Well..

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings Everybody!

Boy.... where to start?

It's been a while since I've put anything up here I'll admit.

With the silly season upon us, and the weather, and returning to my "regular" 9-5, things have been slow to progress on the barn.

I say on the barn, because all the day to day stuff (did I mention blowing snow?) has kept me busy, actually with just barely enough time to squeeze what I absolutely need to do.

Just how much snow fell? You be the judge. I think I'd eviscerate the plow guy if he did this to me!

I had hoped to finish the warm room weeks ago, but that's been put on hold, so we've been hauling water to the horses. The temporary stalls are still temporary, and I've discovered perhaps too temporary, as Mac and Pearl seem to have found ways to escape, or at least challenge the boundaries of my design...sigh.

I did manage to get the last gable end finished... the one I had left unfinished, because it was out of the prevailing winds... that is of course, until a blizzard blows through...sigh. It's amazing how efficiently you can work when the wind is howling and snow is blowing down the back of your neck.

The weather is supposed to be horrendous starting later today...at least from an outside work perspective... rain. That means I need to get hay this morning, to be sure I have enough while we're away during the holidays. Just no repeat of last weekend...I still have an imprint of the truck's tailgate on my butt!

I've run out of clever titles...

and daylight it seems, because everytime I think of the camera, it's too dark to take pictures, so once again, they will come later. Today became another snow day from work and I finally got back at old man winter, when I went to pick up the tractor and my new snowblower! ;-D While it was in there, they fixed a couple things too... no charge, since they should have been working when I bought the tractor (block heater is a good thing in this climate). I have to say, the guys at the farm dealership in town are pretty good.

Anyway last night, I woke up at midnight, with only one thought racing through my head... (I find this happens for a lot of things, especially stuff I haven't found a solution for) the horses must go in the barn tomorrow or today since it's was after midnight, whatever.... Until now, they've been outside, despite/inspite of the weather.. but last night I couldn't go back to sleep until I came up with a solution. Thankfully I had it figured out by 2 and managed a few more hours sleep... otherwise I'd be really bagged instead of just bagged. So after blowing out the driveways (and man does that thing ever shoot snow!) Maggie and I built (I dragged her into my insanity this time too) temporary stall partitions. This is the first temporary construction I've done to date on this project... I really hate temporary... it tends to become permanent, so I made sure it was something I would have to tear down later... preferably sooner.
At 5:00pm today, unceremoniuosly by the weak glow of the single solar light I managed to get installed (and because the spotlight I had hooked up on the generator decided now of all times to burn out), Pearl became the first horse to go in the barn... and she promptly showed her appreciation for all the hard work ... by crapping on the floor.

It's official...it really is winter.

With 30-40cm of snow forecast for the next 24 hours, I think winter really did make a early debut. Already we have almost as much snow on the ground as we did for the entire last year! I guess we were overdue, the last time it snowed this much, this early, was 10 years ago (I know I remember living in the city and my son Brandon's toys (he was only a year old) were all buried in the snow and I had to dig them out...in spring). Now the other reason it's gonna snow like crazy is... because I'm building a barn! Today, despite the snow, and weather, I managed to get one gable end finished from left from yesterday. The side I started first, is the direction the wind blows... normally, except of course for today! At least all the siding is up now, and I bought a couple of tarps to close up the 2 big end doors (until I can get real ones...). Incidentally, if you want to challenge your dexterity, try putting up tarps, in the wind... by yourself. Now try and not get blown off the ladder, and get the tarps up remotely straight.

Anyway, all I need to do now is close up the loft ends and install the smaller door...build some stalls... and I can finally get the horses in. Of course winter may be over by then. Still waiting on that miracle.