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.  

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. 

Spring Flowers

Spring in the northwest might be rainy but it is also when the most beautiful flowers bloom.

I don't know their names

But the Azaleas are all gorgeous

So are the Lilacs. This is the first year they have bloomed for us,

we didn't know this bush was here.

There is a plethora of Blue Bells and yesterday the first Iris popped open.

For Mothers Day I had store bought flowers on the table but they are pretty too

And also on Mothers Day, I bought a dozen Pheasant eggs, I put 6 under a hen and 6 in the incubator with 8 chicken eggs. When they are big enough I'll release them into the wild.

New Post

The first row of upright posts have been in the ground for a few weeks,

this is the aaisle

Last weekend we got 2 posts for the second row,

these are the stalls

See that hill in the background? Our old farm is over there so we drove past today to see how they've changed things. Not much, if any changes. 

See the indent in the trees? That's a road, its directly across the valley from our farm. We drove down the road and checked out our farm from over there; nothing is hidden, that's for sure. If they are paying attention, they will see this new barn as it goes up.

Two days ago a coyote was in the yard, ready to catch on of my chickens so I had to scare it away. Now we're got a rifle out there for just in case. His paw prints are all over.

Front Yard plants

I took this photo yesterday.

All the azaleas have finished blooming and after Googling for the info, I discovered it is prime time to trim the bushes for optimal growth next year and to make them look nice again. They were really gangly looking.

 

I didn't have my hand clippers so I used the loppers to start whacking the branches off. I was ruthless.

Afterward, I wrapped a new soaker hose around the bottoms of them and left it on for a few hours. This is the first time I've watered them.

 

Our porch rockers are much more noticeable now.

 

We put the log behind the bushes so it can be seen but its not the main focus of the bed.

 

The Rhody beside the steps really got whacked, it's just sticks now. I still need to deadhead the remaining plants.

 

The hanging baskets are looking awesome but I need to move each basket toward the centers of the areas by at least 6 inches, they are all crammed into the pillars.

 

Out in the rest of the yard there are many more Rhodys and Azaleas, I have a couple of each that I'd like to move and a couple huge ones to really start whacking on. One is tall and skinny so we were thinking about making it a Rhody tree. I will start trimming on those soon, before it's too late.

Welcome to our Country Home

This is the first photo I ever saw of our new country home. A friend just happened to post a link to the MLS & said this would make someone a really nice horse property. I made arrangements to see it the very next day.

It was raining hard, absolutely pouring for two weeks. The ground saw was saturated and nothing was dry so I figured it was an excellent time to see the place.

 

 

And here it is today, raining hard once again. The porch is full of stuff, some is mine and I need to either rearrange it to look nice or remove it completely. There is also a piece of vinyl that came from our old place after we did new flooring there and a china cabinet my FIL left a week after we moved in. I do not like that thing, it needs to go.

 

The flowers are blooming and the grass is growing, leaves are returning to the trees so they can fall all over our yard again in six months. I'm going to need to trim that Rhody to keep it under control and there are tons of bulbs that need to be dug up and replanted. This first year I am just mapping out all the flowers and gardens, I won't be doing a lot of new stuff with them.

 

There are TONS of things I've already done to the house and land and a bajillion more things I want to do; it just takes more time than I've had so far.

 

I hope you enjoy your visit and come back often to see the updates.

 

Adios,

DB