Careful What I Wish For

The light is changing here at Four Sticks Farm, bringing hope of the spring soon to come. If only I can ignore the glare from the snow-covered ground that makes my eyes water and my nose run; the sting of the still-icy air that numbs my chin and reddens my ears; the grimly naked trees that expose the red squirrel who rejoices in tormenting the Happy Golden Hooligan, the feel, or lack thereof, of my fingers frozen one more time by scooping hay stems out of the automatic waterer and snapping the metal fasteners on Biskit’s blanket.

If I can ignore all that and look only at the brilliant blue sky, with a few wispy clouds and a big bright sun, I can believe.

It Will be spring. We will still see some snow and cold and ice and cool and slush and chilly. But spring will come. It always does, though it’s easy to forget that as we trudge through these bleak, record-cold days that are the weeks of February.

Soon though, I will shed a layer of outdoor clothing from my barn chore apparel and strip a layer of horse hair and mud from my polar ponies.

Soon, I will start a spring conditioning program for my Big Red Beast.

But don’t tell Chicago that.

Soon, I will close off the pasture to allow it to grow without competition from equines eager for the pleasure of grazing green grass.

Don’t tell Chicago that either.

Soon, I will sweep down the winter-crusted cobwebs from the barn ceiling, slog through the alley mud to muck out the manure, drag out the paddock posts and divider fencing, wrestle 2 bulky blankets into plastic bags for transport to the tack store cleaners, curry off several more layers of horse hair and mud – first from the horses, then from their groom, clean and condition the tack that’s been hanging idle since September, scrub off the season-ending stall-window scum, wipe down and hang up the stall fans, towel off 8 muddy dog paws multiple times a day, lug deck furniture down from the garage-attic and up from the barn-shop.

Soon, it will be spring. Hmmm…

Let it snow!