Fred was scheduled to come today to shoe the horses, and that can mean, for me, standing around in the barn. When the day dawned very frosty, I put on long underwear, a sure sign that the seasons are changing.
Ice on the bird bath! 
Frost on the zinnias
I turned the horses out into the paddocks, so that they could loosen up a bit, but wouldn’t wander off to the far corners of the pasture. They started munching hay quietly, but soon progressed to wild rambunctiousness. And, lest you be alarmed by the sight of vicious teeth, there was not a hair out of place on any of these wild horses when they came in to be shod.
All quiet on a frosty morning 
Oh, no! 
Yikes! 
Stone may be small, but he’s tough 
Sparring over the fence 
We didn’t do anything!
Fred was running a bit late, and in the meantime, John arrived to install the new screen on the new door. It’s better than we could have imagined. Called a Phantom screen, it hides in an almost invisible way. I was amazed. Also, it can absorb a dog hitting it, and will bounce back into place! John had a full workshop in his trailer and was very efficient. We are thrilled with the screen, now just hoping for warm weather to put it to use.
Fred arrived with his usual skill and humor. Jane brought Derry over, which looked pretty death defying – Derry was on tiptoes and quite excited. Here she is, viewed through the wash rack window.
Fred did a beautiful job. The horses were a little shocked, since they were convinced that they were retired, and dismayed to find they are still expected to work. Derry behaved perfectly for Fred, despite her wild arrival.
Fred at work 
Fred smiles 
Jane smiles 
Derry smiles
As if shoeing wasn’t enough work, Fred also did some custom metal work for Jane’s barn. He set to work on that, but needed some different bolts, so will return to finish, after which I will get a picture. It promises to be very impressive.
Fred hard at work, Jane supervising
While at Jane’s house, I looked up and saw an enormous bald faced hornets’ nest hanging over her paddock! It’s quite a specimen of a hornets’ nest, and too high to present any danger.
Closeup of nest 
Jane & Calvin, with nest high above in tree
Sandy, the donkey, came up from the bottom pasture to investigate.
Sandy 
Jane and her herd
Back at home, the horses were enjoying being out in the field again, as the day warmed up. Stone’s tail bandage is off, and tomorrow I will remove one suture. Marilyn told me to remove one suture every other day to make sure the incision holds. So far, it looks perfect.
Incision looks great, tail hair a real chop job! 
Roscoe worked on the computer for a while, then took a rest. Tom Morris rested in the shade outside. He is not computer literate, but he has street smarts.
Finally, Mistletoe gives a kiss to her favorite human. We are in the bubble, no social distancing here.
Stay safe, stay well, stay in the bubble.