hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

@Icu4dzs I appreciate the offer... the commute would be hell, too! He did fine in the 36" of snow we had 4 years ago. And on one of the farms we were on years ago when we got back to back 25+" snows, they actually turned him out first to "plow" the field a bit before they put the other smaller horses out. LOL He doesn't mind snow at all!

We had a busy weekend!
Saturday we went over to the BF's parent's house and split wood all day. His dad had 6 big poplar trees taken down, and they had gotten most of it cut up into rounds. We brought the splitter over, and the BF ran the saw working on the stuff that still needed to be cut down, and then his brothers and I ran the splitter. We got a LOT of it done, but there's still a LOT left. We didn't bring any home, we just ran out of steam and time, and right now we don't really have anywhere else prepared to stack it up, so it's probably fine that we didn't get it home.

Sunday I had my riding lesson, and had to do barn chores on top of that, and it was 48 and raining. I was digging out heavy clothes before I left, and couldn't find my heavy winter riding pants. Thankfully we didn't actually get rained on in my lesson, but it was just damp and chilly and a little breezy. Storm did really well, despite my exhaustion. I finished barn chores and came home and pretty much crashed. We did as little as possible for the rest of the day.

I did have a conversation with my boss finally on Thursday. We finally launched the new email system and so that is up and running. I brought up the pay scale again, and the fact that I could walk into a Target store and get paid the same amount of money to just be a clerk, and that the BF's company hires back office administrative staff at $20/hr. He was a bit surprised to hear that. He told me that he understood that I had to do what I had to do, and I told him that I watned to work towards a plan to get things caught up to current standards. He said that right now he's running the company 30 days at a time, and that the accountant thinks that things are going to end up shut down over the winter again. He doesn't think so, but he is erring on the side of caution to make sure that we can stay in business. I get that, but it's a bit of an insult to be working for so little at this point. He did tell me that if I can get trained on this new email system, that we'll transition away from the gal that we hired with a contract to get the system up and running (she's a friend of mine that does techy stuff for entrepreneurs and small businesses, we're not really her ideal client, but she's been an amazing help for us), and then he will give me what he was paying her, which is $850/month. He said that he's already been paying that much to her, so the money is budgeted for, and I'm like, well, we can do that. I don't want to hold my breath that it's actually going to happen, but we'll see what he puts together. She was asking me what I thought about the long term, and after speaking with him I think that we'll probably keep her on through November, and then go from there. She agrees that she doesn't think she needs to be involved for much more after that, either. I feel bad ending up taking the money from her, but we all know that wasn't the long term plan, anyway. So it's sort of good news, but we'll see if he actually follows through with it.

I didn't get to talk to RO or his wife when I worked Oliver on Friday, they had things come up. That was a bit disappointing because I wanted to check in and see what he thought about me moving Storm there. I'll see if I can work something out with them this week, and go from there. KN was really encouraging during my lesson on Sunday about my skills, and how to manage Oliver. I hope that RO does let me board with them because I know I'd be able to help Oliver so much more if I was there. But at this point it is what it is.

It looks like it's going to be a quiet week, which is just fine with me. I won't HAVE to go anywhere on Wed or Thurs, and Thurs looks like pretty heavy rain, so I think I'll stay home and not go to the office. I'm loving the gas savings of not driving around twice a day all the dang time for sure. That alone is helping my budget! I guess I need to work on getting winter clothes out this week, and taking care of the outside stuff so that it's ready for winter. My garden is still a mess, and the hoses will need to be drained and stuff like that. Always something that needs to be taken care of.

 

[Icu4dzs]

You might just appreciate that commute around 5 NOVEMBER

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow - talk with the boss was kinda ... an eye opener? Really hope it works out that you can get the training and get transitioned on to the new system. That would be a nice bump to the salary that you deserve!

Hope you can get Storm moved!

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks FEM!
Yeah, not surprising, honestly. The part that I wish he would be more candid about is what HE is sacrificing to "keep things going". Not that I want him to be a martyr, but it would be helpful to understand what HE'S cutting for himself in order that the other 15 people that depend on him and the company are kept afloat. But that is wishful thinking I guess.
The new system is humming along, no real bumps in the road at this point, there's only a couple things that we're still working out, but all in all it's doing well. Now I have to get into the routine of mailing stuff and we'll be good.

I finally talked with RO again (did a lesson with Oliver yesterday to beat the rain coming in today), and he said that he can't take Storm right now. I'm bummed, but I'm going to talk to my friend B on Saturday and see what kind of arrangement she and I can work out. Honestly, even if I do have to pay something, I'll take it. It's further away, by another 15 minutes, but I'm so ready to move him that I'm willing to do whatever we need to do. I do know that it won't be as much work as it is currently, and that I won't have to work as much, so that's helpful. We'll see how things come together and go from there. I'd LOVE to be able to give my 30 day notice when I give TM the board for Nov! So it's not the greatest news, but it's better than nothing at this point.

