Barn Overhaul 2009

Barn/Shelter Floor Overhaul

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We were supposed to spend a fun weekend horse camping trip to Pt Reyes over 10/11 October, but with the remnants of Typhoon Melor supposed to blow in on Tuesday and the prospect of a possible 7" of rain, pft and I were galvanised into activity to get the shelter floors finished so we'd have enough covers for all six pones. We'd started working on this "that won't take long" project last month and to date I think we've spent abut 70+ man- hours on it , including the mammoth two-day bonanza last weekend when we both worked on it for 10+ hours each day (mostly because we were mid-way through working on the first two shelters, rendering them out of bounds for pones). But it is done, leaving us with wibbly arms, sore ribs, and no strength to speak of.
	September - Laying down the cloth I bought this "eco cloth" from Bend Tarp and Liners last year (gives you an idea how long this project has been in the making) as a means of preventing any rock from disappearing into the mud approximately 30 seconds after I put it down. It cost 0.19 c a square foot, so wasn't horrendously expensive (unlike the "proper" stuff specifically made for stalls). It was a lot more robust than expected - more like a nasty, nylon blanket you'd get in a cheap motel. Perfect!
Audience
	Next we bought a bunch of 8' railroad ties at Lee's Feed in Shingle Springs - they were about $15 each. We strapped each of these to the bottom of the panel or - where that wasn't possible - to each other, so they would be solid to counteract clumsy horses walking on them.

	One slight stumbling block was the large "structural dirt pillar" that encroached into the lower shelter and needed trimming. Not sure this is an approved use for a Sawzall, but it seemed like a good idea at the time...
	...until we discovered that a pry-bar and mallet had surprisingly more finesse.
	Once the dirt was removed, we could put down the cloth properly and add furring strips all the way around to hold it in place. And then having got that far, we predictably became distracted by other activities and didn't get around to doing much more.
Fast-forward to a discussion Ann and I were having late Thursday evening about what food to bring to Pt Reyes the following day, when she happened to mention the rather large storm coming on on Tuesday. Having not watched any TV for about three weeks, I din't know nothing about no storm, so was rather shocked to discover a potential 7" of rain due to arrive on our doorstep. But... but... it's still late summer? Urk. The Pt Reyes camping trip was cancelled and resigned ourselves to spending all day Saturday working on "The Project", and then at least getting in a nice long ride on Sunday. Not.
	Saturday pft was at Bear Creek Quarry bright and early at 8 am when they opened to get our first load of 1.5" rock. The plan was to put down a layer of this larger stuff, then add another load or two of "coarse sand" (small rocks, with smaller rocks in it) on top. We couldn't get the truck very close to the shelter, due to a couple of large oak trees, so with the cunning use of plywood boards, were able to shovel this first load out with much enthusiasm.
	Here's me shovelling enthusiastically.
	But it still took us a couple of hours, so for the next load, we went via Ann and Jess', confiscated their truck and by using both trucks were able to get two more loads before the quarry closed at noon. The next load required yet more plywood boards to channel the rock 18' into the far shelter. Rickety it may have been, but it did the job.
	Two loads in and the shelters look good. Just need to push the rock around to even it out (large broom comes into play).
	And finally we are ready for the placement of mats. Because we did such a lovely job, I decided to use my bestest, heaviest-duty, bobbly mats for this stall. They only weigh about 70 lbs a piece. Here's the first one in place - oooh!
	Five mats in, I discovered I only had five of that type of mat, so we had to use one of the nasty, recycled, disintegrate-quickly-under-pone- ministrations mats.
	This is what you look like after you've shovelled two loads of rock and dragged five 70 lb mats around the property. My husband loves me. Yes he does.
	And here he is again, after we dragged in the next stalls-worth of mats.
	The finished product! Looks great and I'm super-pleased.
	Oh, but there was the small matter of this oddly-shaped area outside the stalls. pft takes advantage of a technical meeting to rest.

	All we have to do is unload this rock into that space. Won't take long, eh?
	For entertainment purposes, we let the six pones into the new area to see what they thought. They were obviously very impressed...
	...some more impressed than others...
	Hopi does another drive-by
Around 7:30 that night, after pulling the 12 stall mats out of the barn stalls #1 and #2 and starting to "just put the rest of the rock in" to level those floors, I realised it was time to stop. Afterall, it wouldn't take long in the morning to unload the little bit of rock left-over and still get to ride the next day. .
	Day 2 of the Barn Overhaul What was I thinking "won't take long"?? To get the rock to fit well and the mats to stay in place, we had to switch out the bent gate-panel from Barn Stall #1, which meant removing the fence that was attached to it, which meant redoing the fence, and meant redoing the waterer in Shelter #3, since we stole the gate panel from it. Fence looks great, now, though.
Barn Stall #1had been problematic for a while as the pones eroded the area under the doorsill, making an area large enough to be able to jam a leg in really well when running out at speed, resulting in certain leg-breakage at some point in the future. So once we'd switched out the bent panel to a less strategic location, I engineered some 2x6 wood to hold in the rock, eradicate the erosion, and get rid of the leg-breaker hole.
	Here I am, leveling the floor with my big broom
	Trying to get all the mats to fit in perfectly and lay flat by removing/adding rock from under each one. Wrestling with slidey mats that have a gap between them makes my winter mucking take five times longer, so spending the time now will pay dividends down the road (plus it was an excuse to sit for a bit).
	Looking at little more cheerful than I was earlier in the day, when I had to go inside in case I hit someone (lack of food and being on Day 2 will do that to you).
	And here I am, at the end of the day - 7:30 again - putting away my tools and completely exhausted. It's hard to say which of us was more tired.

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