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Friday, April 30, 2010

Nothing, but my brain in tired.

I have done little to be so tired but I am not sleeping well due to the sounds around me at night.  It is all starting to add up.

I have merely dragged tree trunks, limbs out of the way for building the barn this morning.  and NOT by hand by a log chain and the truck, dragging them to the middle of the field to dry and burn.

I have worked up only a few packages, few international shippings and quotes, taken care of the horses, birds and eaten a bowl of cereal.  But I am ready to take a nap.

I have wood to go get as soon as I can get out of the office.
2x8's
2x4's and 4x4's
I need to reserve/rent a site level? er???
I need to check on the concrete for sunday, figure out how many bags,
Get the water container back in the truck AFTER unloading all the wood above.
Get the container full again... Strap it down for safety!  I've dented the truck bed with it already!  Mountain roads... and the weight of the water!  you just gotta laugh...

I need to clean the house, bird cages, and stalls
I need to spray the pasture with broad leaf spray.
I need to spray the cleaned area under the trees with DEATH.. round up... ha ha ha...
I need to find some one who can get the gravely started... I desperately need it but can't get it started at all.
I need to get the harness from the ferrier he said he would give me, and have Navarre drag some of the trees into piles.
I need to go mark more trees so Karl will cut them down for me.
I need to go have the chain for the chain saw sharpened... i got a new one this morning but I need the old one sharpened so it will be easier on the saw, but had to have one while other out of commission.

I need all this done in the next 24 48 hours... do you think it will happen NO NO NO>>>> but this is my reference list. 

I'll let you know how it goes/ went later.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010




From THIS>>>>

To THIS.......Can you see the improvements...? or am I just CRAZY?
You don't have to answer that!!!!!

this will be the horses view...

I know it is a mess, but this is the horses new shade area... as we started cleaning out the trees that were killing the larger trees we were NOT left with enough shade for Navarre, so we used the trees we cut down to make a shade area... NOT a weather proof area but heat is Navarre's worst enemy.

Once I have the barn this wood will be used to make a zig zag fence in the front of the property, you know the OLD style fence no nails, no cutting etc... , to make it look nice and more kept...
this allows the west and easterly  winds blow through but cuts off the southern sun, just what he needs to survive.
Thus.. the view from the REAL barn area!

This is the ROCK that slowed our putting up polls last we worked on the barn... Now that it is out of the way we are planning to KICK it all day Sunday and knock out as much as we can!    While it looks TINY I could NOT move this thing alone? not sure two of us could have moved it, but Lars and his machine tossed it like it was a ?  tennis ball for a dog to fetch!

I can not wait! Work! YES ! Work = BARN !!!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Gray Dull but productive....

The sky's here are gray, full and rain off and on.   But the work never stops.  2 gates are up and a shade hut is made / all be temporary but will keep Navarre from getting too hot if necessary...  It is not what I want for long but to get the horses moved it is what I need. 

Having spent no money on the structure only using trees that needed to be cut down from the property in order to allow the others to become more healthy was my goal.   Using scraps is always a good thing.  When the barn is up, when I have a place for them to stay dry, warm, or in the shade I will tear down the structure and use the poles for fencing along the road!   Not to keep anyone in or out but to create a natural visual barrier that says... I'm trying... give me time!

I'll take pictures later today!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

While the picture is old... Life here is all the same. 
I have taken the day off.
This may very well be the first day in months I have not been to the estate.

There has been much work done, and more to be done this week, but I am in need of a rest. 

While I had planned on taking yesterday off to ride, rain, wind and general weather stopped me, then a nice person offered to get the large rock out of our way so we could get the rest of the barn up next Sunday.

If anyone reading this wants to do hard labor... just show up Sunday! We are planning to put the 6x6x20's in the ground, shoot the area level, get the band up and some of the rafters.

I have not taken the horses over today and hope not to.  I don't want them running on a wet pasture with new grass and the rest of the good grass eaten down.  I will take them over tomorrow and lock them in their little pen. 


My list for the week...
Hook up the last of the electric fencing, and make it hot.
Paint off the end of the 20 footers and have them dry to be set by next Sunday.
Fence off three little pastures and spray two out of three of them with poison for broad leaf issues.
Plant grass in the shaded areas already fenced off
Get water and feeders set up in the pen.
Spray the rosabunda???? wild rose bushes that are a pain the the tuckus....
Start the research on replacement trees, as a nice little area of the property is now been ridden of the horrible poplar trees growing like weeds... I have left several GOOD size poplars but... wish to start the replacement process with real trees that belong in the area and will be beautiful to walk, eat, and live under.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Relaxing.

While my days are always non stop LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! ...

Yesterday When I took the horses to the property, allowing them to eat fresh grass... I swept up brush, I took the pictures on yesterdays post, but after that I took a rest...

