winter

bit · winter

It hasn't really hit here until now. It's been cold, but we also get those two to four days of forty degree weather and with the sun, it's been bliss. Never have to wait too long and you can ride.
This last storm left behind ice, snow and bitter, sub zero cold. It's a soul sucking kind of feeling, and I'm not doing so well. My horses aren't seeing much of me. Not a lot of sharing territory. We are lucky to get them fed and looked over for injury before we have to head back in.
There was a time when I lived for winter. Willed it's coming and celebrated snow, cold and a long winter was a good winter. Not anymore. I'm having a tough time this year. I know. We had it pretty good until Feb. By March, we'll see warmer days.
Anyone else finding themselves a little drained by all this?

whudson

Not sure Bit what you have been experiencing. We here have had very little winter..which is quite odd if you look on the map.

I am wishing for more snow..but it sounds like you are not, I just want to ride in the snow..wanna have some fun.

We have so far had mud, rain and more mud.

Snow would be nice

Peeperpuppy

I've done pretty good so far but we're still trying to dig out from under a 20 inch snowfall. For some reason I was kind of like that from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I got the blue-magoos & just couldn't shake them. I feel for you. Hang in there... spring's not too far away!!

Hute

I know what you mean. I've been hibernating inside and away from it all lol, no horses for me to feed or anything. Six more weeks and it should get a lot better!

bit

This is better than rain and mud. Poor Bit, she is having a tough time with the frozen ground. Guess it's just too many grey days, cold toes, and no way to ride. Perspective. I could be living is some city, no horse, and working my life away. I need to remember how blessed I am and quite whining about this. Oh. Maybe I'll go take a hormone pill.

I'll be fine.

jackspark

OK so far, digging out and grateful for the time off from work

Might have to trudge over to KS and perk you up!

Off again tomorrow while we try to widen the country roads

EEEEEKKKKK what do ya do when you meet another vehicle, literally no where to go!

learningthedance

Hertha

Bit, do you sit yourself under a nice bright reading lamp for some hours every day? I think it's about light influencing the pineal gland in your head. In the winter you just don't get enough light shining on your head

Clarissa

Peeperpuppy

My sister's doctor actually told her to try a tanning bed... I don't think I'd recommend one of those things for anything because I don't think it's good for anyone's skin but a friend of mine bought a special light that immitates sunlight. She has this on at her desk at work at least 3 hours a day & it's completely changed the problem for her. Completely. My sister moved to Florida & winters are no longer this dark abyss for her. I know a couple of people who use those greenhouse lights that stimulate plant growth.

4theloveofjake

You're not alone Bit, I am feeding,watering and body checking daily. That's about it. Too cold and miserable. Horses are getting a major staycation !!

bit

Just opened up the big pasture and walked with the herd on up to where they hang by the next door stallion. Spent about 20 minutes with Gunner and Hawk, sitting against the round bale while they munched hay. My toes got pretty numb, but otherwise I was fine. Felt good to get out and feel the sun...lol, create wrinkles, sun damage and possible skin cancer. sigh. Horses seem to be warm, and dozing in the sun when I left them.
Looks like artic cold all the way to the tip of Texas by Tuesday. Feb is going to be it's usual, challenging self. Nothing like perspective. Today will be mid 20's, and it feels lovely. Almost 50 by Fri or Sat? Then 18 by Monday. Like you said, no flies and snow is pretty decent to fall in. I've done a ton of falling in snow. I'm good at it!

Peeperpuppy

Bit, I'm kind of an odd ball in that I don't quite buy it that a little sun exposure will cause harm. Over exposure to the sun is where the bad stuff is. I think you'll feel better with a little normal good sun.

Hang in there

jackspark

PasoBaby_CarolU

Sun exposure is a delicate thing...for some even a little is harmful. If you have a family history of melanomas I'd worry...otherwise not.

I just read that all the hoopla about Vitamin D is mostly just that. We get plenty in our diets.

None the less, there is something about dark, gloomy days and mood. They did a study of people who work in buildings without windows and found they were less productive then people who could see outside. I find myself having a hard time on overcast days to get motivated. There is SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder too.

I found looking at Hertha's and Clarissa's pictures really picked me up. Pictures off my deck of sunny days helped too, as did looking at my calendar already full of trail rides and clinics I'll be attending soon. And, I think we have to force ourselves to go spend 20-30 minutes outside, just brushing our horses or cleaning the tack room, or something to feel better about the neglect we're feeling guilty about.

Spring is JUST around the corner now.....I find thinking "5 more weeks" helps me a lot. I can handle 5 more weeks. It was 5 months I had a hard time with.

jackspark · March 13, 2011 2:00am

March 13, 2011 2:00am

bit

I was just going through all my summer pics. I noticed how the horses were sweating, and there wasn't one pic without fly masks. I'm serious, I'm ready to move to Arizona. I can handle dry heat. Does Arizona have flies? lol. I think I'm ready to leave snow. And bitter cold. And horrific humiditly. So bad that Lou, my paint mare had to go back to Colorado. Kelsey is thinking, Scottsdale. Yeah, Scottsdale!

Hute

I don't know about the having no windows thing being depressing, I get depressed looking at all that snow! With no windows it's easier to forget it's there. lol In the summertime, though, I do wish for more windows. I have only one window that I see with any regularity where I work and it's under an overhang and you don't see a whole lot. One coworker of mine has a large picture of a beach with palm trees I like looking at.

I've long thought that when the time is right, I'd like to move South for a little while and experience what it's like without snow. I think I started planning that when I got into horses lol, I experienced the dark side of winter for the first time!

