Spring Cleaning x 2

Image by girlwithpearls22 via Flickr

The standard line my husband reprises whenever he has an audience is the barn is cleaner than the house. Sadly, most of the time he is right (hard to believe that his favorite saying is right again). Until yesterday, when Michael (photo from DEN PreCon @PETE&C 2010--he is definitely a multi-talented hard worker) and his crew provided the much-needed balance in my life, bringing spring cleaning to home and barn (and solutions to my vexation with adding 2 email addresses to my Droid). Don't get me wrong; they do not house clean, but moving two kerosene heaters, two five-gallon containers of the fuel, and a huge treadmill to the new barn did wonders for my sun room. The basement looks good too, because they organized it last autumn (okay, I guess they do house clean too) and the relocated the winter items we hold there. All this movement gave me the impetus to get my farmhouse life in order, and I did. Slept a solid 12 hours last night too.

But the real barn cleanup began on Easter Monday, when Michael cut short his holiday vacation with his family (Brandy dyed 700 Easter eggs, works, raises 3 great girls, and has a business, but she's another post) on their farm in Sayre, NY. On Easter Monday, Michael and Harold swept the stalls clean, removing winter hay and moving in 2 huge industrial fans to help the girls cope with an unseasonably high range of temperatures, 80-85 degrees. Dangerous without fans because the girls are not clipped yet, and Rev, who is pregnant, (she's the dark chocolate Hershey Kiss in my life and 1st in line by the gate) minds the heat most.Thankfully, with the hay cleared, when the heat hit later that day, the fans ran, clear of debris that could create a fire hazard.

What does it take to keep a barn in order. Lots, especially when my husband told me when the llamas were arriving that he never wanted the barn to smell like a barn. And it does not. A promise kept. Life is good.