Friday Fantasy

A barn. 

OK.  Yes, I could probably have something in the way of a barn right now.  And you might also argue that I do have a barn.  Right on both accounts.  BUT, the beautiful log barn I have is a one stall deal (my husband's way of sending me the "keep it to one horse" message - hah!).  Yes, we could afford to build something of a full barn now, but we are doing the Dave Ramsey debt snowball and have a lot left to go before we can get to the barn.  Plus, I will be fussy with my barn.  Probably fussier than I was with building our house.

So my someday barn is this week's late Friday Fantasy.  Below are some pins I've tacked in Pinterest for the "someday" barn.  The "someday" barn will have dutch doors.  I love dutch doors.  I think my hubby plans to make it in the same cord-wood building style he is using on the chicken house complete with arches on the doors.  

Won't that kind of wood and wall look fantastic with a horsey head sticking through?  Someday.  The rest are just barns I like!

and this is how the front and back door will be (arched and split)

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/19/45/1194524_fea0fc4e.jpg 

http://www.barnsandbuildings.com/barns/shed-row/

http://www.barnsandbuildings.com/barns/shed-row/

More later.

Thanks for visiting!

Arlene

Friday Fantasy..........Fowl

I want chickens.  

The kind that lay blue and green eggs.  Plus some of the kind that look like Foghorn Leghorn.  I want a unique chicken house I can decorate with whimsy.  I want an excuse to buy things at the Round Top Antique Fair that I would have no other purpose for.  I want to fence it like an English garden.  I want to collect eggs with toddlers. I want birds that are raised as pets so the boys can handle them.  I realize that we'll then have retirees and that's OK   If they give us eggs for a while they can retire here loved and petted.  

I realize there's a lot of work and science that goes with keeping chickens, but this is a Friday Fantasy post, all fantasy no technical.

This fantasy has been coming along nicely but I won't have birds until next year.  My dear husband has been working on the coop though and it's going to be magic.  If we can figure it out, it'll even have a living roof.  Won't the girls be pleased?

Here's some pictures of the progress so far.

We're using logs instead of stones.
It will be 12'x12' and 1/2 will be coop and 1/2 will be screened in run.

The 2 doors from the coop to the outside will have arches (the wooden frame at the top of the door now is there until the mortar sets and then will come out) 

The doors themselves will be arched and center split.  The hollowed out log at the top will be set with slats in the inside to provide ventilation.

The pictures below are of the east wall and the space between the top rail and the logs will be chinked with large mason jars instead of logs to provide natural light and a whimsical look.

 Below is a picture of the wall between the coop and the screened in run.  It's only halfway completed and will have 2 large shuttered windows flanking the hollowed out log piece.  The hollowed out log will have a ramp attached to both sides and will serve as the door for the birds to come and go between the sides.  Cool right?!  I love that part.

Once it's finished I'll fence a yard around it for the birds to get out and eat some grasshoppers!  It's set in my horse pasture which is perfect because one of the horses, George, HATES dogs and will serve as predator control.  I'll also hot wire the outside of the fence in case George is sleeping.

I have such a talented husband!  
When we first moved to this property I asked for a 3 sided shed for my riding horse to get out of the weather.  Something temporary until we had a barn built.  So he cut logs and built me a one stall log barn complete with loafing porch and shuttered windows.  I think he thought that if he built only one stall I'd keep it to only one horse.  Yeah right.

The barn in the background
Picture directly above and below taken by Anna Spencer of The Grace Photography 

George, the predator control hanging out in the barn.

More later.

Thanks for visiting!

Arlene

Friday Fantasy

Another gorgeous spring day here in Central Texas.  Big puffy clouds and the first of the wildflowers blooming.  This is trail riding weather.  Sadly, I sold my riding horse when I got pregnant with the twins.  No, I did not dump my beloved pet when the kids came along.  He was suffering from a skin condition that was very manageable when we lived at our old home but when we moved to our new place and built our home the new horse pasture is located right next to a body of water that is bisected by property lines and the flies he is allergic to run rampant.  Making for a very uncomfortable pony.  He has since gone to live in a barn where he is treated, pampered and loved by a surgeon's daughter.  

Image borrowed from
The Texas Farmers Daughter

But I miss having a trail riding horse most especially during the lovely late winter and spring days here.  

Our family is on a get out of debt 3 year plan, loosely based around the Dave Ramsey debt snowball plan.  I'll post more about that another time but I mention it here to say that in 3 years we hope to break ground on a large barn/shop.  I figure that's about when the boys will be less work a little more independent and that might be a good time to look for another saddle horse. 

 So today's Friday Fantasy is of sunny skies, a shady barn, miles of dirt trails, the smell of sweaty horses, leather, pony saddles, and trail riding with my little guys someday in the future.  

Of fat, happy ponies and bareback riding.  

Sweet, Old, Patient Bob
Long since crossed over the rainbow bridge.

Of hay. 

Of nickers in greeting.

Of barn life & all things barn related. 

More later.

Thanks for visiting!

Arlene