New grinder...

I chickened out on buying the same grinder that didn't work the first time.  So, Penny and Meghan went to Menards, yesterday, and I just requested they pick out something similarly priced to the other one.  I now I have a Masterforce (sounds impressive) grinder.

As soon as I drink ONE MORE cup of coffee, I am going to go test that puppy out.  

Also, ordered LOTS of plywood from Himple, yesterday, so hopefully I can spend this lovely Christmas Eve and Day sanding and lining the stalls.

T - 5 days until the new horses get here.  It's been so long since they were purchased and the shipping has been such a cluster I've almost lost all excitement about them.  I think it's coming back, though!

Curses!!!

Went out, yesterday, to get my angle grinding on and sand the stalls.  First, that thing is heavy and I'm going to have Madonna arms before I'm done with this project.

Second, I COULDN'T GET THE DISK OFF!!!  I really feel like I'm not THAT dumb that I couldn't read directions and change the first disk off after sanding for a while.  Nope, tried for ages to get it off.  Could not.  (had tantrum in process, good thing no one was around to witness it)

Brought it to Cottin's Hardware this morning to verify that I'm 1.) a pussy who didn't turn the wrench hard enough 2.) stupid 3.) got a faulty grinder.

Turns out it was #3.  Which, is a relief (I guess), but who gets a BUNK tool that breaks the first time you use it?!

Me.

The spindle button thing was apparently not functioning correctly and not holding the wheel solid enough to turn the wrench and get it off.  So, back to Amazon it goes.

But, now I'm a little scared to get the same one.  Hmmm....

"I even bought the more expensive angle grinder... sob."

Gettin' my grind on...

I have four more days of my commuting job to make it through, then essentially, two weeks off with a random of assortment of cleaning jobs, housekeeping tasks in the office, and just two days with patients until after the New Year.

Uncle Phil came to visit and took a look at the stalls we bought that need some refurbishing.  After learning I was sanding with a hand sander and various grits of paper, he recommended an angle grinder, so I didn't go nuts and spend a thousand hours on it.

So, using my tits new Amazon Prime account, I ordered this puppy:

Porter-Cable 7-amp. 4 1/4 inch Angle Grinder/Cut-off Tool

I also ordered 3 packages of extra grinding wheels, as Phil thought I would smoke through them pretty fast.

This fun thing should be here Tuesday, and I am psyched to get started on sanding the stalls. I think we are going to sand and refinish the bars, fronts, pretty much anything that is rough and could poke an eye out. Then, since the inner walls are metal, but in a bit of rough shape, smooth those down without spending forever on them, and then re-line with plywood. And of course, repaint and add new hardware like the door latches, blanket bar, halter hook, etc.

I will try and take lots of pictures, to see how well this actually works out, vs. what I am picturing in my mind's eye. But, they have to be better than this green hideousness...

Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade

Decided to do something fun and "seasonal" instead of spending all day sanding the stalls (which I did the next day, and it sucks).

Only horses and wood wheeled carriages allowed!!!  I only took a few pictures, because the parade is really quite lengthy.  I think it took an hour or more!  Anyway.  Borrowed Brendan's truck and parked it downtown early in the morning.  Penny and I bummed around for a couple hours waiting for the start, then sat in the back of the truck and enjoyed the show.

Whoa!

On this shittiest (of weather) weekends-a miracle!!!  Three hideously ugly stalls purchased on Craigslist were delivered bright and early this morning.  7:30, wtf?  I get up early, but who can you ask for help at that hour on Saturday?  Well, our heroes from McLaughlin Fence brought out their bobcat and not only unloaded, but put together our stalls.  All I have to say is xoxoxoxoxoxo!!!!!!  

We are going to sand/repaint, and pretty-up these puppies.  But, bottom line is we have three HEAVY DUTY stalls that will contain our new arrivals if they come off the trailer hot messes (and/or during inclimate weather).

Hooray.  One worry off my mind.

All quiet, to all crazy...

There was a bit of a lull around here for, you know, a few weeks.  But, lots happening now!  We (I?) bought two new horses in one of those "too good of deal to pass up" moments.

The farm that Penny and I have LOVED for years (Solomon Farm in South Dakota), has an annual online auction.  We ALMOST bought a horse from them the fall before we bought Cachet in January of 2014.  It's a move we have regretted at times, seeing as how Cachet was a semi-feral/social-retard/hard-to-start baby.

Obviously, in years prior we really have not been in any position to get any horses and CERTAINLY not more than one, once Little G was purchased and being boarded.  Now, with the farm we eagerly anticipated the fall auction and what stock would be available and just maybe, in our price range.

