Things often don't go as planned. It is better to roll with the changes, interruptions, bad weather, unforeseen complications, frightened horse, etc, than to let it get you ruffled, frustrated, angry, or discouraged. 
Jean and I had all these plans for outdoor activities during her visit. As it turned out, it rained almost all day, everyday she was here (for five days!). It did actually make me pretty dishearten, but we managed to still accomplish several things, getting pretty wet at times, but having fun and feeling successful while doing so.
Dan, Val, Ava, and Tango, soon followed by Patty, all converged on the house around 11:30.
Jean had been enjoying the cats, and the cats were loving the attention she was giving them. (I need to play with them more often.) 
Once Tango appeared on the scene, the cats scrammed, and were not seen for quite awhile. So now Jean had some doggie time.
And then, it wasn't long before Jean got her hands on Ava.
Ahh, but soon the cats were feeling left out and competing for attention.
Because of the rainy weather, we all pretty much just hung out here in the house.
When this weekend originally was just going to be Jean and I (Joe had planned to go to Florida to take care of Mom) I had gotten tickets to the Music Festival, featuring a Beach Boy tribute band, which Jean and I had been anticipating dancing at. Well first the event was postponed, and then eventually it got cancelled because the skies were just not going to clear up.
We all enjoyed sweet, silly, cute, good-natured little Ava. (The cats and dogs also added to the chaos and entertainment.) 
This girl loves her carrots. She was actually diving for the spoon and licking the excess off her bib (video).
Here she is sporting her new hat Tia Courtney knitted her.
No doubt about it, she is a little ham, just like her Dad.
Getting a little stir crazy and needing to get out of the house, we decided to make a trip to the ranch and show the gang the new house. (Courtney and Will actually went shopping instead.) The dogs had a blast running around the wet fenced in yard when we first arrived. But the rain never let up, so they weren't allowed out in the yard long, nor did we get much touring of the outside done.
Everybody liked the house. Discussion of furniture arrangement occurred, and they talked me into just leaving the big sectional right where it was in the front sitting room. And they even had me considering adding an additional TV in there.
I had bought four pillows at the thrift store ($2.00 each), washed the covers, aired the batting, and brought them out. I really liked how they looked on the sectional, tying in the color from it, the dark brown recliners and the rust color floor tile.
We ordered carry out dinner from Reds Ale House once we got home, and finished the evening just hangin' out and talking.
Will and Courtney headed back to Nashville.
Jean and I both went to bed at 8pm. I was then up from 11:30 - 1:30 with indigestion. Part of my stomach upset was from dinner, but part of it was the angst I was feeling about moving Amiga and Zorro to the ranch. Their pasture and loafing shed were just not ready yet, and the details of how it was all going to work out had me tossing and turning.
Sunday 9/19 - It started as a lazy Sunday morning, watching the rain gently fall and trying to figure out if we could get any ranch work done. I made a blueberry dump cake, which was really more like a cobbler, but quite tasty and worked as a good substitute for a breakfast pastry. Gypsy Rose (I added Rose because I may call her Rose for short) was glad to finally see me when I went outside (in my jammies) to feed her. 
Joe applied for an LLC for our ranch. The name was taken (no surprise here in TN) so we added H&J to the front of Mountain View Ranch, paid the $300.00, and are now an LLC business. 
Jean was here Saturday - Wednesday. And the weather was as forecasted, with much of the non-rainy time occurring at night... a lot of good that did us.
God may have made rainy days so ranchers could get their housework done, but we chose to get out, and get wet, to do the more pressing jobs on our list. Rain was predicted all day, but to be lightest in the morning, so we all loaded into cars and headed to the ranch. Patty met us there.
The rain did let up to a light drizzle, so we went into the lower field to work on electric fencing. Dan drove T-posts while Jean and Patty made sure it was going in correctly. The soggy ground made it a little easier for Dan, and he made it look practically effortless.
Patty operated the measuring tape to get the posts at the same height and Jean the level to get the posts in straight.
Joe and I used the auger to drill two more fence posts which need a crossbar added to keep the corner/ center post with all the tension from leaning over time.