Still chugging away on my business stuff, trying to show up and connect with people and build my group and all that fun stuff. I'd LOVE to be able to get that going to the point where I don't NEED to work in a barn in order to afford things. Of course a 20k loan would be super helpful, too, but still. Some close friends of mine were joking with me last night, they were like we'll pay you the 20k if you'll let us live in your basement. I was like I'm SO tempted at this point.... Unfortunately our basement isn't set up with enough space for "rooms" so that wouldn't really work out. One can dream LOL. I should tell them that the neighbor's property is going to be up for sale eventually, too, which would be ideal, because they we could just use BOTH back yards for the pasture space. LOL

Not much else happening. I'm hiding in the house today since I don't actually have to go anywhere. I'm not going to bother to drive into the office in the middle of the dregs of a tropical storm. Not worth the effort LOL. It's actually not raining too badly right now, part of me says I should probably go to the office and pick up the cards I need to mail, but I don't think I'm going to bother with that, either. It can wait until later. I can grab them tomorrow on my way home, and then get them ready to mail on Monday.

I'm kicking myself a bit because I didn't remember to get any firewood into the house last night, so that it could be dry and waiting to start a fire tonight. The BF got the chimneys cleaned, but he didn't clean the actual stove pipe, so I would rather not start it up until that's done, too, anyway. So I guess it can wait, but I think tomorrow night we're going to need to get it going, it's supposed to dip to 30. Of course it's only for one night, so I don't know if that's worth it or not, either, but I guess we'll see how things go. We did turn on the boiler, so it's on, but the house has mostly been warm enough that it hasn't needed to run, which makes me happy, too. I'm ok with not running the heat until we REALLY need it. Trying to keep the power bill low right now! I DO need to get my winter clothes, though, though, I'm getting tired of wearing the same two sweatshirts over and over again, and I need some thicker socks again!

 

[hqueen13]

Whew, lots happening right now.
I forgot to ask RW to put Storm's blanket on while she was there, so TM said she'd do it before turning out on Thursday. I get to the barn Friday morning, and find him without a blanket, but he didn't look wet. His stall was also REALLY gross, and it looked like he'd stocked up (swollen) in his hind legs a bit. I went to turn him out and he was SPUNKY. Finally caught up with TM later to find out that she never turned them out Thursday due to the rain (we got 2"). So he was in a stall from Wed night to Fri morning. 36 hours. No wonder my 18 year old draft was stocked up. *sigh*
Friday was busy on the veggie farm, which was nice since it was the last Friday. It was bittersweet. I'm looking forward to having my Fridays back to myself, but I am also not happy about not having the income. I'll miss the sweet customers, though, for sure. It was cold and pretty breezy Friday (though not as windy as they were expecting thankfully), so I was happy that it was pretty busy.
Saturday I had a farrier appointment, and she got to the farm early, so I was hustling to get over there so she wasn't waiting. We got him trimmed, but he was struggling to balance, he did not want to load his hind legs, which was not good. I think it was the result of being in for so long earlier in the week. I need to get him back on MSM, I just reordered it (lack of $$!) so hopefully that will help again.
I left the barn and headed over to my friend B's barn to talk to her about boarding. It is 30 miles from my house, and will take 40 to 50 minutes depending on traffic. That's the ONLY down side. The rest is ALL good. She will technically charge me $250/month, but I can work it off at $10/feeding. So 2x week brings the price down to $170, which is $5 less than I'm currently paying. I think I will probably also work every other Thursday, which brings it down to $150, and then I'll go to the office after I feed. The pastures are LUSH, the barn is beautiful and has HUGE stalls, the place is SO well taken care of, and B is right in line with my thinking and philosophy for care. There's only a few horses (max 6, there's 3 currently), and she is really down to earth and flexible with things. She keeps them out 24/7 unless the weather is bad/hot, and the shed in the pasture they use in the summer has BIG fans in it. There's no arena, but since I ride in his field right now, I'm not worried about that at all. There is a round pen, which is nice to have again. Like I said, the drive is the ONLY down side. The good news is that since they aren't really kept in, I can show up whenever I need to, and don't have to be there super early. So I'll wait until traffic dies down a bit and then head over. Oh, the other up side is that I can work as much or as little as I want. I won't have to 'trade' a day if I can't get there for some reason, and if I want to go on vacation I'll just know that I'll have to pay more for board for the next month. There's no making it up, or paying TM an outrageous amount to cover my shifts. So I've got total flexibility and can do whatever I need to do.
Now I just have to figure out when to move him. I have to give TM 30 days notice, and pay for all 30 days, but I don't plan to stay that long. The question is how easily can I pay for the new board on top of the old board. I have to figure out how to make that work out, but at any rate, I'm sure it will. I texted my friend to find out if she can haul him, she said she's replacing her car (truck) currently, so I suggested that another friend use her truck to haul JO's trailer, we'll see what she thinks of that. I really don't want to be there any longer than I have to be since it costs me hay and sawdust to be there, not to mention the amount of time it takes doing chores. So we'll see how it shakes down, but that's the plan at the moment anyway. I really should get Storm's lyme titer run again, but I don't have the funds for it, and RW doesn't have the funds to have her horses checked again, either, so I figure we'll just let that go and if the MSM doesn't seem to help him then I'll check it again.
Saturday after I got home (spent WAYYYYYY too much time talking to B!), we headed out so that the BF could vote early. Halloween night is the best time to do early voting we've found. There's NO line. We grabbed dinner and brought it home. He had started a fire that morning, so the house was nice and toasty, which was good since the cold really rolled in.
Sunday I headed out to do barn chores, and then got home and we did some cleaning and organizing. I got the rest of my winter clothes put back in my drawers, and put the summer stuff into the attic again. We got the upstairs vacuumed, and I made the raw meatballs for the cats again. I did a little computer work, and then soaked in the tub for a while. We made steak and veggies and roasted potatoes for dinner, which tasted great. It was nice to have a relaxing day.
So we'll see what this week brings, I need to get some things checked off my list, and get some work done in my business, and for the office. Our email system is mostly up and running, we're still working out a few kinks, but it's doing most of what it's supposed to do, so that's a good thing.
Oh, Thursday last week during all that rain, the lights were flickering just a little bit in the house. I noticed it upstairs and downstairs. When the BF got home he asked me if it had been doing that all day, I was like yeah, I thought it was the weather. He went down to the breaker panel, and found that it was making noise. Turns out the MAIN breaker was going up. SO he called his dad and his dad walked him through what he needed to do, so he ran to Home Depot and picked up a new one, and then came home and put it in. I'm SO grateful he can do stuff like that. So now that makes 2 breakers that have gone up, I think it's time to actually call someone and see if we can get this thing replaced and upgraded. So that's on my to do list this week. Fun times...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Whew - glad the BF was able to fix the breaker issue! Hope you get Storm moved quickly - sounds like a great place!

