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Tonight I went out in the yard and in the field just next to it to get some photos.  Just thought I would share what I have got.  I have some ideas for some of these in Photoshop, but for the time being, these are all as shot, and they were all taken in the moonlight only. 

Thanks for looking! 

Over the weekend the boys and Katrina and I all tackled a big project.  We put up a 10 foot by ten foot by ten foot barn style wood shed to the side of the house.  It came flat packed in a kit, all pre-cut, and ready to install.  The only thing we had to do prior was build up a level spot on the ground for it to stand on, and now that it is done, we only have to paint it.  It was a big project, and took us all of Saturday and Sunday to do.  Of course, if we were Amish, we’d of had it done by noon on Saturday!  Now I feel totally ashamed! 

The retaining wall at the side of the drive extends out over the arena.

Part of the wall is held in place by six foot T-bars hammered all the way into the ground till the ends are even with the railroad crossties. 

And one point is held by another railroad crosstie that is buried three and a half feet into the ground, and then cut off.  Then rocks were filled in on the places where the ties didn’t quite reach to the sand. 

Finally the retaining walls were backfilled and the fill was leveled off, before concrete pieces were set down as a foundation.  Then the floor frame was places on top.

Here is a typical image of Dylan working, and Jordan sat down daydreaming.

Can the boys build a shed?  Yes!  They Can-can!

We built the back wall late Saturday, and found it still there on Sunday morning after some strong winds!

Some finishing touches meant the back wall was ready to move out of the way.

Then the gaffer came out to keep us going on the side walls and onward.

Next we took a break from the camera and put up all the walls in a bit of wind, and got focused on the roof supports before we thought to pick it up again!  Yes, there I am, putting screws in at the top of the side wall!

This is to show that I am not that tall that I can reach the top of the wall while standing flat-footed, unless I am standing on the ladder!

The older kids love hanging out on the newly installed loft.  It was good of them to test its strength rather than us risking putting stuff up there that might have fallen through an untested loft floor!

My jobs are the high risk ones, and also figuring out why the wife keeps photographing my backside!  So I installed the roofing panels with a bit of help from people who were only allowed to stand on the loft.

Judging from that hairdo, I think I just figured out why the missus kept photographing my backside!

Jordan holding a piece in place while daydreaming about getting on the roof and seeing what he can see!

Though I was exhausted, I took the challenge of putting on the side panels on the roof, and got ‘er done!  All that is left is paining and roofing shingles!  We got to this, from…

…this.  (The shed in the back of the Ford on Friday night.)  The weekend saved us a thousand dollars on assembly fees!

Now the question is, will we build a cupola for the top, or not?  Personally, I’d love to!  It would really add something to it, I think!  Especially when it has the traditional red and white barn paint heading for it! 

In other news, it was JJ’s fifteenth birthday on Monday.  On that same day, two duck eggs hatched, and the chickens laid three yummy eggs!  Another duck egg hatched on Tuesday! 

After such an amazing few days, it was nice to have newborn animals joining our little farm.  After all, I was feeling like I had been slaughtered! 

Momma and her Monday ducklings.

Here’s Tuesday’s duckling, still messy from inside the egg, and hardly able to walk.

And finally,yesterday,  I was able to pick up the camera and shoot some shots just for the fun of it!

Kelsey J Bacon

The boys and I have been working hard today building a shed on a level space that we had to make first.  The level space went across what was a berm and over a place that used to be part of the horse arena.  We put in some railroad crossties to serve as a retaining wall.  They had to be stacked two high, so the top one had to be reinforced with 5 foot T-bars hammered into the ground about 4 feet, except in the middle where the two lengths meet up.  At that spot we dug a three and a half foot hole, put a rail tie in vertically, then cut the top off above the top ties.  The space behind the retaining wall was then filled in and leveled off.  That was a lot of work on it’s own!  There were roots to cut through, and rocks to move. 

Then we built the frame for the floor, and topped it with OSB.  Finally, we built the framing for the back wall, and put on the paneling.  By that time, we had finished a full day’s work! 

Tomorrow will hopefully bring the frame and panel for the front wall, and the side walls, and hopefully with some ease now that we have the flooring down to work on.  I will of course like to get those done by noon if possible, but that always depends on little things such as when we roll everyone out of bed, and how big breakfast is. 

The final product will be a barn style shed, 10’x10’x10’.  I somehow don’t think we are going to have this sucker painted by tomorrow evening! 

