Spring Cleanup

Anne Field recently wrote a blog post on how, when you begin cleaning, suddenly you see all kinds of things that need to be cleaned. She's absolutely right, and that happens whether you are at home or at the barn. Tim is doing spring cleanup out at the barn right now - he's removed some trees and brush and has had a big burn pile going at the edge of the hay field.

He is also planning to do some remodeling in the old barn - pulling broken boards and other burnables out of it and tossing them on the burn pile. There are two huge box stalls in there plus two smaller ones. The small ones had a lot of old wood stored in them, and he is removing all that and planning on making them usable.

It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get some photos of Abby but she kept following me around. I'd walk away a bit, turn to snap the photo, and there she'd be - coming right to me. (Not that I mind - I find it endearing when she does that.)

Finally she decided to nibble on some grass a bit and I was able to step back and take those pictures. She's still got a lot of her winter coat on her, but it is shedding out and soon she will be sleek and shiny again. (If she quits rolling in every mud puddle she can find, that is.)

Spring cleanup around a horse farm is actually a never ending, year round job - grass, bushes, and weeds grow, horses knock down boards, pipes freeze, snow (and manure) needs shoveling, and so on. I've been boarding with Tim for nine years, and I am grateful for the excellent job he does in that constant battle.