No shavings!

Maybe you remember the drama that revolved around my barn running out of hay in June.

Well, now they're out of shavings. They actually ran out a little over a week ago but it was stated that they would temporarily use bagged shavings until the next truckload of the regular stuff arrived.

Okay, fine by me.

But to my horror I found Limerick standing in a totally bare stall yesterday. The stall mat was completely stripped of shavings, save a few strays along the edges of the stall. A couple piles of manure and a puddle of pee crowded one corner of the stall.

What the *%&#?

I cleaned the stall out and spread the old hay over the stall mat and gave Limerick fresh hay to eat. It was getting late and I didn't know what else to do.

This morning my husband said he would drive to Bob's Salt and Feed (my feed store) after work and pick up some bags of shavings. He gets off work two hours before me and under ideal circumstances, would arrive at Bob's before they closed at 6pm. Aww!

"Okay, but we're supposed to get a lot of snow later. Are you sure?" I said, picturing my husband becoming frustrated in snow-clogged traffic. He works in Mettawa, which is quite a long distance from Bob's.

"I'm sure, I'll do it!" he said.

Cut to 7pm and my husband has been in snow-clogged traffic for almost four hours. He is nowhere near Bob's.

"Just go home!" I text him. "We'll get the shavings tomorrow."

I love Limerick with all my heart but her having a proper bed for the night isn't worth hubby spinning his car out on the highway.

But Bob left the shavings out, hubby texted back. They r covered but dont want to leave em out.

"They won't care, give them a call in the morning. They'll understand. We'll get them tomorrow!"

Hubby insists that he can make it out to West Chicago.

At this point, I'm standing in Petsmart surrounded by jumbo bags of pine shavings. A Petsmart employee is eyeing my uber-muddy, snowy field boots with their (enormous, sharp!) 1/2" stubby spurs. Thanks to a friend's tip, I rushed over to Petsmart as soon as I was done riding to purchase some XXXL bags of small animal bedding.

"No don't worry about it! I got the shavings!" I text him.

Too late he texts back. I'm on my way.

"Just leave them in your car then, we'll take care of them tomorrow," I say.

I skid and slide my little Jetta back to the barn.

The hearty paw and long, satisfying pee Limerick took after I spread the shavings around was definitely worth $37.14.