Make My Horse Life Easier Tip #7

 Black rubber buckets!

These are, in my opinion, a lifesaver in the winter time.  Now, if you live in an environment that only gets below freezing for a few hours once in a great while, you can totally skip this one.  But if you live in a place where maintaining liquid drinking water for your horses is a royal pain in the winter months, read on!

Here's my totally unpaid endorsement for Fortiflex buckets like mine.

I don't care where you buy them.  Just make sure they are rubber and not plastic.  The plastic ones will definitely break when you smack them in cold weather; only the rubber ones are stomp-able. Read descriptions carefully when you are shopping online.

For years decades, I have been a strident believer in using black rubber buckets in the winter.  Now, I do have to say that since getting horses moved to this little place here, I use 'regular' plastic buckets in my stalls, even overnight.  But outside (since I don't have heated troughs yet) I use black rubber buckets.  Not plastic.  That's important: use rubber!

Why rubber?  Because you can curb stomp them to break out the ice!! Rubber buckets can be stomped and won't crack, split, or otherwise become leaky. This is why I use rubber buckets and not plastic ones for winter watering.  (They do wear out and start to get 'thready' and develop small leaks after years and years, but everything has a lifespan and stomping them for winters and winters and winters is better than whacking a plastic bucket the wrong way the first time it freezes and having it crack/shatter.) 

Iced over bucket

Turn it on it's side and give it a stomp, using your heel and pulling your foot back up as soon as you feel it make contact with the hard (iced over) part of the bucket. Turn and repeat as needed to break ice from around the bucket interior.  Dump loosened ice from bucket.

Same bucket as first picture, now empty.

Seriously, doing the bucket stomp is a learned art, but oh so very useful in the winter.  If you remove the ice before bringing the buckets in to thaw (loving my heated tack room for this purpose) there isn't so much thermal mass that you need to heat up!  Way more efficient.!

And if you don't have a handy dandy heated tack room, you can still do the bucket stomp on those black rubber suckers, get the ice out, and they will be ready for you to put fresh water into in the morning. Or to use in your stalls at night.  Several farms I worked at back before heated buckets became widely available used black rubber buckets in their stalls all winter long. Plus, there's zero fire hazard, zero accidental electrocution hazard (from horses getting ahold of the cord and biting/playing with it), and zero electric bill increase when you use a rubber bucket instead of a heated one.

Why black?  Because the sun is your friend on those colder than snake snot days, and black loves to absorb light and therefore heat.  Black will stay warmer longer than any other color.  And, honestly, I'm not sure these rubber buckets come in any other color.  

Last winter, and again this winter, I have also used my (empty) water troughs to hold my water filled buckets during turnout.  Putting the buckets down in the trough does a couple of things:

• It keeps them sheltered from the cold winds, thus delaying freezing.
• It holds them in a more natural drinking position that hanging them from the fence rails.
• It contains spills if your horse(s) play with them and slosh them.  All the water stays in the trough rather than going on the ground potentially creating a skating rink right where your horse stands to drink.

Another handy thing I have on hand for keeping these buckets drinkable in the winter is a nice sturdy tree root I found.  It's about the diameter of a broom handle, and has a nice bend in it.  I discovered it is perfect for sticking through the fence, into the buckets in the trough and swirling around to break up any ice that is forming. Or tap on a break any thin ice that has formed  That way I can do a mid-day check (and open) water without having to actually walk to and through the gates in order to reach the buckets.  Efficiency, LOL.

Books Read in 2026: January Edition

 Awhile ago I realized that, since I don't do monthly knitting updates anymore (which were knitting & reading reports, really), I pretty much never mention the books I've read.  And since looking at other people's reading lists/book reviews on their blogs is how I have found many enjoyable books through the years, I feel the need to reinstate some sort of regular rundown of what's been read at this little place here.  My intent is to do this on a monthly basis for 2026.

Some months will be pretty sparse, as historically I do more reading in the winter months than the rest of the year.  But typically I read a minimum of one book a month.  Sometimes I start a book, give it 50-100 pages, don't like it and put it down without finishing.  Those have usually gone unmentioned here in past listings of books I've read.  I think, this time around, I will include those and say why I chose not to finish them.  That way, Dear Reader, you can decide if that's one you probably would like to read, or that you, too, would find it unappealing for the same reasons and therefore don't need to add it to your own To Be Read list.

I'm going to use Amazon links to all titles, if possible, as that is generally the easiest way for me to find the book on a website that others can go to in order to see a photo of the book, read the publisher's blurb, etc. I'm also using Amazon links so you can see what formats it's available in.  I only read 'real' paper books that I can hold in my hand, but I know lots of people use e-readers these days, and by linking to Amazon I feel that you can decide for yourself if you want a physical book, electronic copy, etc and then go from there to how you normally get your books (purchase, library, etc.)

