During which massive amounts of water make an unwelcome entrance into the barn...

Almost the entire state of Vermont is in a flood warning right now. All this means is flooding has already been reported, so those of us who haven't seen it should be watching our butts, 'cause it's a comin'.

Well, any horse at the co-op barn could have told you that.

I got to the barn this morning around 10AM, knowing full well the place would probably be under water. It always it, the first time it rains in the spring/end of winter. The place was not built for anything but dry weather; it's got no formal foundation, no drainage set-up, and (the kicker) it's built DOWNHILL. If there were ever an equation for disaster, that would be it.

We prepared the best we could last night: Donnie got on the tractor and leveled away the snow and ice that would trap water in the barn, and it worked, sort of. Stella stall was almost perfectly dry (no standing water, at least). Ernie's was a little worse, with standing water pooling in front of the stall, but none rising above the rubber mats. Another stall over, G.I's, was the worst, and always is. The poor horse was standing in 6-8 inches of water throughout the entire stall, and it had overflowed to the point of spilling over the stall lip and into the aisle, flowing across and sitting on the cusp of overflowing into another boarder's stall. I called Eryn ASAP, told her she better get here fast, because we needed a game plan, and quickly.

Luckily, we had several bags of Woody-pet lying around. Woody-pet is a Canadian invention (hooray, Canada!), and it's essentially pelleted bedding designed to fluff up when you add water. We used it last year when the barn flooded, and it helps displace all the extra H20 and dry things out, unlike normal shavings. I used a bag between Stella and Ernie to keep things dry and made a Woody-pet dam in front of Ernie's stall to prevent water from coming in. I found out quickly both horses liked to EAT the stuff (probably because it looked like grain...) and so I had to spray it furiously with flyspray (the only thing I could find) to keep them from sucking it up.

Essentially, it took Eryn and I 3.5 hours to clean the barn up. Water was everywhere and coming in from all angles. We moved some horses around, got G.I out of his stall and into a dry one and went to work trying to create a Woody-pet perimeter around the rising water in the aisle to contain it. We ended up being able to get another 15-20 bags from the BO, and with her help, created a channel outside that led away from the stall and towards the manure pile. Then we cleaned the stall out, shoveling out water and wet bedding until we could see the floor, then filled it with 4-5 bags of Woody-pet. It actually didn't look half bad. I wasn't operating the camera at the time, Eryn was, so hopefully she posts pictures over at Leaving a Giant Impression. Just know that it was bad...really, really bad.

It's still a mess outside. Everything is slick and covered with a slippery layer of mud over the still-frozen ground. What's worse, rain is still coming down in droves and is slowly changing over to freezing rain and snow. We're schedule for 11-15" by the end of it all. Boo.

I just want spring. And when I say I want spring, I mean I want the end of spring, after we're done with all the late snow storms, rain showers and torrential flooding. I suppose I should continue to remind myself that we don't HAVE spring in Vermont. We have mud season. So this is only the beginning...