Home Ownership Learning Curve...or "How We've Managed to Get Neat, New Toys"

Sorry for the radio silence.  I've got a few posts started, but I've yet to get back to finish them.  Work has been frantic since we bought the house.  Perhaps because I took so much time off around the move?  Let's go with that.

Basic summary:
Hire the movers.  The money is worth it.  Bonus?  We still have all of our friends.
Just the first few nights reveal issues NOT uncovered by home inspection.
DO make sure the bed with clean sheets, pillows, etc is easily accessible.  Nothing feels as good as sleeping in your OWN bed that is NOT on the floor.

Not on night one, but night two, we had water (as significant amount of water) coming up through the floor.  At first we thought it was from the A/C condenser.  It wasn't.  So, at 11pm on Friday night, I sent Joe to go shut the water off to the house before we ruined the floor.  And we lived without water for a few days.  All 3 of us were a little gamey by the time we not only found a plumber to come to our house (another disadvantage of living in the sticks...MANY of the big companies won't come out there), but a plumber who would work on a mobile home.  Learning curve!!

So, within the first week, Joe got a shed.  It was a repo'd shed so we got a great deal on it.  It wasn't quite as large as we wanted, but it's a good size.  Joe has done a few tweaks to it, such as building a loft for additional storage, so that's helped.  We also bought a large shelf from Home Depot, which gave him more storage.  I have my saddle racks on the walls, so it's slowly coming together.

I moved all the horses officially on August 24th and 25th.  Glad I did because the rain and flooding around Cedar Creek on Friday the 25th would have slowed down my fetching Socks.  I was slated to attend the Michael Gascon clinic in Magnolia, but, with Hurricane Harvey barrelling down on Texas, they opted to cancel it.  So, rather than go to work on those days, I figured, I'd take the days off anyway.  So, on Thursday I grabbed Strider and Dakini and brought them home.  When I offloaded them, I walked them around the perimeter in the daylight, then took their halters off and let them go.  Friday, I ran and grabbed Socks and just cut him loose, knowing the other two would help form his herd and thus, he wouldn't run through the fences. So far, they're all doing great.

I woke up early Saturday morning telling Joe I was going to pen all 3 up so, if the winds and weather got bad, they wouldn't get hurt.  And that I needed to go get them some hay.  So, I raced out, planning to go to the TSC, but instead, hit up the small dealer in town.  I'd noticed he was a Nutrena dealer, so I swung in planning to just ask if he could order my  ProForce Fuel.  Sure enough, he could, would call me when it came in.  I asked, if he happened to sell square bales.  Sure enough.  So, I bought six.  He told me to drive around back and they were in the storage locker.  I kind of had to laugh and told Joe later, it's a good thing I AM a big, strong, sturdy girl, because I had to toss those 6 bales into the truck myself.  Which is fine, I mean, I have to unload them too, right? 

Strider had to go in his own pen otherwise he'll bully Dakini the whole time.  So Dakini and Socks bunked together.  What I didn't think about was since I have just 2 pens, AND the pen I put Socks and Dakini in was more exposed, AND Strider would charge at her that poor Dakini stood out in the rain most of the time.  When I got up Sunday morning, she was shivering, despite all the hay I kept tossing to them.  So, I grabbed her waterproof blanket out of my trailer (which had a little water inside the changing room area) and that seemed to help.  Once I got it on her.  I opted not to halter her to put her blanket on, and she had some zoomies, but overall seemed to understand that she was warmer (if not instantly drier) once I tossed it on her. Win!

I know it was a long two days for them in there, and I was eager to get them out again so they could move around.



Joe realized that since our weekday routine is different, and that we're commuting together to the bus depot and then riding the bus in together, his commuter motorcycle was just sitting.  So, he decided to trade it in on an ATV for us to use at the ranch.  I was kind of against this at the beginning.  Mentally, I was imagining my pastures being torn up.  However, I find that I enjoy it myself.  A few nights a week, unless we have other things to get done, I come home, change, go outside, grab Pancho (who is turning into a great little ranch dog!) and toss him on the back seat of the ATV and then I go cruise to the back pasture for a brief spin. 

My little dog at my back, wind in my face as I go ripping through the back pasture to check it out is a wonderful feeling.  And, thanks to the ATV Joe and I were able to actually find our back fence.  Our property is long and deep.  We also suspect it is one of the larger ones in our subdivision.  We were both shocked when we finally hit the back fence, having thought several times that we had reached what MUST be the end of our property.  No.  Not at all.  Keep going.  Keep going.  Keep going.  THERE is the back fence.


I know Joe is eager to get the horses out of the front property, but the back pasture needs some cleaning. 

The weeds need to be shredded down to allow the grass to grow.  The previous owners have left uncoiled bunches of slick wire out there, perfect for horses to get tangled up in and badly hurt.  Some random TPosts which either need to be pulled and removed, or strung with wire to cross fence the back pasture.  I'm unsure which I want to do currently. 

So, once Joe realized that he couldn't really continue to put off the purchase of a tractor (I told him until the weeds are shredded and the wire is cleaned up, I'm not putting the horses out back), he hit up Craigslist and found us one.  He REALLY wants them out of the front part of our property.

She's old.  She's ugly.  But she's ours.  A 1960's Ford 4000.  She came with a shredder, a plow and a flat bed attachment.  Shredder blades need to be sharpened.  Tractor needs some work, but she runs, albeit rough, and requires some extra hoops to be jumped through to get her up and going.  BUT, she runs, dammit!!!

We've settled in to a daily routine.  For the most part, no one gets any grain or anything except fresh forage (Strider gets his scoop of hoof supplement and 6oz of his grain too), and I'll say that their coats feel like silk.  Every 3rd day their trough up front gets dumped and refilled.  I make sure to at least lay hands on them all daily.  Strider is getting his feet mauled once a week.  I haven't, as of yet, tackled the other two.  But I need to.  Every night there seems to be something I need to get done outside.  I am concerned about how I will manage it all once the time change happens.  Because we plan on adding a cow and some chickens soon.  I know I'll figure it out, but I anticipate working in the dark quite a bit. 

However there is NOTHING more gratifying than looking out my sliding glass doors and seeing my "herd" happily munching away.  Or my dogs running around, startling the horses who take off, thundering through the front yard.  I shouldn't laugh as Rango goes chasing after them, but he's "grinning" from ear to ear, and I figure the brief moment of excitement for them isn't going to kill them.