Pause

I (most of us actually) need to pause, slow down, and take time off.  When our days are so full, and we are running from one activity to another, sometimes we miss opportunities or don’t stop to take time that’s important, like chatting with my neighbor when he comes out to the end of the drive to say hello to my dog.  If I’m running late for work, I have to kind of rush by him.  I should allow time, or make time to visit. 
It is good to sit out at Wildwood Stables to chat with the boarders or workers, just to catch up with their life while pausing mine for a minute.

We need to stop, take time to call our loved ones and let them know we’re thinking about them.  We need to pause and reflect on life and stop and enjoy life; smell the roses so to speak, see the birds, feel the breeze, watch a caterpillar crawling up a leaf, etc.
I received several wonderful hugs, cards, and notes, from family and friends, giving me their condolences about Mom's passing.  I am so thankful people paused to say sorry and listen to me tell them about my Mom.

Saturday 9/11 -  This will always be a date for Americans to pause, remember, and salute our heroes; the workers, volunteers, and service members who work to make our lives safer and better.

 




I worked at the pool from 9:15 to 12:15.  Mike came in early for me, so I could get to the ranch to help with fencing.  I made a quick stop at the barn to check on Amiga.  She had a big knot in her neck muscle where she had gotten the shot, so I gave her a Prevocox.

By the time I arrive at the ranch, all fence work had come to a halt.  But they had made great progress.  This photo was taken later in the day, which shows how far they got.  The bags of cement are covered to keep the wet dew off of them. 

Patty, Karen, and Carol soon arrived to do some work and later join us for a little cook out.  We also wanted to test the oven and gas range.  I was working down in the barn on the shavings bin when Carol came down with the cross made of horse shoes that has always hung in her barn.  I was trying out different locations on the wall for it.  I am standing in the tackroom doorway. 





Joe helped me drill up boards for both sides of the bin.  I also convinced him it would be a lot easier to buy three 4x8's for the floor and back wall.  Karen came down and helped me move some dirt out from under the pallets to get them to sit more level on the ground. 

Shirley wasn't feeling well, so dropped off a bunch of food she was planning to bring for our evening meal. 

We got the fire going, cooked up some stuff in the kitchen, and enjoyed our dinner.

This is Maggie's new friend, Jack and Mary's dog, Tito.  He really enjoyed playing with Maggie.  She was a little more reserve (video).   

It was nice sitting around the fire talking, joking, enjoying libations, and soaking in the smell of smoke and the glow of the flames.  

Karen left to get home to care for her cats (mine would have to wait) and Jack and Mary and their friends Lori and Eric arrived along with Tito.

We convened around this wonderful kitchen island to eat desert Karen had brought from the Custard Cabin.

The party wound down about 9pm and Maggie, Joe and I all crashed into bed soon after we got home.

Sunday 9/12 - Today was Ava's five month birthday.  I can't believe how much she has grown and really need to pause my super busy life and go visit her.

Patty, Joe and I were at the ranch shortly after 8:30, and started right in on putting in fence posts. 

 





We were working on the back side of the dam so kept hitting lots of brick and rock that they must have built the dam with.  Some holes we could not get very deep because the auger kept jamming up.  We put concrete around all of the posts to help hold them in place.

Off in the distance Patty is filling containers with water to haul back to our holes to set up the concrete.  Can you see who is keeping a close eye on her?  Also notice that the fence is not flawless.  Some of our 16 foot boards got warped and not all our measurements were perfect, nor was the ground completely level, so there is kind of a wavy look to it.  It gives it character.  LOL
 



Maggie spent time exploring in the field but mostly kept a close eye on us. 












We quit fence building to have a late lunch.  Joe and Patty headed home to watch football and I headed to work at the pool.  It was a moderately busy shift.  The cold nights (down into the 50s) have really dropped the water temperature and the days have only been in the mid 70s.

By the time I got home, I was ready to call it a day.

Monday 9/13 - Later in the day, Patty reminded me that it was Babe and Ellie's 2nd birthday.  Babe is the black one in this two year old photo and Ellie is one of the three gray ones.  Below, the two of them were together during the weaning process, while their three brothers had already been separated from Mama Styx.  





 
I was up at 2am and unable to get back to sleep, as has been the case most nights recently.  I just have way too much on my mind with getting the ranch ready for horses and the house out there set up for upcoming guests. 

This morning I did not have the pleasure of enjoying my hot tea because I was doing an overnight fasting for blood workup.  I planned to get there before 7am and be the first in line, but ended up napping for an hour and not waking until 7:00.  This caused me to be sixth in line and have a 45 minute wait. 

When I arrived at the ranch, Joe and Patty were already drilling holes and screwing up fence rail on the poles we had cemented the day before.  I made a small batch of cement and put it around our lowest fence post where the spillway is usually wet.