PasoBaby_CarolU

Deb, in the west we have house flies and horse flies. There are only mosquitoes and gnats near bodies of standing water, and when it's hot, there aren't any even there. Lack of bugs, fungus, rot, etc., are one of the big PLUSES to owning horses and living out here. Dry is GOOD.

You might look at Wickenberg, AZ. It is a big horse community - as is Scottsdale, but Scottsdale is also very expensive.

karmikacres

About 22" of the stuff, 12 hours to dig out. It is at least hip deep in many of the open areas. Had trouble just getting the doors to the house open...

PasoBaby_CarolU

Yowser Mike...better your then my back! I have a good friend in Connecticut, she has nearly 50 inches on the level and no place to stack snow she clears from her walks and drive now. She can't see out of her windows.

I heard there was a price on Punxsutawney Phil's head if he DARED see his shadow! LOL

This is a winter we'll all be glad to have behind us.

bit

Just sent a link to Tony of Wikenberg. He saw a show the other night about someone getting lost in the desert in AZ and dying. He's all anti AZ, now. If he'd seen me walking up to the tack room at -14, I wonder if he would consider that a dangerous journey? sheesh.
Mike, that amount of snow used to be a daily thing in Mammoth. It would actually be considered a typical snow fall. If you can find your car, it wasn't a big storm. At least I'm outta there!

Peeperpuppy

My husband & I have a piece of property in Arizona (Seligman). It's a little too remote for a lot of folks' taste. It's in northern AZ & it is amazing. Weather is much nicer. The locals tell us you can trim up the brush & make things less rattler friendly. Elk, deer, antelope everywhere. We're thinking of selling our piece there & finding a place a little closer to civilization for my husband's sake. But there's over 400 miles of gravel road & I don't know how many acres of public land in our back door to ride on for days without running into anyone IF you chose not to. My doctor has been advising me to get out of Missouri for a few years now because my allergies are so vicious: ragweed, red cedar & mold are my biggest problems. So I'm a mess most of the year except in the blizzard. Man I can go out & do stuff in the snow

We're looking at the drier climate to make a permanent change but haven't found just 'the' spot. Hubby wants mild winters. I'm looking for less bugs, low humidity & the means to get outside more rather than less.

I wouldn't want to live in southern AZ. Nothing personal against it except it's a little too hot, a lot too dry. I get nervous when water's an issue but I LOVE northern AZ. LOVE it. I love parts of northern New Mexico. I've found lots of places in TX we love but I think the humidity in summer will be too much. I love Colorado.

So basically we don't now where we'll wind up but we're actively shopping

PasoBaby_CarolU

LOL Peeper. You sound like me. We're hoping to move to Northern NM as soon as hubby retires and the housing market picks up so we can sell. People Magazine did an article a few years ago that said that Albuquerque had the best year-round climate of any place in the country, even California. It's a little dry for me there, I'm looking around Las Vegas, NM, where you can have a hay field. :-)

We have ragweed and mold here too, but both are seasonal - except some molds in some houses.

learningthedance

jackspark

I thought that the problem for older females isn't that they necessarily don't get enough from dietary sources and sunlight but that they don't metabolize it as well anymore. I do take it as a combination calcium/D.

Peeperpuppy

It's crazy. My husband's retired & wants me to. In fact he'd like me to retire 2 weeks ago. What's worse is I've been snowed in all this week except Monday & that's made it worse. Made it worse for me too because I've suddenly got time for stuff... time for all kinds of stuff I never have time for. I want some place with grass so we're not feeding hay year round. He wants some place close to town.

So the hunt for the right place is on, that's for sure

PasoBaby_CarolU

I read an article at the doctor's office on Wednesday on the medical community's propencty to jump on new data for a new drug or use, and dogged determination to stick with that data - even when later data shows it to be wrong. The recommendations for statins, calcium, and Vitamin D were specifically mentioned in the article. Additional calcium is actually harmful, but doctors still recommend it. Vitamin D is very non-toxic and not in this category, but new tests have shown no benefit from higher doses for most people. I tried to find the article. It was in Newsweek.

Hertha

Sounds like you all would love it in NZ !!!!

Peeperpuppy

Actually pain clinics around here set a pretty good store by Vitamin D. One of the first things my new doctor did was pull a blood test. At that point I was on the verge of wheelchair which I was fighting with every fiber of my being. When the blood tests came back I was extremely low in D. I didn't know what he'd given me was a prescription strength vit d & was pretty grumpy when I figured it out. (Keep in mind I was in so much pain I didn't care about much of anything except making it stop). Sure enough at the end of 2 weeks things were different & I was on the road to being better. This has happened 3 times since my back fell apart after the accident & each time... extremely low on D.

To me Vit D is a lot like accupuncture. I don't really understand how a little thing like that works... I just know it does for me.

I also use 2 magnesium vitamins 20 minutes before bedtime. I'm an insomniac who has gone full weeks without more than a couple of hours a night sleep. They tried tranqualizing me & that backfired big time. Might work today but then again I might be up for 24 hours, wound up like I'm super energized. But the 2 little magnesiums drop me off like a rock to sleep. Told y'all a long time ago I was weird

whudson

Clarissa

As I posted in the cyclone thread, the cabin & spare 4ac horse paddock at my place are vacant now & it's a really benign enviroment here. First in, best dressed

re VitD Dr Oz says we need it, that's enough for me. The man talks plain sensible words!

Although personally I don't need most vitamins & minerals because of my high organic fresh F&V diet & mostly outdoors lifestyle. However I must ask my doc about the VitD level re pain per peeper.

PasoBaby_CarolU

I thought I'd share this for anyone needing some 'spring' this morning...just click your mouse and drag it around...

http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf

There were seeds and gardening supplies out at the feed store...so SOON.

jackspark

Delightful

Peeperpuppy

LOVED the garden.... what a cheerful little thing!!!