The rain picked up and we scrambled to get the rest of the posts in, needed to enclose the lower, small paddock (containing the loafing shed and pond). And finally, we were able to remove the auger from the back of the tractor, a two man job.
Into the barn, Jean, Joe, and I worked at putting a rail up in the hayloft, to prevent anyone from accidentally toppling off (falling about 15 feet) into the stalls below.
Dan and Patty added hooks for the hay and shaving tools to be neatly hung up. Our drill and screw driver were running out of juice and it was nearing lunch time, so we took a break.
Maggie guarding her ball from big boy Tango.
Joe picked up Subway for lunch, which did a good job of satisfying our hunger.
Little Ava wanting Jean's sandwich or just too bored (video) with our discussion of how to acclimate Amiga and Zorro to a new, richer pasture.
After lunch, Jean, Joe, and I finished what we could of the hay loft safety rail, while Patty, Dan, and Val worked at mounting the big TV up at the ranch house.
Jean and I left to go ride at Wildwood.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the 'boys' decided to swim during a break in the rain.
Dan had brought his giant swan (14 person) float and
wanted to blow it up to see how big it was. It was too big for the pool
even!
The air and water temperature were both about 70°. These two are crazy! I guess they were just rollin' with the swimming plans, regardless of the weather.
Jean and I fetched Amiga and Zorro from the same pasture. He was the only gelding this week, so Amiga had been put in with him. Notice he is fairly wet from the rain. 
We got Amiga and Zorro tacked up, with Jean working slowly and calmly to finally get Zorro to accept the bit without putting up a fuss. She could not get him to stand at the mounting block, so got on from the ground.
Amazingly enough, it cleared off for about an hour while
we got in a little ride around the barn yard area. The trails were way
too muddy to ride on.
It was a great ride. I would have loved to go longer and faster, but neither horse had been ridden in quite awhile and the ground was way to wet, muddy, and slippery.
We needed to leave both horses in overnight because the farrier was coming in the morning, and we also gave them both Prevocox in preparation for the hoof trimming. 
Jean mucked Zorro's stall which had had a livery horse in it all day and was quite messy. She cleaned his water bucket and we got him some fresh bedding and hay.
Once home, I noticed my surprise lilies, which had come up several days ago, were looking a bit 'trampled' from all the rain we had been getting. Poor things.
A frozen lasagna and big toss salad was our dinner, and again, Jean and I crashed just after 8pm.
Monday 9/20 - I was at the barn for the farrier at 6:45. I really appreciated how he handled Amiga and Zorro this time (maybe he knew I was planning to switch farriers). So now I am in a quandary once again.
Dan, Val, Ava, and Tango left an hour after I got back home, but there was still a little more Ava time before they packed up. What a beautiful Mama and baby.
It continued to be a fairly constant, rather steady rain. What to do, what to do? I really wanted to get Zorro and Amiga moved to the ranch so we could start acclimating them to richer grass, and Amiga to being out 24/7 like Zorro is.
So late morning, Jean and I headed to Wildwood Stable to first load and take Amiga to the ranch. We were going to transport her and Zorro together, but not knowing how either would do with loading, we decided to wait and take one at a time.
Joe and Patty met us there and we got the trailer hitched to the SUV after battling some wasps. Amiga loaded fairly quickly and calmly.
Jean and I (in my car) followed the trailer with Amiga. Here she is in the trailer, going down the ranch lane, ending the two mile drive there.
We soon had Amiga settled into a stall.
We had our hands full while loading each horse, so I did not take any photos of either horse getting on or off the trailer.
We went back to Wildwood to load Zorro. This took much longer. He just wasn't sure about going in and then staying in the trailer. We even had to take a short break, leaving him tied to the trailer while we gathered their feed containers.
Zorro was finally loaded, although on the wrong side for trailering a single horse. Patty had practiced with him on this side because he was going to ride with Amiga, so he was not comfortable with walking onto the other side. We made the second short trip to the ranch and Zorro came off the trailer nice and slow. He had never seen Mountain View Ranch before, so he was somewhat nervous and very busy looking around.
Jean and Patty both gave him some reassurance and before long he started calming down.