 

This was taken later in the day, but shows all the rails (seven sections) Joe and Patty had put up.  You can also see the four new posts we had cemented in that need to set up overnight before having rails attached.

Jack and Mary arrived to help until lunch time, and the process and progress really sped up.  Patty and I continued setting posts in cement, getting them lined up first and Jack and Mary helped Joe with the other end of the fence line.

The Stepp of Faith tree trimming team service arrived and started working, and fairly soon we finished up out in the field with what fencing we would get done.

Jack, Mary, and Tito.  What great help they were.

 

The two ends of our fence line were nearly joined in the middle, as we worked from both directions. 

While we had been working on fence, this father and two sons team had been trimming branches off of our trees.  By the end of the day they had tidyed up eight trees and totally cut down another one.  Unfortunately, there was one last very large one that was too dead to save, and they would tackle cutting it down in a few weeks.  Here are photos of their work.

After our lunch break, we started the work of cleaning all the tree trimmings out of the yard.  When they cut down big branches (video 1) and (video 2), we stayed out of the way.  As they worked their way around the yard, we used the tractor to haul large limbs to three different piles and the trailer to take all the brush to the burn pile. 

I worked down at the burn pile part of the time, feeding branches into it as it burned down.  While waiting on the fire, I watered and weeded planters Terry had left.  These violas are re-growing. 












Taking a much needed break (a pause in the action) and yes, the rock porch might be hard, but it felt so good to lay down.

By quitting time, we could see progress in the yard, but there was still tons of brush to clean up.



Joe and Patty had headed home before I did.  I know I need to stop sooner, but I just want to get things done. 



In this photo, the wood fence actually looks done, but there was still more to do.  I was definitely getting tired of this project. 

I dropped in on Amiga on the way home.  Thankfully the swelling from her shot had gone down.  

Tuesday 9/14 - It was another night of getting up around 2am and then taking an hour nap before sunrise.  So I was short on sleep again.  I worked a three hour morning shift at the pool and then hurried out to the ranch.  In this photo, I was following Patty out to the fence line, me on the riding mower pulling the wagon and she in the UTV.  She was going much faster than I could get my mower to go, and Maggie was keeping up with her.

We had four more fence posts (seen finished in this photo) to drill with the tractor auger and put in.  The one to the right of the round post at the 130° corner needed to be cemented in. 

While I cemented, Joe and Patty put up a few more fence rails.  We were getting so close to being finished.  Mentally and physically I think we were all done with working on this project.



I helped hold and move boards while Joe sawed off ends and Patty drilled pilot holes. 






Here is the last stack of rail boards (18, well we were short four, which Joe later bought) to be put up the following day after the cement set up. 

I went along the fence line, tamping in dirt that had been piled around the posts and collecting excess clay in the wagon behind the mower.  I also was gathering up bricks and rocks that had come up from the holes we drilled along the dam.  I took the clay to fill in the two holes (piss pits as some of us call them) in what will be Amiga's and Zorro's loafing shed.  Then I used the wagon to pick up leaf and stick piles Patty had raked.

 

The daylight was waning, I was exhausted, and Joe and Patty were long gone.  I had tended to the fire one last time before heading home.

I think Maggie was as exhausted as I was.  We had our supper out at the ranch, so at least I didn't have to deal with that once home.  

Wednesday 9/15 - My sleep (or lack there of) cycle was a repeat of the last several days, even though I had taken a sleeping pill.  My inability to fall back to sleep when waking in the middle of the night made me concerned about my insomnia becoming a major, long lasting problem. 

Patty, Joe, Maggie and I all arrived at the ranch about the same time.  Rain was in the forecast, so we were hustling to get the wood fence finished.  We had 18 more rail boards to put up. 

 




Ta-da!  We got it done!   46 posts, 135 rail boards, and who knows how many screws and swear words.  This is looking from the round post at the 130° angle, going north to the end of our field were a barb wire fence (on the property line) runs east.
 

This is a look at the fence from the round post going the other direction (south) to our cinder block wall that runs behind the house (also on our property line).  Our progress often got slowed down because we had to pause and re-think the building of the fence.  It was mumbled many times, "close enough, looks good from a galloping horse, no one will notice from a distance," etc.  It was nowhere near perfect, but did look okay.

Our focus then shifted to clearing brush and logs from the yard.  Branches were piled onto the trailer, and then hauled to the burn pile.
 

 

 

 

Many trips were made with the trailer. 

We worked our way around the whole yard.  Patty raked up all the little sticks and leaves into small piles, I was busy stacking logs that Joe had collected and dumped in haphazard piles, and we all took turns tending to the burn pile. 
 

The hammock got put back up and was quite inviting, but it was threatening to rain.  Joe and Patty left, but I was determined to finish stacking the (3 to 4 foot logs).  Talk about an arm, leg, and back workout. 

