2003? . . .

I guess it's not really 2003, is it? . . . but it sure FEELS like that to me right now. 

2003 is when we bought this house, stripped it down to the studs, moved some walls, added a couple bathrooms and put in all that nice crown molding and door trim pieces.  Now?  Well, David is currently putting down floor tile and ceramic baseboards in Mark's bathroom, while another guy who works for him is re-painting our bedroom -- after David patched up all the holes Joey made in those walls.  In the meantime, Bryan is out working on the barn.  Well, he's not exactly "working" on it today -- probably much to his chagrin -- he's actually cleaning everything up out there (thank you, thank you, thank you, Bryan) since Buddy and Lisa haven't been able to come by here for a couple weeks now and the horses have been locked in the paddocks for an entire week resulting in a SERIOUS mess.   Duke, whose stall NEVER needs cleaned has taken to messing in there just like everyone else after having been locked in there for a day and a half during the storm.  If he quits doing that once the thing has been cleaned out well I will NOT do that to him again.  He does have sense enough to stay inside when it's nasty outside so I think I'll just trust him to do that next time!  (I wouldn't like to be locked in a "safe room" without a toilet for that long either!  Sorry, big guy!)

I hope Buddy and Lisa get back soon but I certainly understand that they are in no shape to be dealing with horse poo!  The outfit they work for has contracts with the power companies who work on restoring power, so last time I heard what they were doing (just BEFORE Isaac hit Louisiana) they were making 15 THOUSAND box lunches to be shipped over to Florida to the folks who were working on restoring power over there.  Since there are still thousands of folks out of power in this state, I'm sure they're still working their butts off.  I hope things slide back to normal soon.  We could all use some rest.

Anyway, today Bryan cleared out all the stalls completely and hauled all the grunge out to the back, as usual.  (He actually got that gate to open!)   Then we went over to Lowes to pick up some gutters for the barn.  But before I bought anything he managed to convince me that we would be a lot better off if he had someone make metal ones to fit the barn instead of buying those vinyl ones.  First of all, in the end they should be far less expensive.  And once they're installed they should last a lot longer than Mark and I will - unlike the vinyl ones that he said would eventually get brittle and break after being in the sun for a few years. 

Bryan's regular job is working for a company that builds huge metal buildings - businesses usually.  Anyway, tomorrow he's going to check with his boss and see who their company gets the gutters from.  Then he's going to give them a call and tell them what I need and then they should be ready to pick up in just a few days so he will be able to install them next weekend.  Great! 

I finally let all the critters out of their paddocks today.  They needed to go out so the barn could be cleaned up!  But they were all thrilled.  It's been an entire week since they've been out in the pasture -- they were completely ecstatic.  Those huge trees are still laying back there, but that doesn't really bother them . . . OR me at this point.  That's the least of our problems.

Definitely impressive though.

Oh - I made a run early this morning to pick up another 10 sheets of plywood for Bryan to use for the ceilings in the tack room, so while I was there I also got a couple dozen stepping stones.  So now I can actually go out to the barn WITHOUT knee-high boots.  LOVE IT!

See where there are two stepping stones -- if  I step on the ground right
there in ankle-high boots, the water runs clear over the tops!  Yuk!

Oh - while they were painting the bedroom today, of course the dogs had to be outside.  I thought Joey could be in his crate, but he absolutely refused to shut up so -- outside it was.  So I arranged a bunch of furniture around the bed out there to keep them off since it has no protective bedding on it right now -- just a thin plastic zipper cover that I used to protect it from the rain during Isaac.  The thing IS waterproof but it's very, VERY thin.  So I just wanted to keep the dogs off of there for now.

I really thought that arrangement would work.  But I looked at it a few minutes ago and, hmmm . . .

Footprints.  But given the size, I think it must have been Boo and not  Rocky or Joe  who got up there, so I guess the answer is just NOT letting Boo outside for longer than five minutes. He was obviously able to just jump OVER that table to get up there.

Oh, and another thing.  For some reason, both guys -- Duke and Arthur -- were wandering around all afternoon today with their "equipment" hanging out!  WHY????

And in all the time I watched them, neither one went to the bathroom -- they were just grazing.  Odd.  Very odd.  Apparently Lizzie thought so too, because she wasn't hanging out with them like she usually does.  She left them both alone and went to graze on the other end of the pasture!

Can't blame her.  What a couple of bozos!

Well, time to go make myself some dinner.  Hope everyone else is doing well.  The radar looked like Isaac had reached Ohio earlier today.  Wonder if it's pouring down rain up there right now?