my budget for regular lessons, but if I carve out enough time I can get quality advice.

Have you ever bartered for things in your horse life? What's worked for you? Or do you prefer to keep business separate, and pay for everything you get?