Tidy barn . . .

I have a magnet on the fridge that says "Messy house - spotless barn --- where's the problem?"   Well that's certainly true at the moment.   The house is a mess (again), but the barn is looking really good.

I left work early yesterday (it's been a while since THAT happened!) and started cleaning up the barn as soon as I got home.  Amazingly, I was just about done by 8:30 when Mark had dinner ready.  And tonight it's pretty much done.  It's still pretty cluttered looking because we can't put up the wall mount stuff just yet.  But at least all the stuff isn't covered with dust any longer!

In the process of cleaning things up, I also found all KINDS of tools and things stashed on shelves in there that Mark has no doubt been missing! (Unfortunately, neither of us is very organized!) So our next clean-up project will probably be the garage, followed by (gulp) the storage building in back. For THAT we will need one of those giant dumpsters and a LOT of help, probably from Buddy and Lisa. What with one thing or another (Mark's heart caths, my trip to Ohio, Hercules' change of schedules restricting Mark's time off to only a week at a time in May) that will no doubt have to wait until at least June. I just hope it isn't hotter than h - - - by the time we get to that! Now is SUCH a great time to deal with stuff outside. It's just a BIT chilly so when you're working you're completely comfy. Well, I guess we'll deal with the garage soon, and just hope for the best when we get to that back building. 

So here's the whole barn layout to date:

It's a very strange layout for a barn, actually -- no big center hallway like a "normal" barn -- but it works really well for us. And I love that it looks like a small house from the road. (I'm sure the neighbors prefer that, too!)

This is the closed-in end of the tack room where the saddles and things are going to be stored eventually.  (All that stuff on the chair and on top of that storage box behind it are Mark's tools and things that are still out there - and he had taken a whole big bucket full over to the garage already.)

By the time I finished, I had located more brushes and combs and grooming things than I even knew I had! 

Here's the other end of that front tack room where all the windows and doors are. 

Mark helped move all the heavy stuff, then while I was "organizing," he put my dry erase board there on the wall above those shelves on the right above.  We've had it sitting around for ages. Nice. Maybe now it'll help me remember a little more easily things like when I need to give them their wormers and psyllium etc.

The back of it is one of those French memo boards where you can pull out the elastic ribbons and stick photos (or vet visit receipts) behind them.  I got some hinged clamps online so that although only one side is visible, the other is accessible by just swinging it "open." (Since it's in a room that should be a lot less dusty now, I think I may turn it over so the black side is out so I can post pictures on there.)

I moved the feed supplies into the inside room (now feed room) next to the door that goes into the stalls, so that from now on any feed that ends up on the floor shouldn't attract flies or mice or whatever into that front storage area where the saddles and saddle pads and blankets and, well . . . ALL that stuff will be stored. And because all the tack will be kept in that front room, we plan to set up a mounting space just outside the front door of the barn, rather than on the side porch as we HAD been going to do.

And this is that center "feed room."  It has no windows - 
just doors onto the side porch and into the stalls.

The only bad thing about that clean-up project is that I ended up with a sinus infections this morning.  I REALLY need to remember to put on one of those dust masks when I sweep out there -- or when I brush a really grubby horse, for that matter.  But I felt so GOOD at the time seeing everything fall into place that I didn't even think about it. 

And the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS this week.  As the note from the TV station to my e-mail says:

Our incredibly pleasant and cool April weather continues for one more day - after starting off this morning with an "official" low of 44 degrees, (that, by the way, sets a new record low) we'll enjoy another spring afternoon with temperatures a bit cooler than normal. However, this little cold "snap" will end up being just that, a "snap" because tomorrow morning, we'll be some ten degrees warmer than today ... by Thursday morning, a full 20 degrees warmer than today! Joining the metro area in the record book, includes (but not limited to) Slidell, Gulfport, McComb (39 degrees!) and Pascagoula! Under sunny skies this afternoon, enjoy light southerly winds, a high in the mid 70s - but very quickly we return to highs in the mid/upper 80s, as ridging aloft takes place and active frontal systems stay, basically, to the north of our viewing area! Overall, expect a bit more humidity, stronger southerly winds (especially tomorrow and Thursday) with no mention of rain until the Sunday/Monday time frame ... and even then, it's only a 20% chance.

So we plan to make the best of the wonderful weather this week because I'm sure it's NOT going to last all that long!  Before long it's going to be hot, hot, hot I'm sure.

Well, we have to be at the hospital for Mark's second stent bright and early tomorrow so -- time  for bed.   

Later . . .