Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Denim Deb]

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't get it all done.

I'm beat! It took me longer than I was expecting to clean the living room. So that meant I left later than I'd planned. And my niece didn't make it out to the farm, she was doing something w/her dad, and I figured that was more important for her to do.

Today was not fun. I think I mentioned B4 that RU's son is putting an addition on her house. Once it's done, he's going to live there w/his wife and 2.5 kids. (They have #3 on the way) Well, they started working on it today. I get to the farm, and tried to park in the parking area. Realized real quick that there was no way I could do that, and be able to get out. I was able to get out of there and park in the lane. Then I went to feed my horses. PT shows up and tells me I have to move my truck cuz they'll be bringing a dump truck down w/the dirt and dumping it in the back field. Now keep in mind, I hadn't even done more than get the bucket w/all my feed in it. I have my horses and CL's waiting to be fed. The conversation goes something like this:

PT: You need to move your truck. They're going to be coming down the lane w/a truckload of dirt.
Me: When are they coming down? I have feed in the back of my truck.
PT: They can come down at anytime. Why don't you just park close to the fence?
Me: If I park there, I'd get stuck. I only have 2 wheel drive.
PT: You should be fine parking there.
Me: If I park there, I'm going to get stuck. My truck is rear wheel drive. I don't have any weight in the back of my truck but 200 lbs of horse feed.
PT: I only have 2 wheel drive and I don't get stuck. (She has a car)
Me: You have weight at the back of your car.
PT: You're not going to get stuck.

At this point in time, I'd heard enough. I KNOW that I will get stuck, and I'm not going to argue w/her any more. So I put down my feed bucket, grab my mesh cart, and go and get the feed out of the back of my truck. I pull it off the lane, then get in my truck and drive down the road and park along the road. Walking back up, I got to thinking and realized that even if I didn't get stuck, chances were that they wouldn't be able to get past my truck w/a dump truck. There's not really enough room to get 2 vehicles down the lane, and the dump truck is even wider than my truck. I walk back up and finally get to feed my horses and CL's.

All of this put me behind schedule. Plus, it took me longer to clean my field than I was expecting. I had to load and dump the cart 3x! But, all the manure that had been frozen to the ground is gone. But, I wasn't able to groom the horses. I was finally able to leave at about 2:00.

Lunch was some peanut butter crackers and some chocolate chip banana bread. Got home, and relaxed for just a bit plus reviewed a video on butchering chickens. Got everything together that I needed, got my water heating, get everything set up and go and grab a rooster. Get him butchered, but by the time I was done, my water had cooled down too far. So, I turn the stove back on, feed the goats, then go back for the 2nd one. It took me longer than I wanted to do the first one, and I was afraid that I wasn't going to get done in time. So once I got his feathers off, I went and grabbed #3. I really hated to butcher this one. If I had had a way to keep him, I would have. I figured if I could have both of them just needing to be gutted, I could finish them in the house if I needed to. These guys did go faster, and I was able to get them completely done.

Get them done, and take them in the house, rinse them off, then bag them. So all 3 of them are now resting in the fridge! But I wasn't able to get to the wood. So, I just brought some in for now.

Got some dishes done, then got a shower. I'm relaxing for a bit, then I'm going to get some dinner-grilled cheese, tomato soup and a salad. And I'm not doing the laundry tonight. At least the next time I have to do roosters, it shouldn't take as long.

 

[Denim Deb]

It's raining out yet again. But at least they've changed the forecast for tomorrow. They're now calling for sun and a high in the 50s! So I'm hoping to get some stuff done outside tomorrow. Don't know if I'm going to clean my field today or not, that's going to depend on the weather when I get to the farm. It hasn't been raining heavy, so if I can clean it, I much prefer to. W/out further ado, here's my list for today:

1. Work on basement (I've done some)
2. Practice piano (done)
3. Clean bathroom
4. Feed animals, and put out hay
5. Clean field?
6. Clean up tack stall and tack shed-I have a lot of empty feed bags in the stall and have a ton of dried mud in the shed!
7. Feed Stormy, bag feed and take care of the chickens
8. Feed goats
9. Make and eat dinner
10. Do dishes
11. Fold up and put away a load of laundry

I think I have enough wood in the house to last until tomorrow-especially since it's not as cold as it's been. It was about 60 yesterday, only went down in the 40 overnight, is supposed to be close to 50 today, then it's supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow! Of course, we still have the rest of January and all of February as well as March to get thru B4 we can hope for it to get warm and stay warm.

 

[Denim Deb]

While it rained some while I was out at the farm, most of the time, it was dry and when it did rain, it was light. So, I was able to clean my field. And, I got all the dried mud swept out of my tack shed and all the empty feed bags out of my feed stall, so it looks much better in there.

Hubby called when I was waiting for Stormy to finish eating, he decided to leave work early. That threw my schedule off completely. Since I've gotten home, I've gotten the farm trash out of the back of my truck, fed the goats, got the fire going and cleaned the bathroom. If he hadn't come home, I would have gotten more work done on the basement. I may or may not do more tonight. In just a bit, I'm going to be making dinner, doing the dishes and folding up the laundry.

Tomorrow is going to be a nice day! I want to leave for the farm early. I do have choir practice in the morning and want to get stuff done B4 I leave for it. Because of the addition being built onto RU's house, she's moving animals around. And one place that she's moving animals to is a stall in the run in that opens into a different field. B4 she lost her horse, this is where KN had her horse. I've been wanting to get boards along the bottom to keep poop from falling into my field, so I want to get this done ASAP! I have no idea when she's moving them, but she's talking about doing it on Friday. I won't be able to do it once they're moved.

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, I need a ton of prayers. Life took an unexpected turn today.

