The day began sunny yet windy. After my coffee, I managed to finish another blog post, despite being over a week behind. I progressed on the wording for several others while doing the laundry for bedding. Sheldon turned on the hot tub jets, laughing at the irony of deciding to change the water during a water shortage. He's drained it and plans to refill it later hoping the shortage is over soon.
Clouds concealed the sun, and the temperature fell. It turned into a cool, windy day, quite unpleasant, with an earlier high of 13 when the sun was still shining.
S took the front panel off, found mouse poop so got J to investigate but he tapped out saying not in his wheelhouse of job requirements and proceeded to groom himself in the sun ;)
After lunch, we loaded the recyclables. Britt and Cooper were busy with horse-related activities. With the back seat occupied, Harley stayed behind. We set off for town just after 1 PM, our first errand being recycling. I collected library books and mailed a packet of seeds at the post office. Despite packaging all those seeds, there were only three takers. Next was the rental property, where we began the unpleasant task of tearing out the carpet. The underside was littered with numerous urine stains; even the cold air returns contained urine, some spots still damp.
I had prepared a bleach solution to treat the stained ceiling, which I applied several times over the three hours we worked. Removing the underlay was somewhat easier, though it involved prying out staples or scraping off the cement while lifting as I went.
The warped blinds were removed from the master bedroom as well. Along with most of the underlay, they were loaded into the truck, and after a three-hour work session, we concluded our efforts. As S removed an underlay, the wind gusting through the house slammed the door, and without the baseboard and doorstop, the knob punctured the wall. Damn! The stench of urine at the dump, carried by the blustery wind, was revolting. This place is going to smell 100% better once these urine-soaked pads are gone. Or at least I hope so.
Back at the ranch before 4:00, the dogs greeted us. B left shortly thereafter. I prepared a taco spinach salad for an early supper accompanied by a cold drink. Afterward, I went to move the horses to the house paddock due to the worn shelter area. Lacking a halter, I tried to hustle them out, but chaos ensued with Beibs even kicking out a few times. Harley did her best to assist but ended up being more of a hindrance. I managed to lead Switch by her mane to the house paddock. That worked perfectly. The others galloped over to join her, only for me to discover the winter pasture gates wide open! It was time to fetch the quad. I had to coax them back through the far winter paddock gates. They bolted to the far paddock, so I hopped on the quad and followed, securing them in that paddock. Finally, I guided them through the gate to the middle paddock.
Once inside, I attempted to lead them back to the barn paddock, the same task that had challenged me earlier. The ankle I sprained last month and aggravated while assisting with the stair carpet removal earlier today began to hurt. Chasing horses on foot exacerbated the pain to the point where it hurt to apply pressure. I left them in the original pen and opted to soak in a hot tub. However, this may have worsened it, as I was practically immobile after the bath and resorted to using a bag of frozen celery while lying in bed. Sheldon finished closing up the now-empty hot tub, cleared the wagon of various items including the barn bucket, and mowed the laneway while I soaked. He was now in bed watching the big Stanley Cup game. It was odd not having hockey on the TV every night for the last few days. The Oilers' loss seemed to please Sheldon. After, he browsed his phone while I continued to watch Netflix with my headphones on.
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