I can't believe its been a week

Overall things have been pretty uneventful over the past week. I still can't believe we have already been at the new place for over a week! I'm slowing getting things unpacked and cleaned up although I swear the boxes multiplied on the drive from the city.

Since Quinn is away hunting for the week its just me, Chevy and the horses taking care of the place. The weather has been wonderful and its given me a chance to get used to the routine before the dreaded winter storms hit. Getting up at 6am to do chores is something I'm still not used to and I'm sure I won't be until summer comes and its actually daylight when I go outside. I don't really have to do a whole lot; carry 2 pails of water, put a scoop of feed in the tub and then shovel a few forks of hay into the feeder. A quick hello and I'm back inside to get ready for work. And as much as I hate dragging my butt out of the nice warm bed in the morning, it does get me going for the day.

Morning chores would be a whole lot better though if I had a yard light. Currently ours is not working and each morning I trudge out there with my little Coleman latern, hoping not to come into contact with any wild beings. This morning I thought I thought for sure I would be having my first tomato juice bath when the smell of skunk hit my nose midway through forking hay. I paused, picked up my little Coleman and tried as best as I could to shine light in every shadow. I couldn't see anything so I called the dog to keep her close and continued on. The smell faded and I'm happy to report that neither Chevy or I are wearing perfume-de-skunk today.

The barn on our property needs some work, to say the least, but its sturdy and will be a wonderful structure once it gets some cosmetic work. This winter we've opened up one side to the horses for thier shelter and then next summer we can hopefully add some stalls and make it into a "real" barn. For now though, its great for a shelter. There was/is about 3 inches of old, dirty straw on the floor and then another 2 inches of "dirt" (old composted manure I'm assuming) I have been trying to clean up. I have decided to leave the "dirt" for the winter for the simple reason that I will need to lay a lot of straw on the concrete to make it a warm place for the horses. The "dirt" is frozen and doesn't smell so it should be all right until spring. When things start to thaw, then I'll block it off and get it cleaned out ASAP. Once we have our stalls built, I will definately be putting rubber mats down!!

We've recieved some snow in the past week and I managed to find some time to get out and take a few photos. I've attached some of the better ones here:

Did I mention that Chevy loves being on the farm!?

For some reason I forgot to take a photo of the house in my walk. But no worries, I plan on putting up my Christmas lights this week and will post pictures of the house then!