A New Road.... or Tar n' Chips ! 7.21.2011

 Our little road that goes past our house has been in need of serious repair over the years. Patching has happened, but it got to the point where it simply needed to be fixed. Bumpy, sloped in odd places and just looking like some kind of old cow path it was. In fact, I thought to myself just earlier this week how the road really needed some proper care.

Yesterday- lo' and behold, I heard some truck noises outside. It was So hot that I had been keeping the front curtains closed to help keep it cooler inside. I peered out the window and felt like a crazy person doing it. You know- the kind in the scary movies ?  She peers out of her room upstairs to see who has arrived, and to plot terrible things happening to them ?  Well, I did peer, but so far, I'm not crazy  :)

This is what was happening :Tar and chips were being laid down !!!

So ''YAYYYYYYYYYYY''

for the township guys in taking good care of this little road !!

You rock, guys !

7/10/2011 Emmi & her Eggs

I got a photo of Emmi setting on her eggs-thanks to my pal, Shanna !  Here's Emmi- she has 8 'bantam easter egger' eggs to care for. Tonight I'll make my first attempt at 'candling' them to see if they're fertile or not.

This little hen is doing a superb job with being a brand new mama-to-be. She only gets off her nest one time daily. She takes a healthy dirt bath, gets something to eat, and drink, catches some tasty bugs, and she's back on her nest.  Mother Nature sure created some wonderful instincts in these chickens !
Here's Emmi:

I imagine I'll have to begin putting a small dish of water / food in a corner so she can have something to drink all day long. It's supposed to be HOT the next few days here, so she'll appreciate that.

Emmi wants to be a Mommy

7.3.2011

It seems I now have a hen who wants to sit on eggs in order that they hatch and she will have babies to care for.... only trouble is that we have only Non-fertile eggs here now. Aiden, the Dominique rooster, got very bad natured and jumped at some of the kids who come to visit here at our farm. THAT was against ALL rules, so he got three chances to behave- and didn't.  So Aiden found a new home, and there are 6 hens here . This is actually what I wanted in the first place... six fat farm type hens. After a LOT of roosters finding homes, and loosing a couple, I am now to where I want.

Emmi, my little Light Brahma hen, how ever has chosen to go 'broody'. She's been trying to sit on some eggs, but none are ever going to become anything but rotten. So, I sent a plea out to a friend of mine who has many different types of chickens- AND Roosters!  Ahhhhhhhh- fertile eggs for my little hen to' set ' on. So tomorrow, they will arrive here and we'll see what Emmi thinks of her future chicks to be.  I'll try to get a picture of Emmi in her nest- sans fertile eggs this afternoon.....

Almost All Done !

 The past few weeks , there's been quite a few changes here... FINALLY the stall front guys arrived, and got busy tearing my barn apart. Luckily I'd figured out a way to have All of the horses out of the barn for a couple of days to make it easier for them to get done. I'll add some pics of how it Now looks as I already added photos of how it looked " before". After they were done making a mess, and finished, we had a barn painting day , combined with a clean up day. Lots of folks showed up  ( THANK YOU ALL !!) and we got a lot accomplished. Painters painted the barn stall front boards red, and we trimmed in a deep blue. I think it looks alright ,but am considering painting all those boards a deep red.  After looking at the pix, What do You think ?

This is most of the stall fronts torn off, but it shows how pretty the newly painted ceilings are.

Another shot of the barn.

First door has been hung !

now we're getting somewhere....

Carlene got to be in her stall for dinner !

                                                   

one side is Almost done

  Now to add some fresh paint !

 I chose a deep red and a deep blue as trim for the barn...

 This is the left side of the barn- new windows that open & close easily, and fresh paint

Voila ! We're getting there

Still waiting for painters to come:

Painting has begun

 Sample stall front...

There's still more to get done, but you have the idea of how it will look....

We even got the soffitt painted !

  Happy Clyde mare- in her new stall....

A Tribute to Barn Catz.

 As many horse people know, a barn cat is of the utmost importance in ones' barn. They hunt for mice, and sometimes, rats, they help keep birds from nesting in the barn rafters, and they're generally good company to anyone who comes along . These girls are my barn catz.... Moxie , the tabby , and Kiisa, the calico. They were apartment raised and never felt fresh air until they came here to live. They're superior mousers, and keep us all but 'mice free'. They're polite to those humans who come here, and keep a close eye on everything.

