Wood Shed Project

When we moved into the house, there was an existing wood shed just off the porch, between the house and the girl's pasture.  It was also directly in front of the window facing that direction from the family room.  So, while relaxing on the couch I had a lovely view of... the leaning, sinking, warped wood shed.  It annoyed me because it blocked my view and was ugly.  It annoyed Brett because it was falling down and because he kept hitting his head while stooping to retrieve or stack wood.

About a month ago, I had a simultaneous burst of energy and a surge of "hate wood shed" feelings.  I went outside and started pulling it apart -- which wasn't hard, given its rotten wood and rusty nails.  Brett drove his tractor over and knocked over the pieces I didn't pull off.

Since then, Brett's been trying to decide where to build a new wood shed.  It needed to be accessible, and level, and not block our view.  He decided to build it against the side of the garage.  Brett's friend, Richard, came up last week and stayed through the weekend, helping to pour the concrete base and then to construct the shed.

Consistent with everything Brett does, this is a massive and sturdy wood shed.

It looks like a room addition, not a wood shed.  Richard and I teased Brett about what Brett's "real" plans were for the structure.  I wondered if he and Kersey were going to move in together.

Brett still needs to put up the sides, add shingles, build pallets, and paint.  He can do all of that stuff on his own.  Well, maybe not the shingles.  Notice that Richard is on the roof in all the photos.  Brett does not like heights.  At all.

While they worked on Saturday, I was busy with my own projects.  I also picked wild blackberries and made cobbler for dinner.  I knew the menu would be popular with the boys: ribs, baked potatoes, fresh bread, and cobbler.  Yes, I know the menu is missing a real vegetable but they didn't want one.  Boys.

The List is Growing

The list of projects around the ranch was overwhelming when we moved in.  We methodically got to work, starting with the most pressing issues and working our way down.  We had finally reached the point of "would be nice" projects; instead of "urgent" such as water leaking through the ceiling.

And then the storm hit.  Although, our property held up pretty well with the streams filling, but not rising above their banks, we did sustain some damage.

And, of course, there was already the issue of having to do something about predators getting into the chicken pen.  Here is our little flock of three: two hens (you can see the tip of the tail of one behind the back post) and Calvin, the rooster.

And, then there is the family of rats that built a nest under the hen house and have now moved inside -- making a big nest in one of the nesting boxes.  I poked the nest with a stick and three rats ran out, up the walls, and into the rafters -- where they watched me destroy the nest.

We finally got a break in the rain -- four days of cold sunshine.  Brett has been busy putting chicken wire over the entire chicken run.  Saturday we worked outside all day -- I was busy pruning the orchard and my roses while Brett wrestled with chicken wire.

Of course, there is the matter of the fallen oak tree.  Brett put up new fence rails and we moved the girls back into their pasture.  Pistol has been picking her way through the twigs and brambles to get to the big limbs, where she nibbles on the moss that covered much of the tree.  Lucy followed her in but didn't like the feeling of all the branches around her legs -- and didn't seem to like the taste of moss as much as Pistol.  Mostly, they have been enjoying the sun.  All the animals are doing a lot of this.

The rain also made a mess of our driveway, which was on the "list" but under "would be nice" and not urgent.  It isn't urgent now, but its definitely made its way up the list.  The driveway is paved with asphalt and is full of dips and mended holes.  It looked... shall we say, rustic.  Now, it is missing a chunk, the sides have eroded and there are pot holes.  So, this summer we will have to have that fixed.

The biggest damage, other than losing the trees (the oak took out two trees when it fell, plus pushed another partway over), is our bridge.  The bridge crosses the stream and connects the house and barn side of the stream to the girls pasture and compost piles.  We cross the bridge with the horses, going back and forth to the barn.  Brett crosses the bridge with his tractor when he moves compost.  And, there are times when he needs to take his truck across as well.  The bridge has always been narrow, with room for the tractor but not really wide enough for his truck.  Now, the sides have eroded -- on both sides of the retaining wood sides and there is a deep hole dead center.

Brett spent most of last night, awake, thinking of the best way to re-build the bridge. He is hoping to finish up the chicken coop before the next storm hits on Wednesday.  The next dry spell after that will be dedicated to the bridge.

Project Priority List:
1. Chicken coop
2. Bridge
3. Upstairs bathroom (already gutted, we decided to remodel it before the big storm hit)
4. Tree removal (this will take years)
5. Driveway

Lucy is interested, as always, in our activities.  Nosy thing that she is.