Today’s “Task of the Day” here at the ranch is to go and buy a 10’x10’x10’ shed from Lowe’s and then to prepare a site for it, and put it up.  So, if I vanish from site for longer than say, two years, then don’t bother sending a search party.  Just have a rescue squad bring a crane and lift the shed so the coroner can recover my skeleton.  There is sure not to be much of me left! 

I seriously doubt that I will be working on the actual shed today.  Between the hour each way drive to go get it, and the site preparation, I doubt that I will get the box much more than opened.  I also will have to move a trailer, and build a retaining wall next to the driveway. 

I wonder what I did wrong to deserve such? 

In other news, Katrina has got me started on a project for marketing my photo website that requires posting a photo of the day post in the blog.  That required making a separate page for the blog, and set it to filter that category into the page.  Next comes taking the photos.  I know some great photographers out there that take a new photo each day.  I am starting in my old catalogue so I have some to chose from while I build the momentum up. 

Now it is time to get up and get ready to go so I don’t spend my day wasting time when there is so much to be done! 

Ta for now!

Kelsey J Bacon

Today was a good day for me!  But why?  Well, I got up and got to work digging a hole next to the water tap outside by the horses watering trough.  After getting it to three feet, I put in a railroad crosstie in a standing up position right behind the back of the water pipe.  I wanted this in so the pipe won’t pose a trip hazard for the older members of our household, and so I could mount a hose rack in the form of a bucket screwed to the tie.  That went in a treat, then I sorted out another pipe that needed supporting to a pole that it was already next to.  Next I got the old light fixture down under the horses’ feed shelter, and put the new one in a permanent fashion.  Lunch came after that, and then I took the boys out to wash the car that they had spent the morning cleaning the inside of.  After we returned from that, I got to work on the second choice location to put a railroad crosstie in. 

This was not a an easy task in the end!  The location I picked for the second tie was the pipe next to the travel trailer because it gets used for watering the plants in the front, and the trees along the side of the house.  This one gets a lot of use!  I put the shovel in and before very long I hit mud.  As it turned out, the hole I dug filled up with water quite quickly.  I discovered the big mamma of a leak that has had the water meter spinning for the last month or so.  As it turned out, there was a compression fitting under the pipe, just after the T-joint that lead up to the hose fitting.  The next thing on the line is a leaky hose fitting on the other side of the driveway, for watering the middle of the circle drive.  Nothing out there needs watering now as water is so expensive here, and we are not growing more than is needed, such as in that area.  So the goal for now is to leave that one out and just fix the line where the trailer is.  As it turns out, I can cap that off and there is no leak reading on the meter! 

It turns out I am out of primer and glue, so this job will get done tomorrow.  Once it is, we will have finally stopped spending money while we sleep! 

This evening the family took turns playing badminton.  That was a good time for all, but I think the very best part of the day was the lovely cooked dinner that Katrina made for everyone, including pork chops, stuffing, potatoes, and veggies. 

So it was a good day because I got a lot sorted out, and I found a big leak on our lines.  Tomorrow will bring this to resolution, and that is just plain exciting to me! 

It sure is a simple life, isn’t it? 

Still not getting them on the right feet!  I took this while she was asleep the three nights ago!

Having built the ‘round pen’ in the arena, we have now procured a ‘Longeing’ or ‘Lunging’ whip so we can teach those horses some respect.  Now, for any who are not horse savvy, this does not equate to having built a torture chamber in which I am going to whip the horses.  In fact, the end of the whip is never meant to touch the horse.  It makes a sound that gets them moving, and that’s all it’s for. 

Yesterday I spent a good bit of time in the afternoon actually just standing with the horses in the paddock, holding the long red shaft of the whip out between myself and the horses, letting them look it over and get comfortable with it, then swaying it gently back and forth so they could see that it moves.  Next, I dropped the whip end so they could acclimate with the whip’s snake-like appearance.  Finally, I tried touching the shaft to the horses, letting them know what it was something about which they could feel secure, and that it was not going to hurt them.  Patches and Umber are still nervous about it, but I managed to get Precious interested in some hay cubes that I held over the top of the shaft, and with only five cubes, I got her to where I could rub her down all over with the shaft, and not twitch at all.  I’d call that real progress, especially with the one who is usually the most difficult animal to work with! 

