4 days; lots of progress and our horses are actually at our barn

Wow time flies. The last time I allowed myself time to sit and write is was Tuesday evening. I will never complain because the ultimate goal is visible and things of value are hard work. Since I last wrote the complexion of the barn has changed drastically. Wednesday was the cutting day. We cut out the windows from the front of the barn and began cutting the trim pieces for painting. We also began the mowing process. If you haven’t had the opportunity to mow 8.5 acres on a Craftsman lawn tractor you should allow yourself the joy of such an experience. Wednesday I mowed for around 3 hours and made a dent but not much more than that. Thursday was another busy day as we began the actual window hanging. The ladies started the caulking process of the entire barn. This all sounds easy but the barn is large and the roof has a nice peak which means being very high on a ladder while working with a temperamental caulk gun. The window framing was not too bad but Ken and I had to use some creative engineering to secure the four windows in their slots. Thursday also was one of those what the heck is that doing here days. I was out on the mower moving some stuff around and while I was coming back I notice water just pouring out of the ground. Somehow I had ruptured a pipe that was just buried under the ground. That’s not abnormal but the fact that it was about 3 feet off the fence and just kind of out in the middle of nowhere was the odd part. Since we are new to the barn we don’t have all the things we need to handle the day to day issues that come up but thankfully we had enough scraps laying around to fashion a secure fix. You know when you buy someone else’s stuff you are going to find things that make you scratch your head and I have find my first one with this pipe. Friday was a massive day where the transformation began to actually look like progress. The first coats of paint were placed on the front of the barn and Ken and I began adding the trim boards around the windows. The barn is being painted chromium and the trim is black. As these pieces were being added you could actually see that what you had pictured in your head was beginning to take shape in reality. The ladies are doing such a great job with the painting and are not taking any shortcuts with the process. They are even taping off things just so the painting looks professional to the point that I, by the way I am not fond of heights, was on top of the ladder taping off the peak of the barn roof so the paint wouldn’t hit the metal flashing. Darkness hit us too soon which didn’t stop the ladies as they painted until about 9:30 last night. Today came fast and for Michelle and Brianna they just ignored the alarm to get up. I pulled myself out of bed and headed to the barn to handle the feeding and mucking by myself. What a peaceful way to start the morning. I had the iPod playing and was just getting ready to enjoy the paper when Michelle called and said they were ready to come on out. Well, there went the serenity but the work must go on. The ladies continued the painting process, Ken and I finished the last trim boards on the windows and began the trim boards on the actual barn itself. We cut, painted, drilled, and screwed until about 4:30 and then it was time to shut down for the day. Before we left Tyler met us out there and hopped on the mower to try and get some more of the pasture down to size. We were not knocking off to go home and relax, we were heading to the barn where the horses were currently at to pick them up and bring them out to H&W Stables. After hanging out with Mrs. Kathy for awhile we left her barn to head back to ours. Yonka and Johnnie are hanging out in the arena for the evening so that the current boarders can get accustomed to their new mates. After having a nice dinner on the porch we shut the doors about 9:30 to head to the house. As you can tell the place is taking shape. I am really proud to be part of this project and am truly excited that Brianna and Michelle now have their horses with them. Brianna was almost beside herself with joy tonight when she put the boys out into the arena. She was asking if we could just spend the night in the office so we could be close to them. Great idea but we nixed that with the promise that once we were done with the majority of the work we would spend a night out at the barn and watch some Netflix and eat some popcorn. Tomorrow should be another exciting day and I am guessing we will not have much help from Brianna since she has two distractions to keep her busy. By the way, it is very warm outside so make sure you stay hydrated. Actually, just go to the pool or sit inside in the air conditioning. The work can wait until the Fall. Just kidding, it’s great training for the tough mudder in December.

Real Work and Business Work

I missed another day on the blog but I have no excuse. Since the weather has been, let’s say, replenishing I decided to go to my actual job on Monday. The weather in Lakeland was equally as drab as I had left in Babson Park. The reason I headed over to FSC was to handle some positive paperwork. The men’s tennis team qualified as an Academic All-American Team for the school year 2011-2012. The team’s GPA was a staggering 3.6 with 15 players on the roster. I also checked up on the new tennis facility and it is going to be awesome. The layout and styling is just second to none. While there I caught up with the women’s coach and I now know my schedule from the first week of September through the first week of October. No matter how long I do this job I don’t think I will get used to knowing what I am going to be doing so many months in advance. Once the work was done I headed towards Babson Park to do a little work at the barn but first I bought into advertising and headed to Firehouse Subs and had to try the new pulled pork/slaw/King’s Hawaiian Roll sandwich. It was good but I am still a bigger fan of the Steamer. Getting back to the barn around 5pm I actually took time to notice how green and high the grass has gotten due to the rain and the assistance of the fertilizer. There wasn’t much work to get started on so I just assisted with the evening feeding and stall mucking and then it was time for another late night dinner. It’s amazing that there was no work to really do and we still didn’t get to dinner until 8:30. This has become an odd summer but one positive is I am really getting to spend some good time with Michelle. She is working so hard to get the business side set up and I am getting to see her skills shine through. We got home around 9:30 after a great dinner of ribs from Fat Boy’s and just knocked out a load of laundry and some vegging on the couch. Tuesday brought back the normalcy of the summer which meant an early morning at the barn. I was flying solo this morning as Brianna had the first day of her horse drill team camp and Michelle and her mother were heading to the dump and then to business meetings for feed and hay suppliers. After finishing the morning chores I needed to move a large water trough from one field to the next. This in itself is not a difficult task but when I got out to the field I noticed that one of the lines had a small leak in it. No big deal except that it decided to pour off and on the entire time I was making the fix. With the leak fixed and the trough moved it was time to let a couple of the horses enjoy some of the lush grass. Today one of the luck horses was Theo. We all call him Houdini because he has the ability to push down the fence and ease his way into the neighboring grove. He only does it when he knows you aren’t paying attention so of course I gave him the look and kept a fairly close eye on him while I tended to my next task. I had to remove all the old hay out of the hay room so that we could receive our new load of 29 bales of hay. During this little exercise I also found our cat that we thought had left. He had found the hay room much more to his liking and I think he actually did his job because when I moved the mule there was a nice clump of grey and white fur. Maybe this critter will earn his keep around the property and if he does he can stay down there as long as he wants to. As soon as I got the room cleaned out Ruthie showed up with the new order and I unloaded 29 bales and stacked them one by one. I know I haven’t been in the gym but working out here is giving me a fairly good workout on a daily basis. Between rain showers/downpours I finished up the pressure washing so when it actually decides to become the Sunshine State again we can get the barns painted. Around 6pm I got the final feeding and mucking out of the way and decided to rehab one of the stalls. All was going well when it was pointed out that if I had a different tool it would probably be easier. Isn’t that the way it always is; you are doing what you think you need to do and then someone shows you it can be done more efficiently. How do you respond? My response was please get me the tool because I’ve got a lot more rehab to do. Just to wrap it up, this weather is really cracking me up. It rained, has rained, and will rain some more but the teasing with blue skies for 5 minutes is just mean. I do feel bad for those that are enduring flooding but my only complaint is that it is holding back my work. I guess our perspectives are very personal.