Below is Moxie- she is a little timid ,but once you are her friend, it's forever   ( keep reading)

Moxie takin' it easy in the shade.

Kiisa sleeping

 

  Kiisa again- she Loves boxes to sleep in

Lounging in the barn aisle after breakfast- Kiisa

Kiisa heading out to the pasture...and mice :)

Doing what she does best-  watching the activities at the barn

I found this video on youtube, and thought to share it with you. This is for all those wonderful barn cats- especially the two who live here- Kiisa and Moxie. Thanks for the good times, girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSaZ9jkgMPA

enjoy, and big thanks to MaryAnne Kennedy for creating it !
**********************************************************************************
 And a cute poem by Sue Millard about MICE.

The mice had been out drinking.
Their tails wove in and out.
They staggered up the piping,
and fell off down the spout.
They reached the airing-cupboard
and nested in the sheets,
they peed upon the bedspreads,
on towels wiped their feets.
Then leaving several pellets
of shit upon shelves (upper)
they hiccuped, belched and farted
and went to look for supper,
for as you know when drinking,
though lager fills your belly,
it also makes you feel as though
you'd eat a docker's welly!
They fancied Ruby Murray,
but nothing could they find,
for in a decent bathroom
a curry's naught but wi-ind.
So gnashing sharp incisors
and scraping needled paws,
they set about a drunken search
to find that bedtime course.
And when I rose at seven,
and flicked electric power
to heat the flowing water
and give a nice hot shower,
I found the mice had feasted
behind the cupboard door.
They'd shredded paper wrappings
and dropped them on the floor:
they'd punctured all the toothpaste
and then to top their tope
they'd guzzled anti-frizz shampoo
and eaten half the soap.
Then finally, hung over,
they'd made themselves at home
and sprawling bloated fast asleep
were snoring shaving foam.

5/22/2011

Updates on the barn restorations.... The carpenter got finished last week- after accomplishing all he had to get done. We now have brand new steps going to the hayloft ( YAY- no more ladders!), all of the stall windows have been re-worked, and now open & close easily, and there are firring strips on each of the ceiling seams , making it look oh so nice. He also repaired the kicked in concrete blocks ( yes- those horses really wanted to be free !!) and now the back stall walls all need to be scrubbed clean. But those holes are filled in and more safe.

This past week, our painter showed up. They painted the stall ceilings in the same cream color that our new over head door is.  This coming week, we HOPE the rain holds off enough so they can get the two eaves on each end of the barn painted and all of the windows as well.

This poor barn- it was built in the mid '60s and hadn't really been maintained properly until we bought the place in 2002. Sure the guys working here had done their best, and big repairs that were needed were done, but little else. When the former owners moved on, the barn was left empty and barns, like houses, NEED to be lived in. So the decay had continued.  I'll add a few photos of how the stall boards looked and still look today.

Unpainted:

 Painted ! We're STILL waiting for the stall front company to arrive...

Inside the stall fronts now-

BAD cribbers lived in this barn before our horses.

 This horse was trying to chew his way to freedom....

 They even chewed the TOPS of each stall and the heavy wood uprights

Big dents in the old boards made by neurotic horses wanting to be OUTside.

Windows repaired and now ready to be re-painted !  This is our tack room...

This week ahead , the stall front company is Supposed to show up to have the whole barn torn apart and re-done correctly.

Then we can have our ''Barn Clean Up Day !''

May 2011

 It's May....  The "april showers" should be done with by now, flowers are blooming like mad, the grass has Already been mowed twice, and needs it again.  And STILL it rains.  Most horse folk are totally tired of the rain and will whine at any given moment about not being able to ride, use their rings to train in, or in my case, drive my horses. If the sunshine is out, the ring is muck. So the sun leaves behind heavy rain clouds and it rains on us.

I am so far behind in conditioning my mares that it is just plain sad. I'll try to remember to add some pictures of our RAIN . I think there was one or two very pleasant spring days in April- but only from one's ankles , Up. The rest of the time there were high temperatures of 80 degrees, and the humidity was about as bad.  Sometimes its as though Mother Nature is trying to tell me to just give it up, and go eat bon-bons in the house.

