We have recently completed a multi-stage barn project, which included the addition of a loafing shed to the side of the barn, repairing some of the wood that had deteriorated, and painting the entire structure.

Above is a picture of the barn after the work was completed.  You can see the new loafing shed on the left side of the barn.

This is the old loafing shed.  While not readily apparent inthis photo, the old structure is in a very poor state, beyond any reasonable repair.  It will come down in the future, salvaging any useful components in the process.

Here is a view of the old loafing shed, as seen from inside the equipment barn.  You might be able to discern the wall about to tumble down – that it hasn’t fallen yet baffles me.

Here is a view of the new 16 foot X 40 foot loafing shed that we added to the side of the equipment barn.

We designed the loafing shed in such a way as to allow hay to be easily tossed over the wall into hay bunkers in the paddock area.

Of course, this is an equipment barn, so here you see the tractor stored inside.  You might notice the bush hog is new (what the heck is a bush hog?).  Our old one finally bit the dust, having been repaired and rewelded numerous time due to those dang rocks!

Inside the equipment barn we have an enclosure to house some of our guineas (see “How Could You Not Love a Face Like This?”).

In looking at our shop/tack room, you might notice that we have endeavored to color coordinate the various structures in our barnyard area.   This is the shop side of the cinder block building.  For more on the shop/tack room, see “A Project Long Delayed“.

This is the tack room side of the same building.  Notice the newly renovated equipment barn in the background on the right side of the picture.

The color coordinated theme includes this small hen house as well.  The other hen house will soon follow suit – it is on our list of projects to be completed in the near future.  For more on the hen houses, see “Welcome to Our Hen Houses“.

Finally, what barnyard is complete without an owl to keep a keen eye on things?

There is something romantic about living on a farm/ranch in the rural Ozarks.  But sometimes, unglamorous chores have a way of presenting themselves.  Today (after much procrastination) was the day I needed to repair a section of fencing.  But before undertaking this job, I needed to drag the pasture so I could walk around without tromping through piles of manure.  So here is a picture of the broken fence rail, and the scotch harrow I use to deal with the manure:

For more about this scotch harrow and dragging the horse pastures, see my previous post entitled Non-Toxic Fly Control, which is, I believe, irresistable reading ;)

For more info on fencing, see my previous post entitled The Most Effective Fence Ever Grown?, and about other damage that has befallen our fencing see Still Cleaning Up After the Ice Storm of 2009.

Saturday’s Rant

Earlier this week, HP shot itself in the foot by announcing a) that they were seeking ways to jettison their $40 billion per year PC business, b) immediately killing all their webOS hardware products, and c) announcing their intention to totally restructure their core business to emulate IBM and Oracle as a software and IT services firm. As one might expect (except for HP senior executives), the market rewarded this news by devaluing HP stock by over 20% in one day (see chart). Approximately $16 billion in shareholder wealth vanished overnight. Good going, HP!

So on a personal note, I am now in a dilemma. I purchased a 32Gb TouchPad in July, shortly after it’s introduction, for $600. I don’t regret the purchase per se, as the TouchPad running webOS has proven to be phenomenal in my daily routine (I plan to write about my experience with the TouchPad on my blog soon). It has been transformational for me, to say the least. But now I see that the TouchPad is going to be dumped at fire-sale prices. The Touchpad is now being offered on hpshopping.com for as little as $99! At that price, I am seriously considering buying another TouchPad for Retta. It’s a steal, which might soften the blow of having overpaid for the first one by about $500 :'(