...despite the hardships, I still love country life...

My goal this weekend was to do some barn repairs. Here I am in my favourite outfit, standing in the entrance of the house, buttoning up before heading out into the cold. I had four layers on and two pairs of socks in my boots.


It was just too cold to do all that I wanted to get done. We got out the bolt cutters and fixed up a few offending sticking-out parts, which is good, because those sticking out bits can quickly turn into vet bills when a horse impales her eyelid on it. The gaping hole in the south wall got a window. It really didn't get cold here until this week, so it was time to get that window in.


Look what the frost did to it.


We also braced up the steps to the 2nd floor, which is good. From a safety standpoint.



I need to fix up two stalls. One needs a new back wall, one needs a new gate.

Looks kinda cozy in there, eh? It wasn't bad with the horses in there, warming it up with their body heat.

But it's still cold enough that I'm raking out frozen dung balls and smashing ice out of the water buckets.

On Saturday morning, we chased them out into the pasture field.



I took a flake of hay out for them, even though they instinctively dig through the snow with their hooves.


Looking at these pictures, you could think we've got 10 acres of pasture field. No details to give you a sense of scale, just windswept white.



The Old Lady wasn't all that impressed. She doesn't get too excited about much of anything.



The Little Lady though, she was thrilled! She took a few bucks and crowhops before settling in for a roll. My daughter took a video of it; if I can ever figure out how to edit and post I'll put it up.


After a few hours though, the ladies were ready to come back in.



I'd like to get another horse in that barn...maybe with one more warm body the water buckets won't freeze as quickly...which in my world is a perfectly good reason to get another horse.

I continued my barn sweeping project. Can you see this? Somebody named Albert scratched his name into the cement, probably 70 or 80 years ago.


This is the part of the foundation that was filled in. Originally this barn had an open shed on the south side but nobody remembers that anymore. This is well before my ol man was born!! Notice the difference between this windowsill built in 1929...


and this one, from 18somethingalongtimeago.




I love this barn.

I stood there for a few minutes with my broom in my hand, worrying about a rotten beam. The ceiling above it is intact, and Dad says that cement floor above it is reinforced with rebar and there's no way that ceiling is coming down. But the beam causes me a bit of stress. It'll have to come down before it falls down. One of these years.

Also I need to take this vacant nest out. If I can get it out in one piece it would make a nice display piece. (And I need to fix up the light too.)


With the critters all tucked in and church over and visiting done, it was time to head home in the nasty windy snowy cold. But first we had to pull the Jetta out of a snow bank.




It involved a tractor. I wish I had a photo. Dad's got the hood off the tractor and it looks like some kind of crazy Tim Burtonesque robot making machine.

We haven't had a truly hard winter in years. It can really soften us up- how easily we forget! Next time we go out there I'll be parking on the barn bank so the car can just zip straight out onto the road.

I can't wait to live in a place where I move snow outta my way with a tractor...