Also I'm going to do as I've done in the past: give the title and author of the book and my short "I liked it because. . ." or "I didn't like this or that about it" rather than copying the blurb on the book cover.  And if I started a book but didn't finish it, I will note that and say why.

Make sense to you?  I hope so, because here's What I Read in January:

1. Sloan Krause Mystery Shorts: The First Pour by Ellie Alexander.  I actually started reading this in late December, finally getting my hands on a copy from the state interlibrary loan (versus the district library system) but didn't finish until the first week of January.  After waiting more than a year from first hearing about this book (actually a compilation of three short stories previously only available in e-book format) I found the stories disappointing.  They didn't have the polished feel of her full novels in the same series.  Some of the editing was lacking, and the plot lines/resolutions just felt cliche or too easily/quickly wrapped up. Like the tale was shallow and rushed. I did read the whole thing, but only because I've loved the series prior to this. 

2. Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason.  This is another Detective Erlendur novel, and like the previous ones, I could not put it down. I think I read through the entire book in three days!  This is not a cozy mystery, yet it is not a gory horror type mystery either.  I love how this author writes relatable characters, gritty real life scenarios, and weaves multiple tales through one book (some of which continue in the next book if it's a recurring character).  It is my intent to read every single book in the series, and I pace myself by only getting one or two a year from the library in order to not come to the end of the Detective Erlendur series too quickly.

3. An Uncrowded Place: The Delights and Dilemmas of Life Up North and a Young Man's Search For Home by Bob Butz.  Long title, short, short chapters.  I picked this book up at last Fall's book swap a friend of mine hosts twice a year (that now has hundreds of people participating!!) because it looked interesting and is full of stories about northern Michigan, an area I'm pretty familiar with.  This is a great book to pick up and put down again, reading here and there as you have time as each chapter is pretty much a stand alone story, kind of like an essay rather than a chapter in a longer novel.  Most of the chapters are 3-5 pages long.  I did enjoy reading it, although I do think if you are not an outdoorsy person and/or have never experienced life outside of a metropolitan area you might not like it as much as I did because the author's views and experiences will be pretty foreign and likely uninteresting to you.

4. Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy.  Another book swap find that I chose because it sounded like it might be interesting.  Oh my goodness!  READ IT!!  There are some very hard parts to read, emotionally, and maybe that is because I was reading it when all the ICE stuff from Minneapolis was starting, but I think it's such a thought provoking book and even though it's about race relations and the KKK in Florida in the 1950s, you can draw a parallel to some of the stuff happening in many areas of the US right now in 2026.

That is my rundown for January.  Every book I picked up, I read in it's entirety.  

Lucky's Sweater

 Lucky, DS2 and Surprise's son, is now a year old!  As part of his birthday present, I knit him a Little Hipster Cardigan in some 'neutralish' olivey green yarn.  Neither picture below shows the true color, it's actually somewhere in between the two, sort of like the patina on old brass.

during blocking

finished, with buttons sewn on

This is not a new pattern, I had actually gotten it way back when Rascal was a baby (he's now 6 going on 7!) but never ended up making it until now.  Yarn is also stash yarn but not quite as old.

It was a relatively quick knit; I didn't even start it until after Christmas and was done with it by the third week of January.  I made the 18 months size, based on what size clothing Lucky currently wears, although in hindsight I wish I'd been able to take measurements on him before starting knitting as I don't think it's going to be long enough for more than a month or so.  He has quite the long torso. 

As for the pattern itself, there were a few places that I found a little confusing as written, and I'm not totally thrilled  with how some aspects of the sweater turned out.  That said, I will most likely knit this pattern again in the future, making a few tweaks here and there, like adding a few rows to the fold over collar so that it actually folds over more.

A Crazy Experience

 Recently, DH was out of town on a snowmobiling trip with DS2 and friends, and I was here holding down the fort, tending the animals, keeping the fire stoked, etc.  One evening, when I was stoking the fire (which is DH's job when he's not gone on trips) after caring for the horses and chickens for the night, I heard dogs barking.  Not just any dogs, these had the distinctive voices of hunting dogs.  Looking around, across fields both north and west--towards where the roads are--I noticed several trucks idling on the shoulders.  Coyote hunter trucks.

So, the dogs I heard were definitely coyote hunting dogs, and they were, it sounded like, in the woods north of my property.  I went back to stoking the fire, one biggest-I-could-carry-and-fit-through-the-wood-boiler-door chunk of wood at a time. 

Then, from the corner of my eye, I caught movement over on the east perimeter fence line of my pastures.  Turning my head for a better look, it was two deer, does, running from north to south, spooked up by those dogs.  They ran on past, heading for the marsh to hide in.