Here are some of the flooding photos from this past month :
This is BoJangles. I don't believe he was clean much at all last month...

We had flooding in the creek... HIGH water

Abby in the muck...  Yuck

Wicked bad storm clouds this evening along with tornado watches/ warnings:

See my ring ?  Lovely, ehhhhhh ?

 

this is the Other side of it....

A closer shot of it- this water was a good foot deep :

Another one of our creek... at one point, it had to be a good 5' deep.

Hoppy Easter & a Garbage Truck ???

 Over the years up here in PA,we have gotten an interesting
"Easter bunnies" showing up.

One year, we had Easter Geese. Some actual bunnies,some ducks, and who knows who will show for this Easter.

This garbage truck showed up on Thursday-
perhaps THIS is our " easter bunny" for this year ??

And a shot of one of our barn kitties,'Kissa',doing what she does best :

More New Things at WoodFinn 4/23/2011

 This past week,Brad Reisinger came out to add some firring strips to our stall ceilings, and oh joy- a stairway to our loft !

Here's a photo of his tools , all set to get busy building...


And for those local folks who are following our blog, a photo of his van-  " Free advertisement" !  We highly recommend him  :)

More exciting things happening here

 Today was the day for Fencing! Mr Fisher ( Of Fisher's Fencing in Richfield, PA) called last night to make sure it was still alright to come work on the pasture fencing. They arrived just as I was turning horses out this AM. I got out of their way, and they got started tearing the old ugly wire fence down, and rolling it up. I was cleaning stalls, and getting morning chores done as they were chugging along doing that. They had it all down and Alan started putting up the new wire. Its small squares of high tensile quality wire and gets smaller as it goes down. The top squares are approximately 3x2" and at the bottom- very small.  Very SAFE fence for the horses who live here. We are getting this new fence to replace the disgusting hi-tensile strands of wire that was here when we bought this farm AND the cheap crap that I hired some guys put up right after we moved in. It was all stretched, and torn in areas- and NOT safe at all. Plus it looked horrid. Then as soon as  the ground firms up, we'll have them come back and re-place the hi-tensile wire along the road front , up one side past the neighbors' houses, and to the far corner of the farm. That way, we'll have no loose dogs in our fields, and no kids either. The horses will be much safer as well.

They ran out of wire fencing before they got one pasture done- the one around the ring & plans are to return tomorrow to get that accomplished, plus begin tearing out wire in the other pasture.

Below is the front pasture , minus the old stuff, waiting for new.

 Again- waiting for new wire fence !

  And this is how it looks when done- 

running up the lane towards the barn :

This is SO thrilling to me..... To others, it might not be so, but to a horsewoman ? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyeah.... new fence !

Happy April and what's happening

It's April!  FINALLY Spring is on that way. We had a rough start to April, with some rain and snow in other areas near our farm. We just got rain, luckily. Rain, in turn, creates mud which has been prevalent here lately. Everyone I speak to is in agreement-  Spring can't arrive Soon Enough !  The horses are shedding their winter coats like mad, and my daffodils have bloomed at the house. Those at the barn are still waiting for it to get warm enough up there. It's  cooler at the barn than at the house.

The chickens have started laying eggs like mad !  I get 6 one day, then 4-5 the next- and this is from Five Hens.  Someone is really doing a super job at laying eggs, it seems.


This morning my husband had an appointment with a "handy man". They discussed things that Glenn wanted done concerning the barn. So far, we're getting all of the stall windows repaired, and new plexi-glass in them if needed, the big ends of the barn are going to be painted- to match our hen house- and the ceilings in all of the stalls repaired. The BEST surprise to me was a stairway up to the hay loft !!!!   I'll have steps to walk up instead of climbing up a ladder- that was a Grand surprise for me. 


Things are being accomplished around here- and I'm 100 % amazed at it all. This is better than a kazillion Christmas' to a horse woman and I am so blessed.


I have to get a photo of the hen house ( yes, finally got it all done being painted last Fall) so you can see the colors chosen for the main barn.  


Yes- April is a most wonderful month here at our farm !