Our "short list" was about 10 horses.  The auction runs for two weeks, and during that time Penny and I narrowed, debated, and changed our minds multiple times on which ones we wanted to bid on.  Some of our favorites were, unfortunately, in bid categories that were automatically out of our price range.  Category A was for reserves UP to 4,500.  That pretty much narrowed our list down, as anything NOT in Category A was too much!

Interestingly, the mare we thought about getting before we bought Cachet was available again this year, after being a broodmare and recently having her foal weaned.  The horse, Driving Miss Daisy, we have talked about multiple times over the last couple of years as perhaps an opportunity that we missed.  Thus, we have said many times lets get "this years Daisy."  

Another one we liked is a 2 year old, that, being the fan girl I am about Solomon horses, have loved since he was born.  A giant orange dork of a horse named Julius.

There were a couple of ponies that mom and I liked, as well, but towards the end of the auction, went over our mental "price range", or, were never in the cheap category to begin with.

So, here is how I "accidentally" got 2 horses.

First, I bid on Julius at the start of the auction.  $1,000.  Just for shits and giggles.  About midway though, someone bid $1,500.  Meh, whatever, I figured I would get outbid on him.

Daisy shows up on the auction list a couple days before the auction ends.  She was NOT on the early list, and it was a good laugh to see her listed, as instead of getting "this years Daisy", we could actually bid on the girl herself.

I put a bid in on Daisy that was low-ball, but not ridiculous.  It said "Reserve Not Met."  :-(

Brendan came over with some craft beer and made me sit and talk and drink it.  I was feeling pretty good.  I never drink "real" beer.  Miller Light these days about kills me, so this was just too much.  MAYBE I was a little buzzed....

So, after Brendan left, in the last few minutes of the auction, I bid on Julius again.  (Just for fun!)...Reserve Not Met.  Okay... ONE more bid...  Reserve Met.......  WHAT?!?!?!  Freak out!!!  Very exciting and ridiculous price!  Great!  .

When the auction ended, I was the highest bidder on Daisy, but the reserve wasn't met.  What happens a few minutes after the auction ends?  It tells me I won BOTH Julius AND Daisy.  Tee-hee-hee.  Whoops!

But really, great prospects at an amazing prize?  It's pretty much what we need in order to get some horses training and ready for sale in the next year.  I am VERY excited.

That being said... we are working on ANOTHER turnout, behind the barn.  This time, with Electrobraid.  Brendan came out and dug the holes for the corner and gate posts.  Then, a few days ago, we set them together in concrete.  I worked on setting some t-posts on Sunday, before I ran out of time and strength.  That job sucks.

We also found some stalls on Craigslist that are a good deal, but weigh A TON!  We initially said "no" to them, because they told us we needed a one ton truck + flatbed to come get them.  Sorry, we don't have that laying around!  They eventually said they would deliver them for a little extra.  BUT, we found out, yesterday that the "only" time they can deliver them is 7:30 (AM!!!) on Saturday.  And, of course, we need "4-5 strong guys" to unload them.  Um, I have friends, but 7:30 on a Saturday, after a holiday is ridiculous.

So, we have no idea what to do about that.

And the horses are getting picked up Saturday in South Dakota, and will be here Saturday night (delivery in the dark, yay!!!), or Sunday morning.

I could feel a little overwhelmed if I thought about it......

Wow!

Second side of the driveway/riding area fencing is done!!!

When we do the back of the property, it's time for Electrobraid, because the Ramm fence was WAY MORE involved than we expected!  :-O

In a lull....

The posts are in and painted, but Scott hasn't been available to hang the fence, so unfortunately not too much happening right now.

We DID have a wonderful neighbor stop by to look at the (non working) electric in the barn, and he totally fixed it and had some good information and advice for future planning/building plans, ie, what we will need when we're really running full lights to all the stalls, and a hot water heater for the wash rack, etc.  He would NOT accept payment, which was a total bonus, and he let us know he would be available for future projects/help.  NICE!!!

I have been working on getting up all the clay clumps that fell off the auger when they drilled the post holes in the arena area.  They are all over the field and are ankle rolling awful things.  It's wretched; back-breaking and tedious.  BUT, since I'm not getting any base or footing this year, that area needs to be as smooth and manicured as possible.  I will hand groom that acre if I have to, and hopefully complete it this weekend.  Also, I need to climb the rafters in the barn or get a ladder up somehow and get light bulbs that work in, so after Daylight Savings Time, I can groom in there, and we will have light for building projects... stalls?  tack room?  We'll figure it out!

Fencing: Doing it right the first time.

Work began today on the north part of the driveway.  Aka, the dressage arena, hacking track, jump field.  You know, use your imagination!  It'll get there.  But, the gorgeous FENCING is going in!!!  Done correctly from the beginning, by McLaughlin Fencing.  I cannot <3 more.

