Logistics

Well, (sigh)...Trailer tires ordered and trailer scheduled to be repaired with someone else. That coupled with a full set of new brake pads for the dually....Ka-chhiinggg!!! It's so depressing. I haven't even been going anywhere and it's still costing an arm and a leg. Sorry, I'm still feeling whiny about the whole deal. Not like me, but since I have other major considerations on my mind, I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

I have been trying to decide what to do about horse pens at the Arizona property. One one hand, I was thinking about hauling all of my panels down there, including the round pen (which I will need) and using them to build the pens I will need for horses. That is only cost effective if I decide to leave those panels down there and buy replacement panels for the Colorado property next spring when I come home. Either way, I'm going to have to buy panels...and quite a few of them.

My personal preference is to build pens that are no smaller than 16'x16', so that is what I had in mind when buying replacement panels. But 12' panels are way more common and obviously less expensive. This is why I love my husband, I was caught up in the 'I want 16' panels, but OMG, they are sooo expensive!!', when he pointed out that when you think of it in linear feet, it would be money ahead to buy the 12' panels, even if I bought more of them.

19-16 foot panels = 304 linear feet = $2,204 = $7.25/linear foot

26-12 foot panels = 312 linear feet  = $1,768 = $4.58/linear foot

That hubby of mine...He is so smart like that.

Only having 12'x12' pens is not a big hardship for the horses, since I will also be building a large turn-out area for them as well and can turn some out together during the day and some out together during the night. I just can't run this mixed herd I have now all together at once.

So I guess that dilemma is solved.

There is no way around the 2nd dilemma...

It's going to take two trips to get all of the horses down there. I'll haul 4 head down with me the first load, get panels bought and pens set up and then I'll have to come back for the 2nd load. IF I can get a driver for my little rig, I'll pop a couple in that trailer and haul 3 in my LQ. If I can't get a driver for my little rig right now, I'll have to pull a divider and fit all 5 head in my LQ and wait til New Years to bring my little rig down.

I'm telling ya'll...It's kind of a logistical pain in the butt until we get everything set up and situated. I'm sure it will become less of an ordeal as time goes on, we have several friends that go down every year and they said it becomes easier over time.

I told the hubby that next year....Probably going to head south around the first of November. It's getting cold here and I don't think it is going to warm back up much. I wished I was in AZ right now.

The one other little thing MH and I have been discussing is the pet situation. One dog would LOVE to go, the other one...No desire to go anywhere ever again. So I guess Red Dog goes with me and Ute stays home to hold down the fort.

I am also taking one cat with me. We have had regular cat wars here for a couple of years and I am so over cats. I'm going to take the problem child cat with me and although I'm pretty sure he is not going to appreciate having to stay in the house the majority of the time, he is just going to have to deal with it. Outdoor cats don't last long in Arizona. The other two can have a peaceful winter without being bullied.

For now, the squirrel will stay home too. He and MH got into a pretty good routine last winter and it worked. But, when MH goes on rotation and starts coming down regularly, the squirrel will probably have to come to AZ too. He hates being left alone and he would go bat-shit crazy if he was regularly left with no social interaction on a repeated basis. He's hateful for days after every time we go somewhere. He is a demanding little creature, but MH adores him...so the squirrel wins!! He has actually traveled pretty well in the past. We just put him in his little cage and set him in the back seat and it doesn't seem to bother him at all. He looks out the window and runs on his wheel and life is good in the squirrel's brain. LOL. I have a feeling he is going to be extremely pissed about the lack of cable tv in AZ, but maybe I can just put a movie on for him in the evenings and that will do the trick. I wished I was joking about that, even a little bit. But I'm not. The squirrel LOVES his tv time, particularly in the evenings. He totally watches the tv. LOL.