We took a late lunch break while letting Amiga and Zorro settle in to the barn and stalls, which will be their temporary holding area as we transition them to their field and when we don't want them on the grass full time.
Zorro had calmed down when we returned, and we put both he and Amiga out in the round pen for 90 minutes.
We proceeded to make a trip back to Wildwood to gather up all of our tack and other horse stuff.
Returning, we quickly filled our side of the tack room, yikes.
This is Courtney, Patty, and my tack.
On the other side of the room, here are the three spots for the boarders. One of our barn rules is going to be to keep the tack room neat. Boy, I am afraid I am going to be the biggest rule breaker.
Jean and I had a quiet evening at home while Joe was off playing poker. I did get a load of dishes run and two loads of laundry cleaned. Neither of us could make it past 8pm, as has been the routine these past several days.
We walked them both around the perimeter and then turned them loose. Amiga was mostly interested in eating (the lush buffet of tall, green grass). I have ridden her around this field a few times earlier this summer, so she was comfortable already.
Zorro was a little more 'on alert' as he stayed close to Amiga while surveying his new surroundings.
While they settled in, Jean and I tied cotton strips (from an old t-shirt) to the barbwire fence. We wanted to be sure they knew their boundary. Of course, Zorro wanted to investigate what we were doing.
Both horses pretty much made their way around the pasture, investigating their boundaries. They were quite interested in what was beyond the wood fence up by their loafing shed. The large field beyond goes down to the machine shed around to the paddock with the other pond and loafing shed.
We headed home to meet Patty and Joe at 8:30 for 'paper work' getting details of a boarding contract and list of barn rules close to a final draft.
This was way too much sitting for me and I was thankful to 'get it done' and for all the wonderful help from our sisters.
Later Joe brought a load of saw dust and we tried various ways to get the trailer close enough to unload them into the bin we had built. There is definitely a learning curve with this and we will need to tweak it still, to make it easier and quicker to do.
Here is the 'set up' of hay and stall shavings as of now, still to be modified some.
Jean, Maggie, and I went for a walk to show Jean the trail out to the back roads of Fairfield Glade.
We also used the UTV to move more things up to Amiga and Zorro's run-in and I had to spray for wasps again.
Jean and I worked on the floor in the run-in (loafing shed) removing some gooey clay, dusting with lime, and then spreading shavings when Joe brought us a load.
I closed Amiga into the loafing shed to make her take a break from the grass, and see how she would do. She tried to keep Zorro in her sight, so I didn't leave her in there more than 30 minutes. 
There was some R&R while watching the horses and Jean caught this action (video) of them in the pond. Amiga was having a good time splashing and laying in it, and then went up to the loafing shed and rolled in the shavings. What a goof ball. 
This is a photo Jean took earlier in the day. The horses look so peaceful.
Jean also took this panoramic photo of her view from one of the Adirondack chairs around the fire pit.
Jean and I made a quick trip in the UTV (from now on referred to as the Gator) down the lane and to the end of our dead-end street to show Jean the neighborhood.
Jean and I moved some furniture around in the house, including the table and bringing in the wicker furniture Billy Sr. had given us. About then, (4:30ish) Patty and then Karen rolled in.
We looked over some things, discussed what was next on our list, did a few jobs at the house and then took time for a beer around the fire pit that was too wet to light.
Oh yeah, and we re-hung the hammock so Joe and I gave it a try. It is still a little high off the ground as you can see from these photos of us (me mostly) attempting to get into it together.
Jean took this photo earlier in the day, which I like, showing our cute shed (with Amiga looking for Zorro) and the interesting sky.
Amiga and Zorro were led back down to the barn (to be stalled for the night) and we all went home.
Jean diced veggies to add to the soup we made and there was little time left after we ate, before we crashed for the night.
Wednesday 9/22 - A fence lizard on the barn.
I had an early morning doctor appointment, to review my blood work. All was pretty good, considering my past four weeks of bad eating and no gym.
Meanwhile, Patty picked up Jean and they went to the ranch to walk the horses up to their pasture. Rain was still coming in gentle showers, off and on.
Jean had taken this photo the day before when I had ridden Amiga up the lane to the pasture while Jean walked Zorro. Amiga did well with just the halter and lead rope.
