Chapter 150...Cleaning Out The Hayloft...Ah Choo!!! And A Big Snake

Mike has been driving me crazy about the barn since we told the cow people this will be their last year here.  Every few days we have been stopping at the barn to see how much hay is left.  The cow people have been taking out hay each time they come but there is still a lot.  Last sunday when the kids came for breakfast they offered to help.  Well who would say no to help like that, lol?

Going down to the barn:

The hayloft opening from inside:

The stairs going up to the loft and all the tobacco poles on the left:

Big decisions.  Mike is up top and he will throw the hay bales down to someone.  Nicole (Mike's daughter) and Aj (her son) are checking out the situation:

We got it figured out.  AJ and I went to the bottom of the barn to stack the bales in one of the stalls.  Mike, Nicole and Ella work up top.  Mike throws a bale down to Nicole and she rolls it out the hayloft opening so AJ and I can pick up the bales and stack them in an empty stall.  I think Nicole really got into it:).  Every time she got to the opening she yelled down to AJ and I "Clear"  I told her later she would be yelling "clear" in her sleep. Ella does her best to help out but the hay bales are almost as big as her.

Surprisingly enough we didn't see any little critters running around in the barn.  That is a very good thing because if Nicole saw one mouse she would have been out of that barn never to go back, lol.


We all did great.  AJ stuck with me and did a really good job even though I know he paid for it with his allergies. We stacked about 75 bales of hay:

Thanks guys.  Now Mike can stop talking about the hay bales in the barn, lol.


The next time Mike and I go down to the hayloft it's to clean it up.  There are a couple of bales that broke open and we need to restring them:

We are going to start at the high part and work our way down.  There is a lot of loose hay and lumber around the barn.  This is where it is going to get very dusty.  Mike starts raking the hay off the floor so we can see what is under there:

We really didn't find many signs of animals living there but we did find some raccoon poop.  Mike told me it was raccoon and since I have never seen raccoon poop I had to look it up.  Yup...that's what it was, lol.
Raccoon Poop



We get the top part clear and get to a stack of wood by the wall:

Looking "up" to our house from the barn:

There are big thin logs across the beams in the barn.  Mike starts cutting them down:

We open up the old door at the top of the barn and throw the wood out the door.  This will be much easier than hauling the wood down the stairs.  The top floor is now clear.  Mike closing up the door after we finish round one:

The stack of wood outside:

Mike loading it onto the trailer:

We get back up top and unload it onto the driveway.  The next day we go back down to the barn and do it again.  Throwing the wood out the door:

Finished with all the extra wood in the barn and loaded up again:

Unloading the second batch onto the stack from the day before:

Nice free wood:)

After all the dusty barn work Mike and I had to use a product we have been using for years.  It really does help with sinuses.  Sinus Rinse



Just the other day Mike and I came back home and stopped to feed the fish.  Mike went to get the fish food out of the barn and he yells at me to "come over."  I walk over to see what he wants and I almost step on this:

What a cool snake.  But since I don't know anything about snakes I give him a lot of room while I take pictures:

He slithers through one of the cracks on the barn:

And coming out on the inside:

Almost camouflaged:

Well...I thought he was pretty cool even if I don't know what he was.

Now that we have the wood on the driveway we will have to cut it up into smaller pieces so we can burn it next winter.  We built another log rack and started with the nicest pieces of wood from the barn:

That's all for now.  Right now it is raining again and we are itching to work on the store.  Sadly it is not looking good for today.  I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will write again soon.