This morning I got up, and got a lot done B4 leaving for the farm. Rather than get on in the morning and at night, I've decided to just get on once a day. I can't do anything in the house once hubby gets home. So, I finally did the dishes, and put away the clothes. Then I washed a load of clothes, hung them out, took out the trash and recyclables, practice the piano and cleaned the kitchen. I had hoped to get to the farm early, but left later than I'd planned on and had to stop at the bank and the gas station on the way to the farm. Get to the farm, get my guys fed, feed CL's horses and notice RU's son (JU) and one of his workers dismantling her chicken pen! And, they were going to tear down the chicken house as well. Everything that they figured was junk, they were just tossing. So I asked him what he was going to do about the chickens. His reply? He didn't care about them.

CL wasn't home and for the most part, KN is the one that messes w/the chickens. So I give her a call. She calls RU. I go over to the "junk" pile and get out stuff that is good and put it where I'm hoping they'll leave it be. In the meantime, I hadn't put out hay for my guys, nor cleaned the manure. I had choir practice this morning, so I had to stop what I was doing, give my guys some hay and let them and CL's horses loose.

After choir practice, I head back to the farm. I finish getting hay out for my guys, and clean up my field. I notice that the chicken house is still standing. I see JU working near it. So I call over to him and ask if it's possible for him to take it apart w/out ruining all the wood so it can be put back together at a different spot. He doesn't think that will work. Then I ask him how far over he's planning on cleaning. And that's when I got my shock-he's actually planning on moving my horses to some place in the back at some point in time this summer! I looked at him and informed him that I've done an awful lot of work on that field. I've replaced all the fencing and improved the run in. I didn't argue w/him, it's not my property, but needless to say I was upset.

Got home, fed the goats, got started on the wood, had it almost finished when I decided to give RU a call. She still wasn't home-they got stuck in traffic. But I told her we need to talk. That's when I found out that she knew about what he's planning on doing and she's fine w/it.

I'm torn. Part of me says this could be a good thing. I'd get a bigger pasture and a better run in. But, part of me says this is horrible! For one thing, if the weather's so bad I can't drive down the lane, I'd have to walk down about a quarter of a mile to get to my horses. For another thing, since I feed CL's horses in the morning, I'd either have to kill half an hour waiting for them to finish eating B4 going down and doing my guys, or feeding them, going down and doing my guys then coming all the way back up to let her horses loose. Plus, there's my tack shed. Hubby doesn't want JU to move it. But, I'm not about to leave it where it is if my horses are in the back.

Hubby says I should tell RU I'm leaving. But, I have no place that I can go. And, I'm not going to make an empty threat. At this point in time, I'm just so confused, I don't know which way to turn. And to top it off, hubby's been drinking and is being a pain. I'd love to just pack up my animals as well as all of my belongings and just go someplace else.

 

[Smart Red]

& Prayers & & Positive thoughts & & More prayers &

 

[Denim Deb]

Thanks, Red.

 

[hqueen13]

Well, if you ever feel like coming to the crazy state of MD just let me know.
Sit with the situation for a while and See what your heart tells you. Give it a little time and see what comes off it.
Sending you some warm healing thoughts!

 

[Denim Deb]

Hubby is driving me nuts right now. I'm going to bed.

 

[hqueen13]

Heck, if you just visit and get away for a bit you're welcome here.

 

[Denim Deb]

Thanks, but it would have been a bit far to go last night.

I haven't had a chance to talk to RU, but after praying about it and really thinking about it a ton, as much as I don't really want to be in the back, and would like to just leave, I can't afford to. Plus, I know JU. He has no respect for anyone else on the farm-his parents included. If I were to leave, not only would RU be short a boarder, but I also doubt that JU would then worry about making an area for another boarder. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about CL's horses. But, if he wants me to move, then things are going to have to be done to MY satisfaction.

The only type of fencing that I'll accept is no climb horse fence w/electric at the top and middle. Anything else is not safe w/Licorice. Plus, I want to keep my chickens in my field.

The run in is going to face south instead of north. And, it cannot have a dirt floor. Plus, it's going to have an overhang, gutters and working windows on the north for ventilation during the summer.

While JU doesn't have to build this, I'm going to have a bigger chicken house. It will be on the one side of the run in. I'm hoping that 4x10 will be big enough. I'll increase the number of birds I have to at least 15 hens and 3 roosters. The chicken house I have will be sold on CL. It's really too small. I really wish they had said something B4 I did that last rooster, I wouldn't have done him.

The area is going to have to be checked for baling twine. Normally RU just dumps RBs out, but never cleans up the string from the old ones. I'm not sure how long it took me to get all the old ones out of my field and I'll occasionally still find some.

A very big pro that I'm going to have is that I won't have to worry about all the farm cats. I honestly don't know how many there are and they all want to come in my tack shed if I leave the door opened. I've had them go in there and spray stuff. Plus, B4 RU got all these cats, I had planned on putting up some small bird feeders in front of my tack shed so I could watch the birds. I'm not about to do that w/all the cats.

The grass looks to be fairly good in that area, that's much better than the mud I'm dealing w/now. And, I won't have to seed the area. That will cut down on the amount of hay I have to buy, plus Stormy does better on grass. And, I won't have the white pines along my fence line. I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to recall hearing or reading B4 that pines are horrible for horses w/heaves.

If the area is big enough, I'll put in my own RP. The one on the farm is in horrible shape and to use it, I'd have to lead my horse thru another field or 2. That can be a pain. So, if I can make my own, that would be better.

I won't be on the road any more. So, I won't have the traffic. And if I spend the night, it will be quieter. Plus, if I'm there late, I'll be able to watch all kinds of wildlife from my tack shed.

 

[hqueen13]

Glad you're finding the positive of the situation. I How that it all works out easily for you!