It was 2 years ago this October when we broke ground for our horse barn! We had a wonderful barn raising event and invited family and a few friends to help us get started. They did a GREAT job and got us well on our way by getting most of the framing completed.
Since then it has been a work in progress as Grady and I, and occasional help from our wonderful neighbor, slowly find time to work on it. With a long, sick pregnancy and now the busy days of parenting a baby, I realized that my desire for a finished barn wasn't going to happen instantly! So, we've set small goals. Last winter the goal was to get it enclosed before the storms of last winter began. We made it!! This year my goal was to get lights before this winter's daylight savings time change. We DID it!!
Last weeekend grandma volunteered to spend two full afternoons playing with Cody so Grady and I could get busy wiring. It felt so good to be able to DO something again. Last fall, needless to say, I wasn't too helpful in my last trimester of pregnancy! Our tractor bucket made for excellent scaffolding so Grady drove me around and despite my fear of heights I wired away! Thanks to my friend Mark who taught me so much about barn building and wiring! Grady worked on the wiring he could get from the ground and in 2 days we had LIGHT!
Some day we will get our soffits in, finish off the trim, and build stalls, but for now I'm happy with LIGHT!!! The days of walking around with a flashlight in the COLD winter are gone!
Fall is a beautiful time of year around here so I will share with you a "Few Fun Photos from Fall on the Farm." Try saying that 5 times fast!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Does anybody know where last month went?
My goodness, this last month flew by! I feel like it was just yesterday that I posted Cody's nine month pictures. A few days ago (like 2 days before Cody's 10 month) someone asked Grady and I how old he was and I quickly answered "9 months" while at the same time Grady answered "10 months." It hadn't dawned on me that he was MUCH closer to 10 months than 9! I can't keep up! In the spirit of the fall hunting season, you'll find Cody's 10 month pictures posted below.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Competitive Mounted Orienteering
Competitive Mounted Orienteering! Does anybody have a clue what it is? I didn't either until we participated this weekend.
If I told you it basically involves riding horses in the middle of the forest searching for paper plates, would you think I'm nuts? Sound crazy? fun? adventurous? complicated? I suppose it is all of the above.
If you guessed it might involve compasses you are right! Unfortunately, even in this high techie world a GPS isn't allowed. Bummer.
Anyway, when we found out it was basically a scavenger hunt on horseback Grady and I thought it might be fun to try it out. We'd done it on a motorcycle throughout the state of Utah, so why not on a horse in the middle of a southern MN forest?
Here's how it works. The organization managers select a location and set up the course throughout the trail system using paper plates as markers. We were given clues for 10 separate plates and by using a map, our compasses and our trusty horses, we set out to find the hidden plates. Each marker had 2 clues...something like this: "A stump chair covered in moss" and "A tarzan vine hanging partly over the trail" Behind each clue it gave a number of degrees for the compass reading. Once the clues were located we each would set out from our clue in the direction of our compass reading and hopefully if we 'triangulated' correctly our paths would meet in the near vicinity of the plate. Fortunately, the ride managers were kind for this particular event as there weren't any plates suspended 40 feet in the air or hidden from sight. However, sometimes the woods were thick enough you had to leave your horse behind, other times we could ride right up to the marker.
The courses are usually designed to be somewhere around 10-12 miles and to be truly competitive in this sport you basically have to run your horse for the entire length of the course. Grady and I had already predetermined we weren't about to be competitive time wise. We just wanted to try something new, enjoy the ride and see if we could find all of the clues. I think our horses were quite thankful we were just out to have fun as it was a very warm October day and the trails were quite steep. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather and such a gorgeous setting. It was a memorable way to celebrate our 5th anniversary.
If I told you it basically involves riding horses in the middle of the forest searching for paper plates, would you think I'm nuts? Sound crazy? fun? adventurous? complicated? I suppose it is all of the above.
If you guessed it might involve compasses you are right! Unfortunately, even in this high techie world a GPS isn't allowed. Bummer.
Anyway, when we found out it was basically a scavenger hunt on horseback Grady and I thought it might be fun to try it out. We'd done it on a motorcycle throughout the state of Utah, so why not on a horse in the middle of a southern MN forest?
Here's how it works. The organization managers select a location and set up the course throughout the trail system using paper plates as markers. We were given clues for 10 separate plates and by using a map, our compasses and our trusty horses, we set out to find the hidden plates. Each marker had 2 clues...something like this: "A stump chair covered in moss" and "A tarzan vine hanging partly over the trail" Behind each clue it gave a number of degrees for the compass reading. Once the clues were located we each would set out from our clue in the direction of our compass reading and hopefully if we 'triangulated' correctly our paths would meet in the near vicinity of the plate. Fortunately, the ride managers were kind for this particular event as there weren't any plates suspended 40 feet in the air or hidden from sight. However, sometimes the woods were thick enough you had to leave your horse behind, other times we could ride right up to the marker.
The courses are usually designed to be somewhere around 10-12 miles and to be truly competitive in this sport you basically have to run your horse for the entire length of the course. Grady and I had already predetermined we weren't about to be competitive time wise. We just wanted to try something new, enjoy the ride and see if we could find all of the clues. I think our horses were quite thankful we were just out to have fun as it was a very warm October day and the trails were quite steep. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather and such a gorgeous setting. It was a memorable way to celebrate our 5th anniversary.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!!
Ok, so no bears, but definitely lions and tigers!
I recently made a trip to the Zoo with a couple former college roommates with whom I continue to remain good friends. I just wish we lived closer to each other so we could have such fun occasions more often! It was yet another beautiful fall day so after a great lunch at Panera Bread (YUM, I love Panera) we loaded the kiddos into the cars and headed off to the zoo. I tried to imagine the 3 of us in college running off to the zoo for a cheap day of fun...fast forward 10 plus years (I'm not telling you exactly how many ;) ) and now were all pushing strollers.
Watching the critters (yes, I'm actually talking about the animals...not the children) was enjoyable, but I think it was more fun to watch the kids watch the critters. Although, if given the option, I think all 3 of us would have stuck around the primates much longer and watched the adorable little baby orangutan with it's wild hair and cute little face (I tried to get some pics of the baby but it was pretty hard in a dark room and through glass). A couple of the adult orangutans were quite entertaining as well with their blankeys they toted around. One played a little game of peek-a-boo with Cody that got him giggling pretty good.
All around the park there were little statues of the animals marked 'Do Not Climb'. Let's just say it was rather evident this sign was ignored more than once. I'm certain us crazy college kids had fun climbing and posing on these statues. This time, it was the kiddos. How can you say no, when it made for such cute pics? LOL. Besides, the sign also read 'For Your Safety'...so I guess you could interpret that to say, 'if you climb just make sure you stay safe' OR 'please don't sue us if your kid gets hurt attempting to climb'. In today's society perhaps the latter is correct.
Anyway, we had a fun day and safe day...even surrounded by the Lions and Tigers and no Bears, Oh My!
Zoo pics
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