I laid in the grass, with over cast and a slight breeze.  I could have gone to sleep but both horses one by one came over to me, nosing me to either make sure I was ok or I was in their way laying on grass they wanted to eat.

Either way I enjoyed the sound of their eating, the wind, the birds, and most of all the silence.  Where I am right now ...as I type this, lawn mowers rumble the air, tractors hum in the back ground and a five lane road with traffic sounds off in with the roar of tires. 

This morning started with an 8 am delivery of more wood, Wood for the band of the barn, and what ever else I could afford to finish the roof.  I will order more next week if finances allow, other wise I have enough right now to keep me going.

The quiet of being over on our place so early in the morning allow my mind to clear and get a day started with ease, feeling refreshed instead of rushed from one animal to the next before I started in on my computer and phones for work.  I can not wait to have the horses over there.

I so enjoy where the horses are right now! 
Not only to I enjoy it but it has inspired me to do more with my place than I ever would have given all the other barns I have been in, seen, or taken care of.

I can mark off areas that will be strange for the horses and make them perfect for me to enjoy the horses, like Joe and Steve have where the horses are today. 

My to do list is getting longer instead of shorter... BUT the list is full of things I can more likely do on my own. 

Wish me luck... I am hoping to get a gate up to the pasture this week!  So proping it up and getting it on will be my largest challenge this week.  Other wise I am eager to make the place more appealing, by cleaning and sowing more seed, weeding, and killing things that do not belong. 

Monday, April 19, 2010

X marks the spot!


Where do you start on a dream?  Where do you start when it is a necessity?   After having my dream drawn up in a realistic form years ago as blueprints... X marks the spot to start.

This is where I want the corner of the building!   What else do we have to do?


We only have to tilt the world off it's axis to make everything else come to a reality...

I am a person who given the chance will try most things once, TRYING to put up stalls for my horses seemed too large a task for me!  It was too large a task for me, but with assistance, guidance and MUSCLE I can achieve a dream thanks to TROY and Jerry.

Jerry allows me the life style / budget to put up the barn as TROY is the brains and muscle of the entire operation!  Troy needs only to tell me what to do and I will do my best, not that my best is good enough to get it done but I will apply everything I have to the task at hand.

Troy was NOT happy till the building was in perfect square.
I was fine as long as it looked square!


Troy was worried about my handling my side of the two man auger,










as I was more worried about muscling up the 6x6x16 poles!

I can not start to tell people how hard Troy worked, how much he did alone, or how much it all means to me.
All in all ... in one day... the building was squared out, marked off, 9 holes dug, and 5 poles set in steel and concrete before night fall.  Even though we had an hour wasted on the auger being... a tempermental machine.

the last of the 16 footers is not in the ground due to a boulder that needs to be removed.  One more task on my to do list...

I know I can't do it! But we will get it figured out one way or another!

Troy's signature on the base of our new barn...

view from the road...
view from what will be the back... or towards the house.
View of 1/2 of their new temp. pature... this will NOT stay this way but will allow me to put them on the property for the time being.
A closer look...
A Happy Horse... she rolls like a dog EVERY time I take her over...

Navarre... Just eats NONSTOP!

Friday, April 16, 2010

My Husband loves me...

You know a marriage has got to be half way decent when a husband can be honest enough to tell his wife... stay back... you stink...

Note he hasn't eaten breakfast and I've been to the barn, shoveled three buckets of manure and come home hot sweaty and covered in manure....

Silly me... thinks I can just sit at my desk mind my own business, answer phones, take care of accounting, assist customers as needed with out any complaints... I do have stock in the place after all.     Little did I realize the window next to my desk is open and carrying my pee.... manure covered ... smell of my boots straight over to Jerry's desk where he is about to gag...

Thursday, April 15, 2010


I'm leaving to get all this done... see you later.

why no post you ask?

I've been asked lately ... why no post?   Hard work, Demanding Time restraints , and just life... Here is an outline.

Well it is not that I did not want to!  It was
1. My car died on my again... I drive a Honda Insight 2000, stick, two seater... NOT to be confused with the newer, larger, ??? more advanced Insight. 
     They don't make my car any more... they have changed the Battery systems for the newer version...after not making it at all for 3 years.
     I was about to make an appt for changing the oil when... driving my normal routine home from the barn the car died... I tried starting it again... it cranked over easily but cut it self off in less than 2 seconds of running.
     I parked the car... called Jerry and ... Had it towed the next day.
     At the moment of having it towed I called Apple Tree to inform them in DETAIL what was going on ... what to expect... please check out the car.... etc...
     By 11am I got another call from the dealer ... and silly me expecting it to be a report of possible issues... It was a call asking Why do I have your car?  
     This went on.... and on from a drivers stand point... I had to quit work, and go sit with the car in order to just have it looked at... FINALLY by 5pm I did have a possibility of Maping computer, mouse/rat eating on wiring, or ... we can't find anything wrong with it!   Great... so I asked them to keep it, test drive it, change the oil, give me extra oil on the ticket... as you can't purchase the silly stuff ANY WHERE ELSE... 0/20 NOT 10w/30 like a normal car....