I kept stoking the fire, carefully putting the wood in the boiler in neatly placed rows and stacks, trying to stuff as much as I could in there to make sure the fire would make it through the (very cold, around zero degree F) night.  Turning and walking to the wood pile for another piece, I was startled to see a coyote run right between me and my barn.  Okay, he was about 30ish feet away from me, but, WOW that's close!  I've never been that close to a coyote before, even when I'm up in the deer stand. 

He ran right past the front of my barn, and down the driveway, headed west towards the road. Now I could hear the dogs heading towards me from the east, on my own property, and soon they came bounding through the backyard also heading west.

I figured that was that, as the hunters' trucks had moved along the road to be in front of this little place here now.  The coyote was heading toward the road, driven by the dogs.  Surely any minute I would hear the crack of a gun and the coyote would be successfully harvested.

Finished stoking the wood boiler, I went to the backside of the garage to grab the trash bin, as it was the day we put the trash out at the end of the driveway (also DH's job) to be picked up the next morning.  Trundling through the snow pulling the bin behind me, I realized the dogs' barking had not only changed from chasing to 'treed' as it were, but that they sounded like they were in the front yard.  

Coming around the front corner of the garage, I could see one dog at the bottom of my front steps, baying, and the other dog on my front porch also baying. And a coyote on my front porch, to the side of the front door, standing in a faceoff with the dog!

Oh hello!  Never in a million years did I ever expect to see a coyote on my front porch.  With him right up against the house like that no way would anyone be able to get a shot at him.  

So what, you ask, did I do?  I let go of the trash bin, went tromping through the snow waving my arms and in my most authoritarian animal commanding voice loudly said

"Get off my porch!"

The dog at the bottom step looked at me coming it's way using my manly don't mess with me supreme commander voice and it backed away into the yard.  I climbed the steps, still standing tall and waving my arms and commanding the dog and coyote remove themselves from my porch.  Which the dog reluctantly did, giving up his prey to this crazy lazy.  

Now I'm standing about six feet away from a wild coyote.  Making sure I was not blocking his route to the steps, I looked at him and he looked at me and I said "Get off my porch!"  But he didn't listen like the dogs did.  Rather, he looked at me, looked down the steps, looked at the dogs, and chose to go curl up in the corner.

By now the coyote hunters have figured out their quarry is housebound, and two of the trucks are driving up my driveway.  I went down the steps, met one of them as the truck came to a stop, and, as he was apologizing profusely, told him the coyote was apparently not planning to get off the porch under it's own power.

Long story short, I took the trash bin the rest of the way to the road, the hunters gathered up their dogs, then, with the coyote still determined it wasn't chancing running anywhere, got a catch rope and took the coyote off my porch.

Meanwhile, I got my mail out of the mailbox, and talked to another one of the hunters whose truck was still pulled off the side of the road.  He assured me, before I had a chance to say more than "well that was pretty crazy to find the coyote on my porch" that they had gotten him off, and would 'take him to the field and let him go again'.  At which point, I looked him in the eye and said "Really?  I would think you'd take him safely away from the buildings and pop him one.  I mean, that's what I do with raccoons that I catch in my live trap."

I'm pretty sure, because I'm a woman, he expected me to be all 'poor little coyote, don't hurt him'.  Nah.  The coyote population needs to be kept down.  I'm always watching for their tracks around the chicken coop, and would definitely shoot at any coyote I found sniffing around over there.  

Just make it quick, and dispatch them as humanely as possible.  

And don't chase it onto my porch!

As they were pulling down my driveway to leave, and I was walking back to the house, one of the hunters did introduce himself, and ask if DH still lived here (he and DH met years ago and have sometimes had words in regards to the coyote hunting as this guy is supposed to call/text DH and give him a heads up if they are hunting near our property where the dogs might be coming through onto this little place here).  I told him yes, DH does. We talked a few more minutes, me never letting on that DH was currently out of town, not just at work at the moment.

Because I may be brave enough to command strange dogs and coyotes off my porch, but I am not crazy enough to ever tell anyone that DH isn't home and won't be for days!

Just Here Livin' The Dream

The actual outdoor temperature Saturday at 7:30 a.m.

The actual temperature in my cellar, at the waterline that goes into the house.

Yes, it was frozen.  See that all that cloth?  It was all the rags I could find stuffed into a spot where there was a hellacious draft coming in from outdoors because the insulation that goes there is missing!

I did manage to thaw the waterline safely, by leaving the door between the cellar and the basement open (which made the basement really fricking cold!) and putting a fan in the cellar aimed up at that pipe to route 'hot' air that way.

The frost-free hydrant behind the barn has continued to work through all this super cold weather.

This is a "Hallelujah!  We Have Water!" photo.

Just livin' the dream.  Dressed for barn chores, because animal care goes on no matter what the weather is.

