2,500 lbs of gravel makes for a killer work out.

You can't get more perfect than the weather last Tuesday.  High 60's and sunny, heavenly.  So what would you do if you had no plans on a day like that?  You mean replace old boards on the barn and shovel over 1 ton of gravel would not be first on your list??  It was on mine.  I was actually just happy that the cold has held off long enough that I could finally get to this project without freezing my fingers off.  I went to the gravel store(?) place where a big front end loader dumped over a ton of gravel in the bed of my truck in less then 1 minute.  If only it was that easy to get it back out of the truck.  I needed that gravel for my tack/feed room in the barn.  I use the word 'room' loosely.  It used to be a stall for one of my mini's and has not yet had walls built(on the hubby's to do list).  I decided to quit waiting for walls when I could at least use the floor space that was pretty much being wasted.  Water likes to settle into that section of the barn so my plan was to put 6 inches of gravel for the base to help keep things dry.

 




I am not too sure why I didn't take any before pictures but here are the afters.  It may not seem like much but it was ALOT of work to remove and replace those boards by myself.  I mean, you tell me how you would screw up 8 ft boards level, alone?  I would guess to any bystander(there were none of those because they would have been put to use) it would have resembled something like the game Twister but instead of colored circles my right foot was on the board holding it in place, left foot on muddy ground, left hand on power drill trigger, right hand wrapped around right leg and applying pressure to power drill and viola one screw in.  Readjust, repeat process 27 more times and you have all boards replaced.  About that time is when I was out of breath and said outloud(to myself of course) "I still have 2,500 lbs of gravel to unload and I am already worn out".

 Get ready this is pretty exciting!!!  Pictures of my old beat up, small barn!!!

new boards up,

New floor laid!  It's not fancy but I am grateful and it is functional.

But just like with any good, tough horsewoman I wasn't going to let being tired stand in my way of having a feed room.  So I pressed on, shovel, after shovel, after shovel full, got thrown the 4 feet from the bed of my truck to the middle of the room. 

Surprisingly I got it all unloaded in about an hour with a short break in the middle.  You know the going rate for 1 ton of gravel is only about $12 so if you ever want to feel like getting a big bang for your buck go get yourself some gravel.  It is cheaper than a gym membership! 

And this my friends is how I spent this gorgeous fall day not, grooming, petting or riding my horsies.  These are some of the days that the thought runs through my head, 'I wonder what it would be like to board my horse and someone else did all this work, while I played with my pony.'  But then I walk out my back door and hear the ever faithful whinnies when they hear the door open and remember that it is all SO worth it.