Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Barbara,

I live in the Great Northwest!!!!  Specifically, Washougal, Washington, 
23 miles east of Portland Oregon, but on the North side of the Columbia 
River.

The weather this spring has been a bit different this year.  We had a 
huge blizzard in early January which dumped feet! of snow, and included 
single digit temps, and 50+ mph winds resulting in drifts from 3 to 14 
feet.  Quite spectacular!  (The actual "blizzard" conditions were 
pretty local.... Portland Metro area got lots of snow, but we here in 
the Columbia River Gorge got the added attractions)

The weather cleared, but our snow hung around for nearly a month.  Then 
it got nice. Really nice.  It normally does in Feb, but usually only 
for a week or three (enough to tease us into thinking spring is here) 
but this year it lasted until about a week ago. It's been raining quite 
a bit, but by this weekend, it's supposed to be back into sunny and 
65-80 again.  I was VERY glad for the rain..... it was getting way too 
dry for this time of year!

To give you an indication of dry.... last year I had the garden tilled 
in mid-May, and it was barely dry enough to get a decent till on it.  I 
had the garden tilled in mid March, and it was drier than last year! 
I've even gotten sunburned a couple times already!  Usually that 
doesn't happen till June or July! *grin*

I can't remember the last time I put fly masks on the horses in early 
March, or had to water ANYTHING this time of year.  The grass is coming 
on so well, I've had to cut way back on the horse feed, and tie up the 
pony so she won't explode.  I was thrilled to get the blankets off the 
horses, though..... my horses are out 24/7 and wear waterproof sheets 
all winter.  I don't actually blanket much, it's keeping them dry 
that's important (and full of hay) and the sheets give them a lot of 
protection from the ever-howling winds.  During the blizzard I had a 
fleece blanket, a blanket, a waterproof sheet, and a hood on all of 
them.  They came through just fine, but it was a lot of work for about 
a week..... I had to feed several times a day because the wind blew the 
hay away so fast.  ( I bet someone in Washougal is wondering where all 
the hay came from!)

Julie

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes"

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~ Heidi Sowards

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