Now that I'm out at the barn in the earlier hours of the day, before the heat really sets in, I've had renewed energy to do some cleaning chores beyond the basic daily routine.
This week I'm wiping down the wire stall dividers one a day. I may be crazy, but in the earlier morning hours, mug of coffee in hand, it is easier for me to look at these chores and get excited about doing them. I have a cobalt blue bucket that I use for this kind of thing. I squirt in some Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap, spray in some water, get a clean rag and my stepladder, and away I go. It's been good to stop before I get too tired to enjoy the result - no webs, no dust, tidy and clean. Even when the spiders re-build overnight, they'll never catch up to where they were because in 6 days I'll be back around to that one to clean it off again!
Today I did my one wipe-down and was so enthused I went on to do a little tack room cleaning. I took off all the saddle covers and while they were in the washing machine, I wiped down saddles, replaced the changeable gullet in the Wintec dressage saddle with Cody's XW, put the sheepskin cover on to give it a slightly cushier ride, and dusted down the wall behind the saddle racks.
I wiped down the whip rack and dusted the whips.
I washed the lids of a couple of bins so they would be white again.
Daughter picked up a saddle pad on the rack to tack up Cody and a mouse ran out! This gave me the energy to get all the saddle pads in for washing and to re-organize things a bit so we won't be providing easy housing for rodents. (reminder to Dickens E. Wickens: you might be carrying the lounging cowboy thing too far! get in the barn and help us out!)
By the time I'd done all this, Keil Bay was ready for breakfast. After he ate, I brought him into the barn aisle for grooming and put his clean Summer Whinnies back on. Easy as pie with a plastic bag on the hoof so the socks slide right on. And Keil Bay knows exactly what to do - he holds his hooves up and pushes slightly away from the socks to help me get them on quick and easy.
I have to say, watching him walk out of the barn with those four white socks made my morning. Daughter has given him a new name.
Mr. Fancy Pants.
:)
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
2 comments:
Dickens E. Wickens really has to stop lounging around and lend a hand in the tack room! It's a good feeling to get a lot of things done and make it all fresh and clean. Maybe getting up early isn't so bad, I might have to try it soon.
This morning Dickens was lounging but INSIDE the feed room. I think he realized he has fallen down on the job and is making up for it today. :)
Yesterday I continued my cleaning and washed all the grooming supplies and the grooming container. That was definitely a satisfying chore. Instant difference!
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