What a week on the farm!

Those who live in the country know that chores are determined mostly by two things: money and weather. You must have both to get the job done. With the spring weather finally here we have been outside nearly every minute of every day working to accomplish some much needed improvements. I've been starting work at 4:00am on the weekends to get my hours in an early as possible and free up the rest of the day. Makes for a long day but I sure get a lot done!

Yesterday morning my brother in law showed up unexpectedly in the early morning hours so, of course, we quickly put him to work. I think he enjoys coming out to visit and really doesn't mind helping with whatever we're working on while he's here. He went with Ed to pick up a square bale of alfalfa for the horses and while they were gone our boarders and children showed up to ride just as I was arriving home from soccer practice with the boys. We saddled Daisy, their trail horse, and Bull, their racehorse (they didn't know he was a racehorse when they bought him until they discovered the tatoo inside his upper lip). Everyone got to ride, even the kids! All the boys had such a great time and little Vincent even chose to ride Bull! Heavens, once up there, I could barely touch his leg -- this horse is tall!

I helped them put their tack away and get a wash area ready so they could bathe all four of their horses and mentioned that one day I'd like Brian to show me how to start mine with bathing - they've never had one. Have you ever introduced young horses to the water hose? Unless they are very young it can be very difficult the first time. Brian is so nice that he immediately suggested we just line them up and the four of us would move them through one at a time to just get it done. Kim and I did the soaping and Ed held them while Brian went to work. An hour later we had three completely different looking horses! And we lucked out with only a couple of bad flights from Fire - he was not easily swayed to believe that cool water would feel wonderful after the heat of the day had begun. I couldn't believe they were so nice as to help us with this traumatic event but they actually seemed to enjoy it and opened their washing supplies to us. Afterwards we spread out the alfalfa and Brian set up an area in the barn for their supplies to remain here so Kim and I could work with the horses more through the week we she comes out to ride.

I so enjoy when people come out to the farm and just hang out, playing with the animals. Their son even got a nice licking from Moo when he tried to pet her! She did pretty well but we had her locked most of the day in the goat part of the barn pen so we could have the barn doors open as we moved the horses all around and were riding. Even Kim noticed that Moo's bag is really filling! Hopefully it won't be long until we have a calf.

Once we adjourned to the patio for a break Brian innocently asked Ed what the next project was and he said we really needed to electrify the top two smooth wires around the round pasture for the other three boarders. The pasture's pretty grazed and they've begun pushing out the posts really badly. After that we need a quick goat pen set up over in an area by the house so we can remove the divider fence in the barn pen which will not only double the area for feeding the seven horses out there but also open up the overhang and another barn door for easy access to shelter. I mentioned that it was close to dinner and wished I had thought to have buns since I had most of the fixings for a hamburger cookout and Brian, ever thinking, just said, "You know, let's stay. We'll just stay and get started so Ed can get this done." Isn't that cool?! So Kim and I ran into town for dinner supplies and even a quick trip to the farm store for some last minute fence stuff. Two hours later the guys had the fence ready, isolated the wire from the main property fenceline, and even welded a post to hold the solar fencer - Brian even agreed to bring a spare battery he had from home next time he comes out. And the goat pen plans were finalized with a final check of supplies on hand.

The boys all got along great and had a wonderful day just running wild, chasing chickens, riding bikes, and playing basketball. They all played so well together while the adults worked and visited. While talking we mentioned the history of the house which led to a house tour, including the half stairs into the attic with a peek up the widow's walk. We even got out the pictures that Vivian (she was born here and her grandfather built the home) provided us. Once dark arrived we visited out on the patio until they left with plans to arrive early afternoon for more chores.

Now I sit having my morning coffee as the sun's coming up and after I get the kitchen cleaned and ready for the day I'll head out to start the morning chores. I figure I'll let Ed sleep in because he's got another hard, long day of work setting posts and running fence. And then I'll need to figure out what to feed all these people! :)

I hope it's finally spring wherever you are and you're enjoying the time outside before the heat of summer arrives.