Ramm Fence - How it is delivered

Shed Completion!

I know I'm partial, but I really do think this is most well constructed, beautiful shed ever built.  Saying it's a shed doesn't even do it justice.  All credit really goes to Keith for design and building.  And lots of thanks to Meghan for helping purchase supplies and being a helpful assistant.  :-)  I think I did okay with helping and clean-up and buying beer and powerade!

I still have to paint the trim black, so it totally matches the fencing and color scheme of the farm.  But, some pictures of it's beauty.  

Shed building weekend...

Rented an auger, yesterday.  Had lumber delivered.  Keith came over.  And thus shed building weekend commenced.

Today is the day!

Scott (McLaughlin Fence) is coming out to finish the fence today! The delay is through no fault of his own.  We had to order more tensioners, in order to not put too much pressure on our posts that were done wrong the first time around.  Cause pulling ALL of them up, not just the corners/ends, would have been insanely expensive.  Also, more screw plates, and other stuff I don't know or care about.  AND, the 660' rolls we ordered were ALL 5' short, so Scott spoke to the company multiple times and had them send us a 330' roll on the FREE.  Which, obviously they needed to make that right, but I still think if Penny and I had called them, it would not have ended that way.  (because I wold have been emotional and bitchy and they would have said we measured wrong and I would have caved.)  So, instead of the fence being spliced right up by the barn,we have some leeway for him to splice it way back.  The gates are going to get hung today, as well, so that's super awesome.

So, now we are just waiting to see what the bid is on the shed.  Scott recommended someone he knows, who came out last Saturday to see what we wanted.  He told me Thursday that he was waiting on a materials quote, but that he was at $1200 for labor.  I guess I feel like this is a bit high, but am going to wait and see what materials end up being, and if he is negotiable on the labor.  We'll see.  I'm more inclined to just do it than Penny, but that is also because if I have to pay another month of board I will kill myself.

Also, we are going to get a bid on Scott's labor for putting posts in and hanging fence on the other side of the driveway, aka, my arena.  I think I have convinced Penny we should do it right away, even though we'll be broke balls after that.  BUT, I am willing (ha ha, like I have a choice), to not get ANY arena base this year, if we can get that other field done.  Because, it's really the only good spot to do any kind of lunging, hacking, whatever I can manage this winter.  It's compromise-ish.

Dog sitting Elwood and Walter this weekend, as well.  When Walter isn't barking, pissing on everything, licking his nuts, or getting stuck under the back porch, it's really nice having them around.

(one second out of 24 hours in which they look cute and well behaved!)

Work begins

Penny said he was able to pull the posts out by hand (that weren't cemented), and that they weren't even tamped in correctly.  Awesome.  Glad a professional is here to $ave the day.

Oh man, oh man, oh man!!!

Fence guy is coming tomorrow!!!  I have no idea if it will take 1 day or 10, but the posts are getting fixed and the fence is going up.  Finally!!!   aldkjfaldjflajdflajdlfjal  YAY!!!!

Da dee dah....

The fence guy should be available this week!  Super duper hoping he comes out, like, TODAY, but we'll see.

Waiting...

We had a professional out to look at our posts.  Turns out everything that has been cemented was done wrong, so in order for it to actually hold the fence and not look like saggy jeans in two seconds, all the corners and ends need to be ripped out and re-done.  In addition, some posts in a low spot will also get pulled up.  Everything will be (re) cemented correctly, and he will put up the fence, gates, etc.  This is a massive downer from the perspective of 1.) money 2.) time lost.  But, I guess this is the learning curve of having a farm we've been hearing about.  It sucks!  The farm in WI had all the fencing done, so we haven't been though this, before.  That being said, I am VERY excited to see it done correctly and have the peace of mind that it will look gorgeous and last "forever."

The cement people are also out, today.  Which is good, because they cashed our check 5 weeks ago, and I've been about to lose my shit waiting to see something done.  Penny went out and asked them if they would lay the pad for the tack room today, in addition to the aisleway.  They said sure, and that is AWESOME, because at this point, I really feel like having some "instant" gratification will really go a long way towards feeling like we are getting somewhere.

Penny refuses to go take pictures of them working, so here is the truck in the driveway.  :-)

Fencing, continued...

So, all the posts for the first field are in.  BUT, the corner bracing was done wrong, which was hugely disappointing.  We took down the stuff that was done wrong, and I guess I will 1.) try and figure out how to do it myself, or 2.) see if a professional fencing place can help us.

But, on a positive note.  The actual FENCE came today!!! This is exciting, even though we have no idea how to install it!!!  I also finished painting all the posts that are in.  So, it was a productive day.