Deb, thanks for the thoughts! It REALLY stinks not having internet. I can get online on my smart phone but it is a pain in the butt to do much typing and work on it.
So to make it easier, Im writing updates from my laptop to copy/paste here once I get on the internet. The lack of internet is disturbing and frustrating, but is what it is at this point in time. Hopefully in a couple months well be able to afford even a cellular version of internet to get by. Im quite happy without TV, the lack of internet thing is frustrating!
Our lives have still been busy with getting things set up in the house, buying all the stuff we didnt know wed need and finding placing for everything. Im upstairs in the office right now, which is partially set up. The desk and computers are at least in place. Now its all the little office stuff that has to find homes.
Today officially marks 3 weeks since hauling the horses (tomorrow is the 3 week move date) and they are finally settling in. The landlord (here forth known as LL) has been fantastic getting things set up and making small improvements that make a big difference. He told me to let him know if I had any suggestions with fence lines and things like that that could be improved, and I pointed out that the traffic flow of the area by the gate was really tight with a corner that horses kept getting pinned in, and he immediately set about straightening out the fence line to remove the corners all together and make it much safer. He replaced the 6 gate with an 8 gate, and it has really helped make it much easier to move the horses in and out. He replaced a gate to the paddock off of the barn yard as well as completed the fence across the barn yard so that it is fully enclosed in the event that a horse gets loose they wont have much of anywhere to go (and the lure of nice grass to boot!).
Monday and Tuesday of this week (when it was hot as blazes!) they completed the arena fencing. There is still one gate that needs to be installed, but other than that, it is complete, and looks fantastic. Im looking forward to the time when Storm is confident enough to start using it.
Last week I happened to comment that there were lots of cobwebs over the stalls, and inquired as to what the best method would be to get them down. Two days later I find LLs maintenance man with two broom handles taped together sweeping cobwebs down. I was impressed! I havent really had to lift a finger to see improvements and things happen easily. Not the general attitude on most farms where usually money and time are tight!
Storm and I made our first foray into the world outside of the barn yard today, and he did very well. We made lots of laps of the area outside the barn yard, stretching boundaries on each pass. We visited the well hydrant, Es Jeep, made a loop between the trees and a little circle in front of the round pen. He spooked once, but pulled himself back together and did very well remaining calmly curious. I respected his boundaries, and had pretty high expectations of what was ok to move forward and what wasnt. If he wasnt completely calm, then we didnt get to move forward. That was more for my sake than his, but it gave both of us the opportunity to respect each others boundaries.
So thats life in a nutshell here. Staying busy caring for horses, organizing the house, and working on figuring out how to survive financially is pretty much the day to day grind. Sometime soon Im going to begin looking at the areas that I have available to plant, and see what I can do. There is a nice bed down the length of the side of the barn planted with little dwarf Alberta spruce trees with spaces in between. Im interested in planting bug repelling plants, but will have to consult all the smart green thumbs here to find out what the orientation can handle since it gets very strong afternoon sun.
