After carefully evaluating the situation with the shed on the north property line, and discussions with Deena, they realize horses have a future here. Just as soon as Cindy and Bev can get the barn ready, they’ll have two foster horses.

Time to get to work…

They’ve got “heavy metal” to move, tons of tumbleweed to liberate, and at least a foot or more of sand to dig out. That doesn’t count the petrified cow manure that will remain… need a jackhammer to bust that out.

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Deena agrees to help with the corral. Her father-in-law has a bunch of railroad ties that he’ll let them have and if they’ll help clean up his place, they can have all the old fencing. They’ll tack that up to help secure the corral.

With Deena (and Chase) on the tractor with the big auger, they dig post holes, set the posts and make a corral.

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Thankfully, both Cindy and Bev are pretty handy with hammers and saws. Soon they have both a combined feed and tack area as well as a nice big stall for the horses, as well as a secure corral.

Now, while they’re out there working, another neighbor happens by… Dixie. She lives “over there”, smack in the middle of “mile square”. During the course of the conversation, she mentions she has sheep, as well as horses, and is currently helping out with lambing season at a nearby sheep ranch.

Cindy, in a moment of exuberance, says… “Oh, a lamb, I’d love to have a lamb”.

Well, not a half-hour passes and here comes Dixie with a 3-day-old “bummer”.

Aye-yi-yi… be careful what you wish for, the horse stable isn’t quite finished and now we have a lamb, too. Where we gonna put it? It’s too little to live outside. Besides, it has to be fed every few hours.

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“Oh, Maw-w-wm! We’ve got just the thing for you. We’ll feed him, if you’ll love him.

And so, Taco became a “house pet”. Mom even wraps him in a towel, puts him in her bed and sleeps with him for the first week of his life. After that, he learns to sleep in a dog kennel in the hallway.

It takes about a week to get him to sleep clear through the night, taking his bottle in the morning and then a couple times during the day, and finally just before bed time.

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Luckily, the dogs get along well with him. Koda is just sure he’s her new personal play toy.

Little do the dogs know what’s coming…

Stumble it!

One Response to “The “low priority” shed becomes “high priority””

  1. Michelle Rothwell Says:
    January 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Of course you have to have animals! What were you thinking with all that land you were just going to watch the prairie dogs run? Plus no farm is complete without animals. It just isn’t a true farm otherwise.

    My husband and I did our first hobbie farm with approximately four acres. We had two horses, some dogs and mice killers. What we did for our fencing was a high tinsel wire fence that was electrified. Some people think that’s mean and cruel. Well horses don’t like to get hurt so it only takes a couple zaps for them to learn their boundaries. The great part about that kind of fence is the horses can hear the snap, crackle and pop of the wires. That’s enough to keep them away.

    We just moved onto a 22 acre spot that is virginal. Nothing has ever been on this land so we are starting from scratch. I am looking forward to having more time this summer as I will be firing one of my bosses. I was able to get hooked up with BookWise and that is giving me the opportunity to fire one boss this year and one next year. Then bring on the animals!

    Michelle Rothwell, Founder
    Bookworms United
    http://www.bookwormsunited.com
    An Independent BookWise Associate #108871

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