The Surprise Diaries

Hey y’all! Day 2 was actually half a day because I ended up sleeping until like 2pm… I went to bed at 10 the night before and then woke up to my alarm at 8am, but went back to bed planning to only sleep for another hour or two… I wasn’t tired when I woke up though so I needed the sleep! I honestly wasn’t that surprised though cause I got a total of maybe 5 or 6 hours of sleep the prior two nights so I had to catch up. There was another volunteer coming from Canada (Simone), and she got to the house right after I got up. She rented a car while she is here so she drove from the Dublin Airport. Our hosts are going to Scotland this Weds for 5 days and we will be taking care of the house and the horses together! Our hosts are Ronald and Chantal by the way, I don’t think I’ve said that yet lol.

We all talked for a little bit, and then Simone, Ronald, and I went to the dump and grocery shopping! The dump was pretty much what I expected, and I totally grabbed two glass jars they were throwing away cause I liked them and one is a great little vase! 

We went to the Lidl (pronounced little) in Carrickmacross, and Simone and I had no idea what to get for food while they are gone lol. Out total came to 54 Euros I think which was for us and some things that Ronald got for them. I found some fun things at the store, like “Tomatoey Lentils” and all I could think when I saw the “Caramelized” cookies was caramelized onions! When I left the conversion rate was 1.12 US Dollars for 1 Euro also. 

When we got back to the house Simone just chilled for a little bit like I did for my first day and Ronald showed me a couple of my first tasks. Number one, I am going to work on a fence while they are gone, putting the boards on. And number two, I was taking manure from their pile and putting it around some bushes and fruit trees for fertilizer! I worked on the bushes for a little while and then came inside. I don’t have pictures of the bushes or fence yet, but I will take pics of the fence when we get it up! 

Before dinner I fed the horses and we showed Simone how, and then I did all their front hooves with the hardener and Simone helped so Ronald could make sure we could do it while they are gone. We are going to be feeding morning and night, and then only hardener at night. We also worked with Heidi, the youngest of the horses at 10 years old, a little bit. She got kinda gone by the end but it was so much fun to work with horses again! We just walked in circles and then into and out of a stall, and then backing up and backing into and out of a stall. Ronald does a little bit with them about once a month just to keep them able to follow us because they are just hanging out all day doing whatever and kinda wild that way. All the horses are super well trained though and won’t kick unless they are being attacked, and they know the order for feeding and whose bucket is whose so we we have to make sure to follow the same routine. They’re all thoroughbreds and retired racehorses! Ronald is also the one the bred all of them so they have a strong bond. Two didn’t actually get to race because they were injured before they could, but two did race and did well! For names, in the pictures from left to right, T.L (stands for Tough Lady which was her racing name), Heidi, Frivolous (mom to T.L. and Heidi), and Bebe (pronounced kinda like a mixture of baby and beebee).

There is a list beside the fridge of all the animals names, with Horses, Cats, and then Sheep, and one on the fridge of the daily cleaning tasks! I also saw a HUGE honey bee and there are beautiful flowers that I will take better pictures of eventually and post then but here are a couple!

We didn’t have dinner together tonight because Chantal only cooks about every other night with leftovers the others but I was tired so I’m going to bed cause I had a short day anyway! That’s all for now, but stay tuned for Day 3!

P.S. most posts will be written from the point of view of if I was writing it the night of, but I am posting them as I write so from the future 🙂