 

[hqueen13]

Yes, I'm SO grateful that he was able to take care of that. I still need to call an electrician to see about getting some quotes for upgrading the panel, but I've been resisting doing that for some reason. I'll get to it eventually...

So Storm's move is lining up for Wednesday next week. And of COURSE there's rain in the forecast. If all pray to any gods that control weather, please tell them to move that rain off of Wednesday!!! My friend JO is going to let me use her trailer, and NP is going to use her truck, so between the two of them, we'll make this happen. IH is coming up to lend an extra hand, for which I am REALLY grateful. We already know how to get Storm into JO's trailer, so hopefully it won't take as long as it did the first time, and hopefully he'll be really willing to go in. I've been thinking about it and letting him know what's going on, which is what worked last time (and has worked for every other horse I have been involved in moving). So fingers crossed.
IH is coming up on Tuesday morning to help me with chores, and then she's going to do her rehearsal stuff, and then come stay with me that night. Wednesday morning we'll get up and head over to the barn and get things cleaned and organized, and probably run my tack and junk over to the new farm and get that put away, then grab some lunch along the way, and go back to the barn and I'll work Storm (weather permitting I guess) and maybe ride (that would require tack... mental note...) before JO and NP get there with the trailer in the afternoon. We'll see how it all plays out but hopefully it comes together easily. I let TM know, and I'll let B know today to expect us, so that's good. I have to go over a couple things in the boarding agreement with B to clarify what it means. I think she pulled the agreement off the web somewhere, it's fairly basic (only 4 pages instead of the 8 that mine was! ) but it has some odd clauses (including that I need to have my own liability insurance personally....?!) that I want to clarify.
Still working on getting my business stuff running, I've been doing lots of work on that, and I so hopefully things will start to come together soon. It's been almost 3 months since I started working with my business coach and really ramping things up, which is about the time stuff starts to happen. Now I just have to stick with it long enough that BIG stuff can happen!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope the rain holds off and that the move goes smoothly!

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks yall. We ended up pushing off the move until today. I'm a bundle of nerves this morning, so hopefully I can work through that!! Send good juju for us! I'll update early next week after we're all settled (and I need to update about the SH money situation, he finally called me... it just keeps getting weirder and weirder!)

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sending positive, good JuJu your way! Hope it all goes smoothly!