30 Minutes to Kill

Nope this isn’t some cleverly worded title about the latest situation in Iraq, just another update from the farm:

I am pretending I have 30 spare minutes but in reality I do not.  Reality can wait.  It is still snowing…hasn’t stopped in 36 hours. The weatherman just said there is a total of 12 1/2 inches.  The tractor got a real good workout yesterday but it really isn’t meant to be a snow plow.  I’ll be getting a larger truck soon and putting a plow on it.

I found 3 possible spots for the new house, they all have southern exposure and are pretty high up on the property.  I found out that this property is the watershed for two small brooks, one leading West and one leading South.  Another cat has shown up in the barn and the bravest of the barn cats is now upstairs in the house munching out and hanging out with Dancer.

The neighbor invited me to dinner next week, I’ve been plowing her driveway and am excited to see the inside of her home.  She just went to Washington to interview someone for a story she is working on.

The ferrier came with his wife to take care of the horses hooves, he gave me some great advice and said he really loved the barn and property.  He owns horses and takes care of some of the rescued horses and horses that work with children and disabled in the area.  He was amazing to watch with the horses, firm, direct and calm.  The horses were very well behaved.  Rio seems to have better ground manners than Laser.

The veterinarian is scheduled for next week.  I have a host of questions lined up for them about fly sprays, spring and summer conditioning, proper weight levels etc.

I learned how to build dry fit stone walls via the internet and how to lay out a proper roadway in a wildlife setting.  I can’t wait to get started once the location of the house

is selected.  There is about 6 miles of existing stone fences on the property.  I’d like to tie any new landscaping in with the existing look.

I learned how to prune grapes and trimmed up the row beside the house accordingly, will be working on the small apple orchard next, if this snow ever melts.

I started shopvacing the barn in order to be able to see the bones of the building better and look for rot, looks like there might be some powder worms in the wood just below where the hay is stored.  Rather than treating the existing rough cut pine boards I’ll probably replace them and then treat the entire barn with some natural repellent.

Well my 30 minutes is up, have to go feed the horses and work some more in the barn.  Have a great week.  Over the weekend I should have a little more time to spend.