Next Updates

 We will be taking a trailer down to Pioche to live in while we work on the house, it will be left there until we're finished.

We will be rewiring the interior as this is what's there now.

Some of this wire is wrapped in fabric, some is newer but its all gotta go. We've purchased a couple dozen outlets and switches and I've watched several youtube videos to learn how to do these things.

This is the current electrical meter.

This is the inside. I do not know if this is going to be OK for us going forward but Lans dad is a retired electrician and he will be able to tell us a lot.

We have replaced a few things temporarily.

I've found a dozen of these simple illustrations I can print out to use so we don't do it wrong.  

 

 

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.

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.

Barn Front & Loft

He's putting siding on the top front of the barn today.

And the loft is almost finished. Its only going over the aisle of the 3 middle stalls and a couple feet into those stalls. I'll be able to stand up there in about half of it but not near the stalls. 

So glad we're got the tractor for heavy lifting, makes it safer.

From above the front door, this is what it looks like so far.

From inside the wash rack. I had him cut it back so if the horses get stupid and go up they won't bash their heads.

This is the inside of the wash rack, looking up and out through the door.

This is through the same door but up into the stall the opposite direction.

Stall Fronts Are In

In the last week four of the five stall fronts were installed and they look good.

It looks a bit dark in this photo but so far its not dark in there at all. But there are no exterior walls built yet either. We might start building those in the back & work our way to the front.

Some day I'll put all of these in a book to flip through so we can see all the changes as they happen.

Wifi

Joey

Our home

Our barn & arena

The large white pallet on the left is the Comfort Stall floor mat, can't wait to get that installed and have the horses try it out. 

The first time we were ever here the back pasture was all weeds and sticker bushes,

sections of it were 20 feet high.

We've worked hard to get them under control and keep grass growing and its coming along nicely.

 

Now that the new barn is going in its time to get the ground ready but the bulldozer is out of commission so the Kubota is doing the work.

This is where the stalls and runs will be, the lean-too on the left will become the aisle way and the stalls will be on this side of it, with runs in front of the camera extending out to about the tractor. Its slanted to create run off and about another foot of dirt has to be removed so we can bring in sand for the runs.

 

This is where the gate to the back pasture is, I could barely get through all the weeds

back in October 2015.

 

 

There isn't any scotch broom growing here, because the ground has enough nitrogen for

grass to grow instead of just weeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 I really like the view of the barn from this angle, from under the maple tree.

It's going to be nice to update this in the coming months.

 

 

Two more views I can't wait to update, from inside the arena.

 

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.

Downstairs Bathroom

This is the down stairs bathroom.

 

Its ALL stark white.

 

 

 

OK, its got the fake wood look on the doors of the vanity and the bubbly shower surround.

 

I have BIG plans for this room.

 

I've already painted the closet that the laundry goes in.

 

The washer and dryer are now installed but I can only use the dryer because the water supply is still full of sand.

 

This board is going to be used in the bathroom. I'm going to put it up on the wall in front of the shower and hang the shower curtain behind it. I don't need a shower curtain but I have a cowboy one that I've used for the last 20 years that needs to live here too.

 

 

This old western stirrup is going to become a towel holder.

 

This shower surround SUCKS and I don't know what to do with it for sure yet but its got to go.

 

And the wall on the left is now turquoise. I painted it GEM TURQUOISE by Behr but its not dark enough so I also bought PEACOCK FEATHER and I will give it a coat.