Light Rain

The horses enjoyed the sunshine while big marshmallow clouds floated into the area on Friday.

Brett spent the day on his mower and with the weed whacker.

He was tired and sore at the end of the day but the property took my breath away when I got home.

So beautiful.

I tease him about how he keeps the grass mowed and edged and the driveway swept; how it looks like we live on a country estate instead of a little ranch.  He works way too hard but that's him.  He's not going to change and I get to reap the benefit of living in paradise.

Rain started in the evening and fell softly all night.  Kyle and his girlfriend, Ana, are visiting for the weekend so we're going to introduce them to the local wineries today.  ... a good rainy day activity, don't you think?

Fixing the Flooring

The run-in shed that is shared by the mares on clear days and used by Pistol on rainy ones, had a very uneven dirt floor.  Uneven is an understatement.  The center of the floor had been pawed by previous and current occupants, resulting in a large cavity in the center.  This wasn't a big deal until the last rain.  Rain ran off the shed roof and then into the hole.  Poor Pistol had to stand around the perimeter of the run-in to keep her feet dry.  The center was more than ankle deep in water, pee, hay and floating manure.  Gross.  There is another storm coming in tonight so Brett needed to work out a solution today.

He filled the hole with road base, which will pack down hard but still drain.  Then he put stall mats on top.

What a pain in the neck cutting stall mats to fit.  Between the two of us, we got it done.

Then we summoned the horses over.

Lucy and Little Bear were the first to arrive.

Lucy checked it out thouroughly.

As did Bear.

Pistol took her sweet time coming over.  And then she was more interested in checking Brett's pockets for cookies than in her fancy new flooring.

Mending Fences

Last night the rain started and it kept up all through today.  The rain was welcome and we were thrilled with the steady downpour.  Brett watched TV, I made cookies and did laundry, and Kersey lounged next to Brett.

In the mid-afternoon I heard a loud crash from the direction of the oak pasture.  The boys were in the barn so I wasn't worried about branches falling on them.  The oaks self-prune when the wind blows and the rain falls.  It's a good thing...

...unless the limbs land on the fence.

I helped Brett put in a couple t-posts and prop up the fence.  Someday, we will need to replace the fence but, for the time being, all we can afford to do is mend and prop it up.

The storm was pretty much done by the time we did the evening chores.

Lucy and Pistol were a mess.

The goats were demanding dinner.

Mufasa was impatiently waiting his turn to be taken back to the oak pasture with Flash.

Ranching defined: mending fences all the time.  (I'm not complaining; we love this life)

Always A Project

What does this look like to you?

A peaceful herd of horses, patiently waiting for lunch and snoozing in the sun?  Wrong.

This is actually a horde of termites.  Equine termintes.  They've been chewing away on the fence surrounding/protecting the pond.

Brett is getting tired of nailing up new pieces of wood every time they chew through a piece.  The other day, they finished off a couple cross pieces leaving a nice hole in the fence -- and the pond within reach of their hard hooves.  Before  we built the fence, Flash and Auke would go wading in the pond.  The neighbors found it entertaining but the holes in the sides of the tank weren't so great.

Brett decided to replace the wood fence with a mixture of vinyl posts and metal cross rails.  That should keep him busy for awhile!

Visit from the Sand Man

This morning we had sand delivered for the arena.  We got a total of 6 trailer fulls.  Four yesterday, two today. 

Brett had his work cut out for him.  First he spent a couple hours spreading the sand evenly in the arena.  Then he went back to painting the shed. 

The three Nigerian Dwarf goats will arrive on June 12th -- they won't be old enough to leave mama until then.  The two African Pygmy goats were just born this past week.  We get to go visit them Sunday.  It will be six to eight weeks before we bring them home.  The Nigerian Dwarf breeder encourages bottle feeding as she feels it builds the bond between owner and goat.  We will bottle feed them when they come home. The African Pygmy breeder is a firm believer in mama goat milk only, no bottle feeding.  So we will have to wait until they are weaned to bring them home.  I understand both positions.

I was going to blog about why we have dry lots for our horses instead of grass pasture (a question I received) but I had too much wine with dinner and am having trouble typing... much less thinking.  So, I will post about that tomorrow.  I had my annual mammogram this afternoon so the wine was medicinal.   I mean, after going through that (why WHY does it have to hurt so much), wine is a necessity.