Jean met me back here at the house for an early lunch and then we went to the ranch to try and get a ride in. The skies had temporarily cleared, well the clouds had stopped dropping rain and we led Amiga and Zorro down to the barn, groomed them, tacked up, and went for a nice little ride.
We decided to ride the fence line of the property, to show Jean and survey the condition of the fence.
The sun was warm, the horses well behaved, the scenery pretty, and we enjoyed our ride. We got sprinkled on once but not enough to get wet.
Oops, miss typed sibling.
We had had a wonderful five days together, in spite of all the rain, and felt lucky to be able to have some sunshine when it did break through the clouds. I am so thankful Jean came to pay us a visit.
After untacking, we mucked stalls and readied the horses for the night, led them back up to their pasture, and hurried home.
An hour after getting cleaned up, we were on the road for Nashville.
We had dinner at Dan and Val's and enjoyed baby Ava. I did not see that this photo had been 'bombed' until I enlarged it. Bah, ha, ha, ha.
This little girl is just so cute.
Then we went to Courtney's, who is closer to the airport, and slept there for the night, after first visiting with her for about an hour.
Thursday 9/23 - Jean and I were up at 5:00 and on our way to the airport a little after 5:30. I struggled with my poor night vision and all the bright car lights on unknown roads, but made it unscathed after a close call, and dropped Jean off at 6:00.
The ride home went quickly and was easy although I was going east into the raising sun. And finally, we had a day of sunshine.
I stopped once to pee and relieve my sciatica and I also hit three stores when I got to Crossville.
Once home (9:30), I had my second cup of tea and a second breakfast. While I made a bunch of calls, e-mails, and text messages, Gypsy Rose sat in the sun watching me at my office window.
The ranch was calling, so I headed out there to continue work on preparing it for the future. I rearrange the wicker furniture and because Joe had taken one of the the big electric recliners home I rearrange that end of the sun room and put a card table in the corner where we can sit with our computer or work a puzzle while looking out the window at our view of the mountains. 
This is the new (personalized with our ranch's name) picture that we had difficulties hanging above the fireplace two days ago, but Jean had figured out the problem and it now looks good. 
Joe and I put the last rail up in the hayloft where the hay will get pushed over the edge from, because some of us were nervous about people possibly coming down with the bale of hay.
I mucked stalls and fed the fish. Maggie could barely contain herself while watching them.
More domestic chores and farm chores were done. Joe and I were going to put up some hooks and things, but our batteries were dead on the drill and screwdriver so we called it quits.
We brought the horses down to the stalls at 6 PM and headed home.
Friday 9/24 - I love these caps that go on top of the t-posts for the electric fence. Such a safe, dual purpose covering.
I had to work at the pool so didn’t even try to get out to the ranch. Joe did horse duty on his own and reported that they did well walking up to the pasture with him. I tried catching up on blogging but didn’t get very far. I did a load of laundry and ran the dishwasher and then headed to work at 10:45.
It was the last day for the pool to be open, and even though the air temperature was just barely 70° and the water temperature was 68° we did have 15 customers come out. Only one person jumped in to cool off and it was a quick chilling dip.
Getting off work at 4:10, I went straight from the pool to the ranch. To help the electrician, Joe had tried to dig a ditch to put the grounding rod in, but soon hit rock, (good old Rocky Top) so he built this 'box' to cement it in, another option for grounding.
Joe had also completed quite a bit of work on the electric fence, but ran out of gate parts, so had to put finishing it on hold. Maggie (our inspector) was hard at work, although distracted by smells.
Oops, I miss-typed gate in the caption below. Photos show where the main electric fence runs.
Joe had also gotten a load of 'crush & run' and put much of it on the drive in this spot where it had become a mud hole during all of the rain we had.
Joe had been working all day, so headed home. I was pretty tired, but hadn't really done any work all day. I did mucked the stalls and take Amiga and Zorro down to them. Then I too headed for home.
We have hit lots of obstacles while working at the ranch. Joe does a much better job of 'rolling with it' than I do. Me being a perfectionist and short on sleep does not help matters any. We have accomplished a lot though.
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