There was still plenty of raking that needed to be done, but it could wait until another day.  
Maggie was too tired to keep track of me any longer, and fell asleep by our fire pit.

A view of what will be Amiga and Zorro's pasture and the wood fence we just built across the far side of it. 

I was nearing exhaustion but only had five more logs to move when it started raining.  I had put Maggie in the house when I first heard thunder.  Well the downpour occurred, but I worked until finishing this pile, and then came into the ranch house soaking wet.







And then to my chagrin, I discovered that the covered hole (where the wood burning stove pipe vented out the roof) was leaking.  I and the leak were dripping all over the floor.  I grabbed towels to dry me, the floor, and the end table off.  I moved the end table out of the way and placed a bin on the floor to catch the drips. 

A hot shower, dinner, and warm PJ's were enjoyed once home.

Patty took these photos before the rain.  Can you tell how high our grass is.  We still can't find anyone to cut it for hay.

Thursday 9/16 - I woke late from a nap I had started at 5am, after being up since 2:00.  Joe and Patty were already hard at work when I drove up our ranch lane.  They were finishing up removal of a whole tree cut down Monday.  (It was dying and in the power lines).  Joe was cleaning up the stump I want to put a planter on. 






Patty had taken this photo Tuesday when I was dumping the brick and gravel (from the fence post holes) onto the back side of the dam. 

They had troubles getting the burn pile going again because it was wet, but once there was smoke, there was soon fire.  The tree in the center of this photo had been trimmed.  You can also see the third pile of four foot logs I had stacked by the picnic table. 

 

Being burnt on the fire, is most of the tree that had been by the drive before the front gate.  We have more wood than we know what to do with.  There will be many bonfires in the future.

We had enough rain to fill both 100 gallon tanks with water.  They were both overflowing in fact.  While Patty and I were checking the loafing shed in Amiga and Zorro's pasture, I was very disappointed to see that a lot of water had gotten inside of it and the clay I had packed into the low spots was a sticky muddy mess.  I would have to remove it and try something else.  We peeked in at the wasps nest that we had sprayed and I ended up getting stung twice again when removing what I thought was an empty nest.

The only job I really needed and wanted to get done out at the ranch for the day was to finish the bin for the stall wood shavings.  It took Patty, Joe and I to maneuver the 4 x 8 sheets of plywood.  And I was the only one that could fit back behind it to screw it into the back of the tackroom wall.

We had to cut both sheets for the floor short to about 7½ feet.  We lucked out in that the one floor board did not need to be notched because it slid right underneath the support joist for the tackroom. The second board was notched fairly easily and put into place and the storage bin was complete.  You can see the tackroom joists in this photo.

 

This is another job I can check off my to do list.  The pallet in front of the ladder will be used for square bails of hay.  The ladder is to get up and down from the hay loft.  It can be moved out of the way when loading shavings into the bin.  Now I just hope this all works.

I was home in time for lunch and made a big salad with leftover pork chops, finishing my shopping list while I ate.

Joe was off to buy hay and while I was in town shopping I saw this pulley and sent him the photo, jokingly saying it was what we needed to get hay up to the loft.

Joe had bought 21 square bales of hay and parked the trailer in the barn, to be unloaded the next day. 

 

I visited a countless number of stores, spent more money than I wanted to count, and I shopped for six hours (start to finish).  I got several more needed supplies for the ranch house (including a new vacuum) and also groceries for upcoming visitors.  It is work to have overnight company, but well worth it.

Friday 9/17 - Our pool hours have changed so now only one person per day works, but the shift is from 10:30 until cleaning chores are finished after the 4:00 closing time.  I only had two more days on the schedule, but would be busy at the pool all day.
 
Meanwhile, Joe and Patty decided to tackle unloading the hay.  Using a pulley system, and the winch on the UTV, which was way too slow, they just backed up the UTV to pull each bail of hay up into the loft.  They stacked nine of the bails down by the stalls. 

They both joined me for lunch at the pool, getting burgers from the golf course snack bar.

I finished at the pool at 4:20 and went straight to the ranch.  Joe had gone to his poker game from the ranch, leaving Maggie in the fenced in back yard.  She seemed very content, but happy to see me when I arrived.

I unloaded a bunch of stuff I had bought the day before, including four large and heavy salt and mineral blocks.  I put one of each by the two loafing sheds.

I stirred the fire, raking all the unburnt logs into a pile, and it started right back up. 

At home by 5:30, I got dinner and a shower.  By the time I finished my usual chores, I was too tired to do any cleaning, other than starting a load of laundry.  One has to pause to rest once in awhile.

I was looking forward to a pause in the ranch work to enjoy company; my sister, children, and granddaughter.