treasure hunting

It’s over a week since I’ve done chores or even been out to the barn. It feels really weird. I had been going there for over two years, at least three times a week. I kind of miss it but at the same time I don’t. I don’t miss hauling in hay bales, or fighting with frozen buckets or hoses. I certainly don’t miss crabby horses or devil ponies. I won’t miss the awful, frigid -40 degree winter feedings or the hot, humid, buggy summers. But I will miss my friends, both human and animal. I’ll miss the smell of the barn and arena. I’ll definitely miss the arena that’s for sure.


Sadly finances won’t allow us to have an indoor arena anytime in the near future. I’d happily settle for an outdoor arena. In fact I think I prefer an outdoor arena. Hubby thinks I’m weird that I prefer “riding around in a circle” rather than going out to explore the world. An arena is like my safety net, but don’t get me wrong I’ve gotten plenty banged up in an arena and I’ve eaten my fair share of sand/woodchips/dirt/etc. I just have more fun working on things in the arena.

We went out this week to look at the new place. The snow has melted a lot and it was our first chance to go out and explore the pastures. The fences are in much better condition than I’d originally thought. I still want the top barbed wire to be replaced with hot rope though. The east pasture is in better shape than the west one. And it even looks like the wooded area to the north is fenced off into a third enclosure. I doubt that we would use it. The west pasture has a very deep lake in it right now, so it will definitely be off limits in the spring. Under all the snow was a lot of treasures that we discovered and will have to have hauled away. Its kind of interesting to see what was under the snow. To the east of the barn was an old pickup box liner with some tools in it, an old fridge and a pickup box camper. The camper has a big exposed hole in the side so I can only imagine what lives in there. YUCK. Up on the north east side of the pasture is a little gun range. Hubby is happy about that. He’s wanted one for, forever. He wanted a place to sight his guns in for hunting, now he will have one. Guess the horses are gonna learn to not be gun shy. Yellow wasn’t gun shy because of a similar reason. In north end of the pasture near the middle is a HUGE pile of old foundation from some sort of building. No idea as to why it’s there but it is. Close to it we also found the remains of a young buck that was more than likely last hunting season’s target. We also found parts to an old swing set, and a chain link fence. The chain link fence will be used to make a kennel for the dogs. Towards the east side of the pasture was the bottom of a snowmobile, a pick up topper, a big rusty roll of no climb fence, and an old fuel tank. In the west pasture we saw an old kiddie pool, and a tent with a quilt inside. That pasture was pretty swampy and snow covered so we didn’t venture too far into it. There were also a lot of downed trees in the East pasture that will have to be chopped up and used for bon fires. Up by the west side of the barn was a bunch of bikes. All shapes and sizes. Too bad I can’t ride a bike! Randomly around the yard we found a lot of buckets and misc. trash that will need to be picked up. There was a nice bench that was tipped over that could use a nice shabby chic make over. As well as a few more rusty antique pieces that may receive a new life.

We are still waiting on a few things with the house to go through 100% the inspection passed but we had to wait for the septic to get tested and pass. I just want to get everything over with so we can bring Pinecone home! I miss that big red creep!