We got our first snow of the season last week and great excitement ensued amongst our household. Well, truthfully, Desperate Hubby wasn’t that thrilled, but I was happy.
The kids were ecstatic.
We emerged in the barely dawn light to start the long process of shoveling the driveway and walks.
Annabelle and Winston played a merry game of tag around the yard and up and down the gravel road while I worked getting the two inches or so of fluffy white powder cleared off.
Winston dearly loves the snow, and he raced and raced until he was a big matted ball of snow fur.
With a funny happy face.
Batman made a little snow castle out by the pens while I was busy shoveling a path to make it easier to feed the horses.
Even Blackie the cat got into the fun, following us around as we worked and played, her shiny black fur a stark contrast to the glistening white snow.
Such a pretty girl.
Reno the little black pony was snow-covered and happy in his pen, chomping away on his ample breakfast.
When I was finished shoveling, the kids and I went into the house for a break. It was a very cold 10 degrees or so outside so we needed to warm up. DH had a nice fire roaring in the wood stove, so it didn’t take long for us to be thawed out and ready to head back out to play.
The kids were bugging me to take them sledding. We had no available hills around, and they had grown much too large for Winston to pull them in their sled. Not to mention their back-up idea, which was for ME to pull them in the sled.
Not happening, kiddos.
Then I had a great idea.
A makeshift harness combined with homemade cardboard blinders turned Reno into the perfect little sleigh pony.
We spent a happy hour (not to be confused with the other type of “happy hour,” of which I am also quite fond) jogging up and down the gravel road and around the hay fields. Reno had not pulled anything in a few years, but he settled right into his harness and trotted along beside me like a champ.
He can be such a good pony.
Most of the time.
It was so much fun out there breathing the fresh air and feeling the sunshine on my face that I just didn’t want to quit.
Finally, though, my legs were quivering from exhaustion and my snow boots had rubbed quarter-sized sores on both ankles (I have to jog in them once a year, just to remind myself why I shouldn’t) so we adjourned to the house again to get changed and ready to go downtown to the Christmas Night Light Parade.
We dressed as warmly as we could. The temperature hovered around 8 degrees as we drove the short distance to downtown. A chilly wind took the temperature down to around zero or less as we stood waiting for the parade.
We were not disappointed. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was so cold that I could not take my ski gloves off to take very many pictures, but I did get a few.
We toughed it out for over an hour (it’s a pretty long parade) and left a few floats before the very end. It was just too cold to stay any longer.
The cold temperatures gave us a benefit though, as the snow stuck around to provide one more good sledding day for the kids and their friends Shawny and Sierra.
This time Grandpa Vernon drove.
He went quite a bit faster on the four-wheeler than I was able to jog with the pony, but I do believe I should get some points for old-time authenticity.
I hope you are enjoying your winter as much as we are ours.
Chronicles of a Desperate Horsewife 