The car thing went on for several days... and basicly to them I am an over active "FEMALE" with no knowledge of cars.     Nothing was done to the car except oil change... check up cost me OVER $80.00 and no check up print out was given when I was picking it up and asked about the brakes etc... you know NORMAL stuff we all need to know about our cars...
2. With days of NO CAR... Days of driving a 250 attached to a trailer... I didn't want to hook up and un hook twice a day... as I am taking the horses to the estate to get their stomach's more ready to be moved over... so they don't collic or founder on me when I do move them. ... this alone takes  a little of my daily time.

3. Return trips to the Dentist... two trips.... my normal, my oral maxifacial surgeon... I had to borrow Jerry's SUV to go back and forth... Neither has room for a long bed and long horse trailor...   leaving Jerry stranded at the house as he can't even start the diesel...

4. Work... what is life with out an income?   But I learned ALL my express shipments had no tracking and I had only shipped 20 or more the week before... MY SCREW UP ... my &^%*&^(*& to play on my nerves... ha ha ha... sometimes we just have to laugh.

5. Fencing ... EVERY NIGHT...  With no one to help... it's challenging figuring out the details I never discussed with PawPaw, Daddy or anyone one else.  It's all a learning curve but well on the way... and not half bad!

6. Poison Ivy from clearing for the fencing... the stuff if rough... going to urgent care later today after I finish this, work and helping a friend....

7. Trying to figure out shade for the horses before the leaves come in full and lush...

8.  I am hoping to move the horses this weekend... we shall see.. Quite frankly... I'm so tired I am not sure I can get it done.

A picture of my work gloves is attached... Holes worn in the fingers and my new replacements behind them... I only had the gloves for 8 months...   BUT I do wear them and use them EVERY DAY....

Friday, April 9, 2010

Windy Day!

While last week was in the 70's and 80's
Yesterday was all wet and rain...
Today is wind and sun, lucky if we hit 60...

The roller coaster of sping is wound tight and about to release it's fear upon gardners, farmers and hobby life styles like mine. 

     Do you remember the old rock 'n roller coaster at was Opryland?   round and round, as your head bounced, banged, and shook you into a dizzy state.  It was more the roughness of the ride than the elevation and thrust of the machine.  As I believe it will be with this years spring season.  UP, Down, Round, Round, Side to Side... Dizzy ... not knowing what to do next.

I can only hope to get some time to clean up the estate for more area to pin up the horses for a while.

I ordered... 6x6 in 16 and 20 foot lengths today.
I ordered ... some of the 2x8's we will need.
I ordered ... some of the lag bolts we will need... along with corresponding washers.  not able to deliver any time soon, but at the least it is started...
found a place to get the mixer, and auger at the same time 
I got the bit, more string, another cutter for the barn....

What task is next??? I only have several going.... Nothing finished... Nothing settled.  besides the project details above. this over view is my worry list.

Trees, cherry, and locus?  I'll go check on them later today.
Poles... for gates need to be moved into area of placement.  three front, two side, two barn area...
Shed,
Garden (estate)
Garden (house)  clay is too wet to bother it.
Truck needs to be emptied...      more fence rails, the stall pads, the dirt, the fence lines, tape and electric,
I need to set up the solar fencing       , get it grounded so it will be fully charged when I need it.
Gravely... is dead again???? I have taken apart the carberator... the gas line, the gas tank... it clicks... it tries to turn and dies... no its not the choke either... ????

 I broke my grandfathers hole diggers... there are no replacements for that type of handle any more.. I will keep them, as I have never seen diggers that were made in such a way??? , but had to get a new digger.
Broke the handle on the hoe... need to go get a new handle as soon as I can.

WHAT NEXT?

My honey do list for myself just gets to be more and more.... too bad I don't have a "honey" to pass it on to!

I did however call a hand/helper that I hope to show up around noon on Sunday... I wish it was today, I wish it were tomorrow, but ANY time will help!  Yeah.... Help at last. help at last.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Spring has arrived, BUT could fade soon.

Everything is in small areas, quanities and color.....
So are the containers of TEST plants I will move over to the property later in the year.
I am testing things... seeing if they can survive the zone as well as seeing how fast they grow, spread and keep out weeds.  So I can later choose plants to use in a pattern for the area next to the road.  Less is more... and the least amount of water is the name of the game... thus the suculants.