I think I may spend time for at least the rest of the week working with getting them all comfortable with the whip’s appearance, and the swinging around involved in making the sounds it makes.  It may take longer, and of course it may step backwards.  But if I can get Patches and Umber as involved with it as Precious is, then I think we will be off to longeing them all, which will make them better and far more attentive riders. 

The idea of longeing seems to be that the trainer stands in the middle of a round pen with the whip in hand, and the horse moves around the outside, following commands given by the sounds of the whip.  The result is that the horse gets exercise, has fun, and learns to be attentive to the commands given by a human.  It is an ideal practice to longe for about ten minutes after saddling up, and before riding, as this will cause the horse to deflate the air in it’s body so the rider can tighten the saddle appropriately.  It seems that every horse knows instinctively how to inflate itself when being saddled so that the straps are not tight enough, and the rider falls off. 

The next step is to return to the paddock, and with bribes at the ready, see if Precious will still allow a rub down with the whip shaft, and if not, work with her till she will.  This will be best accomplished in the afternoon when she is hungry, and will do anything for a hay cube.  Then offer food for rewards with Patches till he will allow the same rub down.  This literally means standing there with the whip extended out below his head, and offering food over the top of it till he will approach.  When he does, gently touching his body with it, where it is in plain sight for him, so he can see and feel that it is okay, and that it is not going to hurt him.  This has do be done till he will allow it all over without any twitching.  I have a secret weapon too.  If he is not responsive to the hay cubes, I can always roll out the sweet oats, which are fare more tempting than a candy bar sized block of grass. 

The long term goal is to get Patches to the point where he will no longer stroll around with his head down looking for a bite to eat when he is being ridden, a bad habit that he has gotten into under the hand of my grandmother’s husband.  For Precious, it is a matter of learning to ride properly in the first place.  Once saddled and mounted, she tends to just stand there and look at her rider’s foot, or she might try to buck, but she gives little attention to commands and does not make for an even slightly enjoyable ride.  Umber seems to have been well trained in the past, so I think at this point it will be about keeping up what she probably already has learnt to do well.  Trouble with Umber is that her size makes her perfect for a young child, though she did pretty good under my 150 pound step-son on that five hour trail ride a week and a half ago.  But she was not keeping up with Patches, whose longer legs allowed him an easier walk over the desert brush.  I weigh in at a tad over 200, so he carries a load just fine! 

This is all new to me, and I have learned everything in the past months since we moved from England.  And what I know so far seems to be like a first step on a thousand mile journey. 

Following are the photos of the Arena before rearranging the fence, then a few after building the round pen. 

This is the feed shelter.  A month’s supply of hay cubes is kept in the large bag at the left, which currently costs just over $150.  The shelter provides shade, and has two catch pens under it.  Umber is kept separate during feeding, or the other horses will bully her away from her food before she finishes as she is a slower eater. 

This view is from the south end of the Arena looking north.  This is about an acre of land, or a bit more, which is far more than enough sand for horses to stand around in, and occasionally run about.  Originally it was set up  for roping, but nobody here does that, so the idea is to arrange it for training the horses, and to give them a paddock appropriate to them. 

This view is also facing north.  The fencing is aluminum, and gets bent when the horses reach out for a bite to eat on the other side.  We need an effective weed abatement program along the road since growing grass in the horses paddock is out of the question due to water costs.

This view from east to west across the narrow width of the arena shows a Ford F-250 at center, to give a little scale. 

Here is the north fence after we pulled it 14 feet from the property line, temporarily giving the horses nothing to reach for, and when something does grow, the fence is supported by eight foot railroad crossties that are buried three feet into the ground.  They are spaced at ten feet apart.  In the future I’d like to get square wire fencing to put on the wood ties and I’d like to have the whole arena surrounded like this.  It would free up the corral fence for use inside!

Beyond the north fence, the fourteen foot section will provide a ride out just as soon as we gate this section off.  Riders will have this option exclusively after we can get a tack barn put in back by the feed shelter.  In the end, I would like road bed put down, and would like to take feed deliveries here too.  It may also allow an access for trailers and the like which need not be parked at the front of the property. 

Here’s a portion of the round pen made from corralling that was removed from the property line.  The looks east by southeast. 

In this view looking north by northeast, the round pen is in full view with the horse paddock beyond it.  Everything to the front of the image has been reclaimed from the arena, and can be used for training or for anything else, such as other animals, or a barn, or whatever.  If you live in the city, this reclaimed section is probably about the size of your house lot. 

We used some spare panels to keep a horse on the center of the driveway circle.  Free feed is always good!