December 2018

This first photo was taken in November but its currently what out front pasture looks like.

And this is today inside the barn. There are now lights on both sides of the aisle.

Can you spot the differences?

Front door swag

This is actually a wreath but I loved it enough to put it on the table as a center piece; 

it smells wonderful.

The stockings were hung...

One of my favorite gifts: I came home Christmas Eve and found my husband up on the tallest ladder hanging the new chandelier.  We found the chandelier at Habitat For Humanity for $10, the lights were $26 and added a dimmer switch. Changed the whole look of the living room.

The Santa tapestry

This years tree had 2 ornaments, no lights

Old ~ New

We are nearing the finish

This is what the old fence looked like a month ago

along the front road

Now it looks like this

And this

And this

I'm not completely finished painting but I will be back out there tomorrow.

Fence Painting

Just a reminder, this is what I have in the front pasture. Its fresh wood, not painted, 

just shining white in the sunshine.

I started painting the outside front black at 4:00pm.

4 minutes later I was this far along.

14 minutes later...

29 minutes after I began...

I painted the entire outside front fence in 1 hour 49 minutes.

It was DARK out when I finished so there is a chance I missed a spot.

I'll be back out tomorrow morning to do the inside of the front & head up toward the house. I have about 4 gallons of paint left, just hope its enough to complete the job.

And There It Is

The front fence is in,  

except for the electric. I could put horses out there tomorrow if I so desired but I'm going to wait for the electric fencing to go in. I really want to see Mack get hit with that.

And the field fencing isn't up yet either but we're not putting the dogs in here yet either.

Its about 5 feet tall, just enough that the horses probably won't jump over it.

New Fences

When horses go wandering, new fences are in order.

This is part of what we're replacing, its along the front of our property, bordering the road.

The posts are a mix of old & older, most rotten and only standing up because of all the bushes and weeds in the ditch. The boards are all rotten also.

It was all taken down, along with the barbed wire & field fencing. 

Then the bushes and weeds were mowed down.

To make it a little nicer looking, the front 20 feet were rototilled and evened out, 

grass hay was spread over it and the tractor tires flattened it out. 

The fence line was moved back about 10 feet so that there will be a nice area for grass and ornamental trees to be planted.

New 6x8 posts were cemented in every 16 feet and 4x4s were put in between them.

This is what it looks like today.

Up close, notice how it was done: 

All the boards are 1"x6"x16', 

the top boards were started on post one, goes over post 2 and ends at 3. 

The second board down begins on post 2, goes over 3 and ends at 4. 

The 5thrid and fourth boards do this also. Supposedly this makes the boards stronger.

Field fencing will be put up also to keep dogs in and provide additional strength, and electric braid will be put at the top to discourage horses from leaning over it and knocking it down.

Today all the old fencing was carried to the back pasture and thrown onto the burn pile.

There is an easement at the other end of this fence from the driveway that was left open, we will put a gate in it so that the easement never disappears.

August Was Busy

The horse runs are almost ready to use. One has buckshot, the rest have just builders sand.

This is the second run, behind the second stall. I think this is Wifi's stall & run. I still need to fill the post holes with gravel or move sand before I put any horses in them.

That's the first stall, probably Gus's run. Currently there are Quail in that stall and he has use of the entire arena every night.

Took a trip over to Eastern Washington for 5 tons of grass alfalfa hay. I've never had a goofier looking load before.

It all made it home & we didn't lose any. 

Coming down Chinook & Cayuse Pass's, our truck brakes were smoking.

The back of the barn from the back pasture.

The front of the farm from beside the front pasture.

The barn in the evening sun.

We got the chicken coop moved. It was in this location when we moved in, it was covered in sticker bushes and the doors & windows were falling off. 

The chickens had a touch time figuring out where to go to bed but with a little (lot) of encouragement from us, they got ended up inside.

We are going to put the big run on the right side and a small one of the left. That way we can have separate areas for new chicks or special hens.  

Barn Lights

When I came home this evening...

Electrical Wires

The electrical wiring is being installed in the barn.

Box above a stall for center light.

Mr. Electrical. 

Scored On This Shelf

As I surfed FaceBook this afternoon I saw an ad for this shelf, FREE.

I instantly told the guy I wanted it.

So we went & picked it up.

I can't wait to see what it looks like in the daylight, after its been cleaned up & rehabbed. 

Getting It Done

These photos are of the wash rack

This is a built in shelf for the shampoos and sprays

The piece of plywood to cover this is attached to the wall beside it so if we need to use the wash rack as a stall we can close the holes.

I put took hooks on the back wall, also removable. 

See the plywood square from the shelf?

The cross ties are heavy duty bolts with solid wood behind the plywood

Here is the water heater and the pipes. This has been enclosed and the extra wood 

attached to wall also.

In the animal department, we hatched 6 pheasant chicks, they are 3 weeks old now.

I need to get an outdoor cage for them so they can be used to being outside.

That's a chicken chick with them, shes got a messed up leg & we have no idea why.

We moved the tack room to the back of the arena

In this photo it hasn't been set on the bricks all the way but now it is, we have painted 3 of the 4 sides and purchased 2x8 pressure treated boards for the trim along the ground. The front hasn't been painted yet, we need to remove the saddle rack and cover the door & light.

Some of my barn art has been put inside the barn. I am going to rehang the flag and put up a couple others, one is a flag I purchased in May 2000 at Keeneland.

Inside my tack room. I've been given another saddle so I've got 3 western, 1 dressage & 1 English. 

I purchased a harness for the Mini's in hopes to ground drive Gus; 

the surcingle I purchased is WAY too small for any horse.