We've also been getting snow almost daily, although some days it blows away in the high winds.  

Gotta love having the legs on my insulated bibs frozen from shin to foot every single time I do anything outside (which has been no less that four times a day daily lately).  Unzipping the legs to be able to get my boots off is great fun.

The horses are dressed in their heavyweight blankets and neck covers.  They go outside daily still, for a minimum of the hour it takes me to clean stalls, longer if they appear comfortable.  It's not good for them to be contained in a stall for days on end, they need to get out and move and breathe fresh air.

Used Tack Sale Finds

Every January, the local fairgrounds is the location of a used tack sale.  Of course I went.  I had a few items I was specifically looking for (most of which I did not see there), but it's always nice to just see what's available and what the going prices are.  

While I didn't find hardly any of the items on my list, I did score some great deals.

--2 bits @$5 each  

These are a tad bigger (wider in the mouth) than the one I have had since my 4-H days of owning and showing Arabians & Half-Arabians with their little heads/narrow mouths.  Looking ahead to training/owning larger framed horses with chunkier/fatter heads, I couldn't resist a $5 bit in a bigger size.

--A set of long lines $10 

I've been toying with the idea of teaching the Poetess to long line/ground drive just to be able to get her working on contact and through her back more even when the footing isn't good for riding.  Now, with these long lines, that's possible.

--A set of 4 Smartpak polo wraps $2!!!  

I definitely don't need more polo wraps, but hey!, these match the black saddle pad I got back in December at that other used tack sale, and $2 for a set of 4 polo wraps is a steal.  Even though this brand sells for $20 brand new, $2 is still a bargain and these look like they haven't been used hardly at all.

--Pony Club Manuals 1 & 3 FREE

Free.  Enough said.  

--3 books $1 total

Similar to above statement about Pony Club manuals.  The two top books will be nice to look through as I'm hoping to teach more of the grandkids to ride in the future, and possibly (if I get a very bomb-proof horse suitable for it) teach beginner riding lessons to other children as well.  The bottom book can be useful for my own training of horses as well as giving riding students interesting exercises to work through.

For a grand total of $23, I think I did pretty well.

Knitting For Cold Days

 

In this post, I mentioned putting a scarf on my face and neck every time I go out to do chores in the excessively cold weather.  When I pulled my little short entrelac knit scarf out of storage this season, I noticed it has gotten a few holes in it.  

Since it's kind of short for the purpose I want it, and the ends easily work loose from under my coat while I'm moving, thus making it not stay around my face and neck as I'd like--it was a project I did for a learn entrelac class back in 2014--I decided not to try to repair it, but that this year I would knit a new cowl to wear instead.

Well, Monday was not just super cold and windy, it was also a holiday (MLK Day), so I figured that was a good excuse to take some time to start that new cowl.  Maybe I could get it finished yet this week and be able to wear it for the rest of the nasty cold spells that will come our way before spring gets here.  (Also, we were forecasted for two days of below zero temps near the end of the week, so I felt like having a new cowl by then would be a good thing.)

I went looking for a (free) pattern, found one all ready in my files, then looked in my yarn stash for a suitable yarn.  Found what I needed, in a color that I liked, and got to work.

First was winding the hank into a 'cake'.

Winding the yarn in to a 'cake'

Not edible, but this cake does look yummy!

After that, I got right to knitting.  The pattern called for a size 10.5 needle, which I apparently don't own.  My choices were use a 9 or use an 11.  Hmm.  I tend to knit a little tight, so I went for the 11.  I didn't want the cowl to end up too tight and not able to go over my head.

I knit on that cowl every (cold) afternoon for the next few days.   Often, the Yarn Thief would snooze on the couch next to me, keeping her eye out for a chance to jump on my yarn.  She doesn't try to grab the cake and run off with it as much as she did in her younger days, but she's still tempted.  In fact, as this cake got down to only the outer inch or so left, she did stick her face in it, mouth wide open ready to snatch and grab.  Unfortunately for her, I had been keeping one eye on her while I knit and foiled her attempt at yarn thievery.

The Yarn Thief monitoring my knitting

I finished the cowl on Thursday, just in time for our subarctic weather moving in that night.  Of course as soon as it was off my needles, I had to try it on for size. 

Turns out it's not tight in any way, shape, or form, and I probably could have gotten away with using the size 9 needle afterall.  Oh well.  I've worn it lots since Friday morning, and it works well, definitely better than that little entrelac scarf did.

A true color photo that also shows the stitch design.

Pattern used is Journey Through Time Cowl (free from KnitPicks)

Yarn is Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky in colorway Clarity (which apparently is discontinued; I've had this yarn a while).  I used a full skein and a little bit of a second skein, using size 11 needles (interchangeable tips) on a 24" cable.