Yesterday morning was cold here on Casa Claire. Below zero. But then the Northern Colorado sun came out, and the Foothill winds blew away a lot of the snow, like an arctic tundra, so I no longer had any excuses to not do my outdoor chores.
This winter has actually been a blessing for me (but unfortunately not those mountain communities reliant on snow to support their ski and snow boarding businesses) given that we have had very little snow this year. But even when it snows, I try to get some grounding in.
Now, when it gets to single digits or below, particularly at night, Claire and Honey
understandably choose to shit in the barn. I can’t leave those mule muffin piles sitting around because that is also where the mules sleep. The barn is like a giant cat litter box filled with soft wood shavings (Thanks Doc Clarence). Indeed, the arid NoCo air usually dries the mule muffins out in a few hours, like cat turds. But the wood shavings need to be regularly filtered by hand with a multi-prong pitchfork and the scooped mule muffins moved to a wheelbarrow, which is then wheeled out back to Hadrian’s Wall for creeping decomposition.
Hadrian’s Wall – The Wise Novelist
Hadrian’s Wall has also become Claire and Honey’s tar beach this winter, during which there have been no extended stretches of bitter cold or snow to warrant me playing a game of ringolevio just to put their very stylish and warm winter coats on (which is great because I usually go through three sets of coats that the mules do their best to tear and dirty – which becomes expensive to clean, repair or replace). Their fur coats have come in as nice and thick solar magnets this winter, so they like to lay on the warm, soft and dark stretch of decomposing manure while they sleep and soak in the bright winter sun.
Their added weight, and regular comfort rolling, help to pulverize the decomposing dried out manure and wood shavings so that there is a silty soft brown stretch out along the top of Hadrian’s Wall that absorbs the winter sun, further causing the natural decomposition to keep throwing off its own heat in the process.
There also is a remnant of rich summer vegetation growing in the rich soil that the mules will snack on. So, they get to enjoy the bounty of their self-processing natural experience.
When the sun sets the mules return to their heated and cleaner barn, to eat hay and meal pellets – along with one daily serving of chopped fruits and veggies – and drink warmed water from a heated trough that is replenished by a one-man bucket brigade on a daily basis – the outdoor hoses being stored to avoid bursting outdoor spigots- usually during the mules’ stretch on tar beach. The mules also get to enjoy the soft classical music that plays 24/7/365 in the new barn. I lower the volume each late afternoon and pump it up the next morning.
Since I have discovered this process on Casa Claire, I’ve noticed that on other horse properties you will often find horses sleeping happily on mounds of collected dung.
The added benefit of this recurring scenario is that Claire and Honey get long stretches of mule grounding in. Same with the Beagle Brothers and feral cats that spend a lot of time each day putting paws and bellies in direct contact with Gaia.
7 Benefits of Animal Grounding You Need to Know
Which comparable personal practice I also absolutely believe has kept me relatively spry and healthy without the intercession of the medical industrial complex or prescription drug companies that spend so much time advertising (frightening) my demographic into signing up for their silver bullets for chronic illnesses they may or may not suffer from.
Well, today is another babysitting day for Stella. Lisa has to go scoop her up early so that Georgie can make her substitute teacher shift.
The little imp still refuses to acknowledge that the repeated day trips to Nona’s house count as her promised sleepover,
When Is Soup A Meal? – The Wise Novelist
despite the fact that she gets to go to the movie theatre and dine out each time she comes. I blame Nona for that. She told me yesterday that we are going to see Zootopia 2 this afternoon.
Curses foiled again!
I’m taking a page out of the Peter Sheridan legal strategy book, and if Stella happens to nap at any time during today’s visit, I will snap a photo, print it and submit it as an evidentiary exhibit to support my application for termination of the promised sleepover contract.
But I mustn’t bore my fine, five readers with any more rantings. Monday is behind you and that brings you one more day closer to Friday. If you can’t milk another snow day out of this horrid weather, get into the office and bang out this week’s projects – on the Tuesday through Thursday production plan.
But no matter what else we get up to, let us all make today a great one.
