Posted: 1/16/2007 7:58:40 PM EDT
I called off work Monday and today as this is what I was running into at a few accounts. The water is just too damn cold to play in right now. This guy's spa totally iced over and then someone turned a valve and the water return to the spa was shut off so the water level was about a foot and a half below this ice sheet. I had to use a crow bar from my truck to break it and it still took 10 minutes to break it all.      
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Shoot! That sucks! Looks like what I've been breaking out of my horse trough! But what I'm breaking through is a lot thicker. Every morning and every evening for the last week I've had to go out with a pick-axe and break 3-5" of solid ice off the top of the horse's water. Maybe I should look into one of them little tank heaters that plugs in to the drain plug ......  If I remember, I'll post pictures and measure the thickness of the ice. |
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Arrrghh... Freezing water... The shop behind me and one over had a pipe freeze and bust over the weekend. Leaked into my heighbor then into mine. My neighbor found his Mills & Lathes sitting in an inch of water. It only flooded my spray room, glad it didnt make it to my tool room. |
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Looks like I only lost the "Sprinkler Return Siphon Valve" on the irrigation system. Didnt notice it till today, as I had seen on TV that the plumbing companies were having to replace alot of them. Got to looking at it, and not sure how I can fix it yet, without having to remove the whole assembly. Oh well... desert landscaping here anyway, and it's wintertime!! |
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It warmed up considerably last night (I think we spent the night above 25 deg F?) so the ice was NOT as thick as it has been. The first pics are from last night's ice, and later are yesterday's (meaning thicker) ice.   The work is done (for today  ) And here is the older ice (that the horses play with and break up on the ground - funny horses!) 
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That's a lot of horse pucky!  Oh yeah, and quite the ice collection, too.  Do they push the ice blocks around with their nose, or step on it? |
Horse manure is AMAZING stuff! We live in the desert, and the soil on our property is almost DEVOID of organic material. As we feed the horses, and they ..... do what they do ....... its like terraforming the ground! We scoop it up and move it around and spread it wherever they don't naturally do their business, and within weeks there's grass sprouting up and the soil acts more like soil, instead of rocky clay! Of course, our manure-spreading endeavors have slowed down a bit in December and January, but we'll get it done more soon!
To answer your question, YES! Watching horses play is funny business. They're always so tentative about things. It starts off with nuzzling and lipping foreign objects. They then check to see if its edible. Then they start to kick it and paw at it. If what they have found is terribly novel, they'll wind up tossing it and shaking it. Have you ever watched horses act like they're playing hockey? Its funny! |
So that's how those horse ranches by Mt. Charleston keep their lawns so green.  Occasionally, I'll drive to visit the horses at Cowboy Trail Rides up there...cheap amusement for me.  I'd love to see a video of a "horse hockey" game. 
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I don't have video of our horses, but here is video of a horse playing with a JollyBall (a sturdy rubber ball with a handle on it that allows them to bite and toss the ball around). video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1606629234949121881&q=jollyball&hl=en video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1774088028223014687&q=jollyball&hl=en |
Thanks for the cool vids, GryphonX (and sorry for the hijack, everyone...love horses)! Kind of looks like a Hoppity Hop toy I had as a kid.
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