It’s crazy windy out today. I thought I was going to blow away when I went out to feed this morning. It was scary windy. The dogs kept freaking out because the front storm kept blowing open. Evidently a self opening door is really scary to the dogs. Anyway, we all fought the wind and fed the horses then headed back inside for cover. It’s really that windy. We’ve all eaten now and are hanging out on the couch. The puppies think it’s nap time and I guess nap time requires that we all curl up against/on top of me. I love you guys but it’s a big sofa…

Hermione and Marble: Best Buddies

Anyway, it goes without saying. I love the crazy girls, but sometimes it would be nice to have a little space on the sofa…

Back to the wind. It’s not looking promising for a ride today. At this point, it would be downright dangerous. But, if it improves, I’ll go ahead and hop on  Batts. But, with the trees flying sideways it’s not looking too promising.

On Wednesday, not wanting to work before the department holiday party, I hopped onto Chronicle of the Horse and saw that Horze was having a blanket sale. Now, I have millions of blankets, well, at least I have enough that they don’t all fit into this trunk (I’m thinking about purchasing a second this spring when it’s time to put blankets away). That said, right now, the majority of my blankets are Subi’s… He’s got his to Rider’s that he wears regularly (med. and heavy), 2 old Statelines (light and med.), and a sheet. That said, I can’t remember if I ever fixed his light stateline as he busted the front last winter. Regardless, the statelines are going into their 7th winter and really just serve as backups at this point. His medium Rider is also 7 years old and the other Rider is 2. Batts has a Rhino that I bought used to Hayley the first year I had her so it’s going on winter number 4 with me. It’s several years older I’m sure. Batts also has a rain sheet that he ripped before moving home so I’ll need to repair that eventually. Then Hayley has a sheet, a stable blanket (I combine the 2 or throw the stable under her TO if it’s freezing), and a SmartPak pink blanket that fit her wonderfully, but now, not so much. She’s just lost weight the last year with all her issues, diarrhea, “founder” that turned out to be 5 abscesses between her 2 hind feet, etc. Ahh. She’s a walking medical bill.

Anyway. Horze. I’ve never ordered from them but buy 2, get 1 free was a deal I couldn’t resist. Plus, someone also posted a code for 50% off. I was able to get 3 blankets for the price of 1. With free 2 day shipping. Hayley and Batts used to have a spare blanket the shared, but it was on Hayley a week ago (it fit better than her pink one) and it died. It’s been repaired to death and just wasn’t great anyway, so I can’t complain. But with all my long lasting blankets, this one was anything but. Anyway, I ended up with 3 of these blankets for $150 (1 spare for each kid though if it hold up, it might be Hayley’s main blanket). The price of one. 2 in black, 1 in teal. Evidently later in the day the company changed it so that the code and the sale couldn’t work together but they worked together when I ordered. Awesome. Best yet, the blankets showed up Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after I placed my order.  Anyway, I threw one on Hayley this morning and it’s a pretty decent blanket. First pretty well too. We’ll see how it holds up, but it looks decent. She was a jerk while I was trying to put the blanket on (Subi was still eating so she kept trying to help him along… oy.) but it’s on and seems to sort of fit. The high neck is a bit odd (I never get high neck blankets), but other than that…

On a non horse/dog related topic, my new ice skates FINALLY arrived. It’s only been 2 weeks, but I’ve been inpatient and my feet hurt too much to skate in my old ones. Anyway, I called the pro shop yesterday and got word that they had just arrived so I went over at lunch (having the ice arena on campus is super helpful). The fit so much better than my old pair. 1/2 size smaller and a wide width seemed to have a huge difference. Anyway, they’re heat moldable so they baked for 10 minutes then I got to stand in them for another 10 minutes after they came out of the oven. But, as I said, they were so comfortable. I can’t wait to try them on the ice. They’re stiffer than the old skates, but they fit! My feet have been in so much pain lately that I haven’t wanted to skate (so I haven’t since my lesson last week). I have a couple weeks to get used to them before the next LTS session starts in January. I’m not bothering with privates until group class starts again either. Best yet? Pro shop took back my old skates (since he fit me incorrectly) and charged me the difference between the 2 pairs. Since new skates weren’t in the budget (not that blankets were either…), $68 for skates was much better than the $230 that the pair would have been.

new skates!

In other purchases, I also got a food processor this week. I. Need. To. Stop. Spending. Money. But, I did need the food processor and it was on sale and it’s pretty so…

Anyway, hopefully the weather will improve and I can at least hop on Batts…