These three items are going well ... The first a mound of grass that blooms TINY pink blooms...
Second ? a sedum of sorts
Third another sedum and both with hen and chicks...

and other things in the yard... just to make the page pretty to look.
the OLD peach tree in the yard...

The quince bush in the front yard.  also a VERY large one at the barn.


These little things are all over the yard... so much so I refuse to cut the grass till they are gone.  These too are at the barn... as well.

Trillium at the front door... these I would love to have all over the estate...
the typical yellow of spring...

Monday, April 5, 2010

How do you title the PERFECT WEEKEND

Going backwards in time... this morning was just as perfect as the weekend.  Driving up to the barn and seeing my little boy eager to greet me (ONLY for his morning feed) all of a sudden he is starting to look like the horse I dreamed of all my life.   That forelock that hangs over his eyes, down his nose and beyond his manley handlebar mustach.  The mane that flows on both sides of his neck, the muscles in his neck that show definition from work.   The hind end that is something only a work horse would have at his age, a butt that is (by vanner standards... called) the perfect "APPLE" butt.  That tail, which if I wanted attention I could allow it to flow freely... but I keep it braided for his health and saving me time of brushing/cleaning etc... YOU have NO idea.

This sweet thing, sniffs me like a dog each morning, walks me to the feed room and backs up on verbal command (IF he wants his food)

All the while my sweet little girl (SweetPea) stands her distance and watches our little morning routien unfold so she can get her alone time with me as well. 

While they eat, I drag hay down the hill, spread it out so they don't fight over it!  This morning it was all a delight as the tiny blue birds sounded off, probably anouncing the clean blue bird houses ready for a new tenant. 

Squirls, Rabbits, and chipmunks were all out this morning... Sun up , bright and making it easier and more enjoyable to walk back up the mountain, to get the horses, walk back down to lock them in the pasture.... only to walk UP again to get back to the car.

SUNDAY...

While most were celebrating the rise of Christ ... I too celibrate; but was alone and without a home church.  My mind wanders back to City Road or Forrest Grove the only two places I realy feel at home. 

Troy my dear friend, came over... we took the horses over to the estate to allow them to eat while we worked on laying out their stall/shed.  a simple 25x25 structure.... Nothing big, very simple but necessary for the winter. 

Troy taught me/ TRIED how to do the work... as he did EVERYTHING... we have it square with in 1/4 of an inch...  It is so exciting to see the corners layed out... I am eager to order my 6x6 poles to create my four 12x12 areas...

I can not explain how much his "helping me" / DOING IT!!!! has ment to me.  I owe him more for this than I will ever be able to repay... I will be in dept to him for a LONG LONG TIME....

Navarre finally found the ONE hole I left in the fence... he was searching for shade and water....
While he was slowly walking away SweetPea started to freak out!!!! After catching my little pig;
I put them in the trailer... with the fans on and we got our tools together, and called it a day...


SATURDAY....
     It is just one of those days... that riding weather was perfect, the trail easy, long and needed.
Lars... handled SweetPea really well and I am happy to have him as a riding partner (hopefully) for the rest of the year.

We are going to try to set up a schedule for us to get togethe;r this way we can work around our working schedules and instead of eating up our weekends EVERY weekend. 

Considering I have not been HOME in what feels like forever.... I would like to go home some weekend if I could.

Ice chest, water, salads, and horses... such a perfect day...

Friday, April 2, 2010

Beautiful Days allowed me Much Work, Lots Completed.

Blood Root blooming on the Estate...

Many things are starting to show signs of spring.... The red buds are starting to come out!  The "Buttercups" are all in bloom, Tulips are starting to show full leaves, and the weather is finally what you would imagine as spring.

I have had several things done in the last week.... Joe's place is still not finished but is starting to be so beautiful I don't want to leave. 


They have delicate flowers in bloom, all over the place, bushing bursting with color... and they have swept/raked up all the winter fallen leaves, branches and brush...



I have no idea what flower this is... but they are delicate and beautiful.













I enjoy driving to the barn with such beautiful surroundings.... I hope I can only do 1/2 as well at my barn.

of which.... leads me to... the changes on the estate...

My Garden area is now open to the sun!  I am so excited!
I went from this...

to This...  Big difference... BUT a great spot for me to prep for three cherry trees, four peach trees, and cranberry bushes...

I hope to build this area UP so my garden is a raised garden for as I get older... saving my back from leaning over etc...

You can see the shape of the hill behind the garden which will only protect it from the North Wind... allowing me another zone and good protection for my fruit trees. 

This should show to be a good spot... and I have plenty of years to get the weeds out as I can... and getting the soil ph perfect for all it will have ahead of it.

I see a round garden...What do you see?

Just another view from 1/2 way UP the hill behind the garden area... and still I couldn't get it all in frame.