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.

Chapter 127...Springtime Landscaping

Off Grid...Chapter 127 This is the "clean up" year. It's time to pull our place together and that means doing some landscaping. We reserved the first batch of Leyland Cypress that came into Lowe's. We have tried many local trees from local growers up here and have lost most of them. The Leyland Cypress from Lowe's that we planted a few years ago on our last property are doing fantastic so we decided to change out our problem trees here and use them again March has been an incredibly warm month so we are getting a head start. I prepped my garden and cleaned it up. Now I just have to wait a bit longer to plant seeds. We bought fifteen 5-6 foot Leyland Cypress. They really are pretty evergreens but they get huge. We will have to keep them trimmed down. Mike starts working at the back of the house. We originally planted Hollies and two things happened. 1. The deer used them to bed down in the winter and squashed them and 2. They don't grow fast enough for us We are going to take out the hollies and move them to the side of the house and we will also find a new home for the small arborvitae. Mike digging out the old arborvitae. Next he digs out a Holly and boy are they stubborn. Two of the new Leyland Cypress are in and cut down. Mike wants them to grow into a hedge on the back of the house. Two of the hollies are moved to the side of the house. Eventually we will build a set of steps and a tiered garden on this side The back of the house is done and 6 trees are in. And all six hollies got moved. Another day, Mike and I start to work on the small garden on the side of his building. This is going to be a bear for us. It is not good dirt here. This will be our hardest area to dig...but we are determined We start to dig the holes for 4 new plants over here. The first one wasn't too bad. The others we had to use the electric chisel to help chisel and break the rock. It was a very slow and hard job to do. We also dug the holes much bigger than the trees and added new dirt with compost mixed in. Mike using the chisel to chop up the rock. And finally the trees are in by Mike's building Next on the agenda: Take out the old arborvitae that got eaten by the deer in front of the house. We have a total of 8 of these. We will replant them somewhere else. Starting to take out the arborvitae. Mike using the saws all to cut the roots. On the front left side of the house we are going to have our "close" stack of firewood. Mike digs out a level spot for the 4x4's. Working on the other side and digging out the old trees. Mike and I both take turns digging and then dumping the buckets of dirt onto the side hills of the house. Planting the Leylands on the right side. We found a new spot for six of the arborvitae. We decided to put them on the outside of Mike's building where it would be nice if they grow but won't be devastating if they get eaten.:roll eyes: Starting to plant the arborvitae. And they are in. Then we moved the wood off the patio and onto the new smaller set up. The patio is finally clean again. And the new trees to the right of the house. Yay...all the new trees are planted. Mike had 4 more small trees to plant and he put them along the back fence line. Now it's time to get some good grass to grow. We have to work on the back hill again. It gets a little better each year but with the cows trampling it, it never takes off. So we have to seed and hay it. Mike throws the seed out while I spread the hay around. Hopefully we all get some more grass in this year. Each year we also add some dirt to the angled walls by the house. They sink a little each year. I think we may be finished this year. We added dirt, put some grass seed down, and covered it with hay. The left side. And the right side. Next it's time to start working on the back yard. We have one area that we abuse by driving over it with the tractor, trailers, Jeep and 4-wheeler. We need to stay off it after we fix it. First I rake up all of the dead debris. Once I get rid of that, Mike spreads some new topsoil. Then we see and hay it. Lastly Mike waters it. Whew I will be happy if I don't see another shovel for at least another month, lol. Rocks for the gardens: That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this week's changes. Next I will start the building the shed stories. Lisa