There is a light at the end of the tunnel

Seven days, one week, and a lot of time on 8.5 acres must mean that we have been busy at H&W Stables. Actually, the last week has bought a bunch of closure to much of the work at the barn. Last Thursday we decided to make a big push and I vowed that the front half of the barn would be fully operational by the following Thursday. Well, after today’s work we have accomplished that. Friday was golf day and man was it fun. The actual golf was not one of my best but the fun had with Tyler was really good. We played at Diamondback which is a tough tract and you don’t go into the woods to find your stray balls. We didn’t see any real rattlesnakes but we did run across two snakes just chilling on the golf course. After the round we decided to stay at the club and enjoy a good clubhouse lunch. I indulged in an ice cold beer and invited my brother, newly 21, to have one as well when he informed me that he didn’t have his ID with him. Seriously, how can you be 21 and not have your ID with you? More importantly, you drove around without your license for how long? After some lunch it was time for me to head back to the barn where I was met with a small water leak. One of the pasture waterer’s decided that it didn’t want to be attached to the hose anymore. This was a relatively easy fix and once it was handled it was back in the barn for some wood cutting. Saturday, although unknown by the rest of us, was the second to last day of major work on the barn. Ken framed out the office door, I started working on moving air through the back stalls with Michelle, and Ruthie painted. The barn was originally set up to handle stallions but since we will not be boarding any of those we decided to get some air moving through the stalls. This meant that we had to remove seven walls and then put them back up with slats put in to allow the flow of some air. Each wall was ten feet wide and was made with steel supports with 2x6’s as the actual walls. Michelle and I cut up 2x2’s 2 and ½ inches wide to put between each 2x6. After that process we then secured the 2x6’s with a 1x4 across the entire stretch. We got three done on Saturday along with the other work. Sunday was the day of celebration. The only bad thing was that by the time we finished on Sunday and realized that we were done with the big projects we were all too tired to actually party. Michelle and I finished up the airflow panels, we started mowing, and the painting wrapped up and all of a sudden we were done. Monday would bring a new process to the barn, clean up. Monday came and with it brought a new step in the renovation process. We started by loading up all the scrap metal and heading to the recycling business. We dropped off around 500 pounds of scrap metal and claimed our massive booty. Well, it wasn’t much of a booty but at least the trash was being moved off the property. More mowing took place, this will become a pattern over the next couple of days, and the pace of the day was decidedly slower. Tuesday was dump day. Michelle and her mother took a fully loaded truck over to the lovely county dump for the things that that didn’t get us paid the day before. One day you get paid and then the next day you are paying. That’s the way life is. I mowed more and then Ken came over and started the weed eating process. This particular process would take one solid day if we started in the morning and went until late in the day. There are fences everywhere, sprinkler heads, and bushes and trees throughout. After the first round of weed eating we will be employing gallons of round up to handle the issue for all the areas except the trees and bushes. Today was waterer Wednesday. We finished the last three waterers and spent the rest of the day shopping for other supplies that will be needed for future days. Tomorrow we will mow some more and set up the office. The week was a blur but it really looks like we will be open and beautiful in just a couple of days. Bring on race season, it’s about that time.