Spring Cleaning

Round 2 of Spring Cleaning hit this week. Carrie pulled all of the blankets and assorted junk out of the barn.

Then she went to work pressure washing. 

Carrie said it's something she'd like to do yearly or so. We'd gone two years without.

It wasn't high on my to-do list, so I'm glad she took action. I could see a stark difference between where she had and had not been.

We still have one stall open for a potential boarder and Carrie would love to have it filled. 

The downside of the power washing was all the bedding needed to be stripped.

Shane and I worked on that each morning before school.

It blew Shane's mind when I drove the gator into the barn to shorten the distance I had to carry the buckets.....which it really shouldn't have. I've driven the gator many times over. Or maybe it's a sign that he's helping out more and noticing more now that it effects him directly!

I'm hoping the bedding was one of my last runs into compost forest. The ticks have come out with the spring. Someone's tried to make a meal out of my each time I've waded through the brush lately.

After all that work of making the stalls pretty, the horses were put out. Everything looked different and different was scary. Abby stopped and thought real hard about whether or not she wanted her grain before I shooed her in.

Magic didn't want to go in either. When I did shoo him in he stood around unwilling to eat. The shavings were too poofy and he seemed concerned it'd eat him.

To stop using the gator, we needed to get the choke on the mower fixed. It took us some finagling to get it started and loaded on the trailer for the dealership to look at.

It cost $40 to fix and they even sharpened our blades. I highly recommend Appomattox Outdoor Equipment. They've had good prices, great service, and quick turn-arounds every time we've made the trip (I just wish they were closer!).

I was happy to hook the mower up to the spreader. No more lugging buckets into tick country!

Well, once we gassed up. Thankfully, we still had some from the generator before the gas shortage hit.

Carrie didn't come out for chores over the week, but she did continue working on picking up the barn and rearranging off and on.

The final product is a big improvement! And Carrie finished just in time for Heidi's Farewell Party...but that's another post.