Thursday, March 18, 2010

just around the farm...

The signs of spring continue to appear. This week I changed from "winter buckets" to "summer buckets"... the winter buckets are electric and what a blessing they are on cold winter days when I don't have to chip ice out of them. Been there -done that in the "ice" department, so when we built the barn, these buckets were part of the game plan and have proven to be well worth it.





We got a TON of rain (again) at the beginning of the week. Fortunately we didn't get the wind like the last rain storm, but everyone is "drowning" in water. So many people have had flooded basements, washed out roads... just all kinds of troubles.





We actually fared quite well, except that the "barn yard" looks like this. Ed had managed to smooth out all the winter ruts before the rain, so if we stay off it for awhile.. I think it will settle down and we shouldn't have the mud issue like we did last year. The paddock is a mess and I would like to get it blocked off so the grass can come up.. but the ground is too frozen to get the posts in. Another week or two and we should be able to get that taken care of.


NOW... many (many!!!) years ago my darling hubby came home with this tub. The top of it was all broken and it was dented here and there.. and basically was a bit of a mess. I think he paid something like 50.00 for it. Course when I saw him "dragging it home" all I could think is "now what".. and I asked him that. "why in the world would you bring that home?'' He smiled and said.. "I thought I would make a good dog grooming tub." Well, he had a point. The idea was to put it up on a base so I could bath dogs and not have to bend over (or sit on my knees) beside the tub. Good idea!!!



Thing was, the dog grooming tub never did get hooked up at the old house and it just sat in the basement waiting. Any time it was "dog grooming day" I would mention how nice it would be to have it working and Ed would just say.. "I'll get to it". Course, we then moved and he never "got to it".






Until last weekend. While I was away at NEADS, Ed went down and fetched the tub from Kassy and Nate's and brought it up to the farm. Over the weekend, he got the base made and the tub mounted in place in the "kennel room". He also brought up an electric hot water heater, and if all goes well, that too, will soon be hooked up. Once we have some hot water... I can use this tub to bath the dogs!!! Sadie has also been doing some dog grooming and we have talked about opening a small grooming shop where either she or I could groom.. or people could come and "rent" the tub and do their own dogs.

We also thought that when dogs are boarding with us, we could offer a "bath" before they go back to their homes.. (so many ideas just waiting to try at the farm). But however this may or may not work out... it's going to be good for my back and I can't wait to have the chance to use it. The cockers (and Mr. Chester) will always be looking good!!!!