5 hours ago it was 26F, "feels like" 14. The low was supposed to be 27F. Close? It's now 24F.
A couple of hours ago, a tiny bit of graupel blew in the wind. Now? Welcome to the blizzard of '25.
It's white on ice out there. Drive like you're on an ice rink, because you are. No sudden movements. Accelerate slowly. Brake wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyy sooner than usual. If your car is old, the brakes might now all pull with the same force, so expect rotation. To sum this all up, and so much more that I have experienced, stay where you are, and make food delivery service people risk life and limb to bring you a cheeseburger.
Leo, one of the retired horses that we took on after the death of a friend, died today, aged 25.
It's not incredibly surprising - we've been treating multiple hoof abscesses throughout the two years that we've had care of him, most recently with increasing quantities of antibiotics, but eventually they became too much for him to be able to stand for even short periods.
He was a very sweet horse, with a range of health issues that never quelled his spirit or humour. (Ever heard a horse laugh at you for falling over on your arse in the mud?)
His original human was kind, and gave him a long life of rather cossetted leisure when it became obvious that he wasn't a very suitable riding horse.
Leo was charming and affectionate and he put his faith in me to soak his hooves, irrigate wounds, give him injections and do my ham-handed best at following any number of veterinary instructions in a freezing field.
His two horse-friends will doubtless miss him, but have had a chance to say goodbye, and I think it was as obvious to them as to any of us that he was just absolutely over all of his hardships.
I'm away from my main computer and don't have a really functional phone, so finding decent photos of him is a challenge, but we achieved a selfie together early last spring, and I had that to hand.
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