So back to the surprise. Year after year it has been a 'dream' of mine to have the horse pens done in panels but something always has managed to come up that prevented this from happening. Example; this spring I was hoping to get this done but we had a barrage of medical ailments come up and that zapped the funds! On a good note, we have all healed and are moving on quite well; Jessie is the only one that escaped a calamity this year-praise the Lord!!! Okay, the surprise, I'm sure you have guessed now..........Yes! Bryan said that I could get my panels to re-do the pens that have been re-done many times. Horses are hard on fences!! Needless to say, I was a bit excited!!! The guy that we bought them from made us a sweet deal too so that was the cherry on the cake!
The girls like the idea that they can climb these fences without splinters and creosote getting on them!
A little attitude.
The fence project took us a week to get done. The thing about panels is that the ground has to be level to get them to line up right so there was a lot of 'leveling' that had to be done but on a good note, all of the old fences came down easily(imagine that) and the whole project was done without incident.
The old fence posts and the wonderful piece of equipment that made light work of something that would of been quite miserable otherwise! This year, just like every other year, we get firewood to heat our house. I love wood heat-it seems so much warmer and in the long run, cheaper and more dependable. However, unlike other years, we weren't able to go cut our wood this year-Bryan's elbow and my lungs had other plans and by the time we were mended it was getting way to late and hot in the year to go get it so we ended up buying our wood. It was nice having it delivered and of course was not as labor intensive but its not the same as just going out and cutting it yourself. We are extremely thankful though for the help that was given to us to get it. We ended up with about 10 tons of wood!
Here is about 1/3 of what is left to get in the woodshed. Once again, the bobcat proved very useful in pushing it in closer to the woodshed.
This wood is tamarack. Its a type of pine that burns very hot and 'clean'. There is very little ash to clean out. Our shed ended up being the fullest that it has ever been since we've been here. We are very thankful for the help from family and friends that helped us get it under the shed.
At the same time that we had wood to stack we also had hay to stack; another yearly project. This year there was a total of 18tons. Our hay shed will hold 15 tons so the goal was to get that filled and then feed what was left first and of course I always feel pressured to get it done before the rain comes; we almost made it.
Like the firewood, this was delivered to our house and unlike the firewood, this is the way to do it especially this year since we weren't charged for delivery. Each load is 4 and 1/2 tons; we got 4 loads.
I have also learned this year that one of the best times to stack hay is in the evening of a full moon night. As the bales get heavier the temperature gets cooler therefore making it easier to go longer. Sara, Tony and I worked on it one evening and managed to get almost 8 tons under the shed in just a couple hours. It was actually a lot of fun.
Bryan later took over the stacking and with the help of the bobcat, once again, it made heavy work a bit lighter.
Good news! Only another 8 tons or so to go and then next year, we get to do it again!!! All of it except next year we will be cutting, loading, hauling, unloading and then stacking our firewood so put it on your calendars for anytime between March to June to join in on this most wonderful event-it always weather pending but there are steaks to be had for any and all help!!
Here is about 1/3 of what is left to get in the woodshed. Once again, the bobcat proved very useful in pushing it in closer to the woodshed.
This wood is tamarack. Its a type of pine that burns very hot and 'clean'. There is very little ash to clean out. Our shed ended up being the fullest that it has ever been since we've been here. We are very thankful for the help from family and friends that helped us get it under the shed.At the same time that we had wood to stack we also had hay to stack; another yearly project. This year there was a total of 18tons. Our hay shed will hold 15 tons so the goal was to get that filled and then feed what was left first and of course I always feel pressured to get it done before the rain comes; we almost made it.
Like the firewood, this was delivered to our house and unlike the firewood, this is the way to do it especially this year since we weren't charged for delivery. Each load is 4 and 1/2 tons; we got 4 loads. 
I have also learned this year that one of the best times to stack hay is in the evening of a full moon night. As the bales get heavier the temperature gets cooler therefore making it easier to go longer. Sara, Tony and I worked on it one evening and managed to get almost 8 tons under the shed in just a couple hours. It was actually a lot of fun.
Bryan later took over the stacking and with the help of the bobcat, once again, it made heavy work a bit lighter.
Good news! Only another 8 tons or so to go and then next year, we get to do it again!!! All of it except next year we will be cutting, loading, hauling, unloading and then stacking our firewood so put it on your calendars for anytime between March to June to join in on this most wonderful event-it always weather pending but there are steaks to be had for any and all help!!