The Cold Front Continues in Florida

Last night was a record low at 18 measly degrees. All our hoses were left dripped to keep from bursting. But we quickly learned over this past freezing week that taking the hoses off the spigots is the best strategy, otherwise your hose freezes and can split.
Luckily, none of our hoses split before we learned this little detail, but many of our hoses were funkily frozen in the mornings. You could pick up the S-shaped hose from one end and the entire length of hose would lift into the air, retaining whatever shape it was in. Funny! You can see in the picture below just how thick the water on the trough had frozen -- and this was taken at 1:30pm in the day!
You may notice excess water around the troughs, some of it may still be frozen if you get out to the barn before the sun melts the ice. All this extra water is from keep those spigots running.

It was an awful 15 or so degrees when John started feeding at 6:30am this morning. We keep the barn windows and doors closed up at night, hoping that it will keep some of the chill out. We weren't really sure it was working and didn't feel a difference in temperature, but now we have proof! Our little thermometer inside the barn read 30 degrees. John took it outside the barn and it immediately started dropping! It as 10 degrees warmer inside the barn! Yay!

I kept everyone's blanket on until about 12:30pm - as soon as I got back to the barn. It was still a nippy 48 out, but the sun was shining and everyone was munching on hay. I figured those furry bodies needed a break from the blankets after keeping them on for days! I did end up taking everyone's blankets off yesterday at about 3:30pm. It was still very cold, but those horses were dying to feel the soil on their backs.

Here's an adorable shot I snapped today. Like any mom, I was snapping pictures of my baby when Betsy stuck her nose in the shot. I just assumed Satin would pin her ears like usual... but instead I caught this cute picture!


And the white chipmunk...
And the boys...