A real tack room!

Not a lot to say this week, and I am aware this is actually almost two weeks late but you see it was a long holiday weekend and Francis took Tuesday off from work as well. I have been working and busy trying to get the gardens in to shape as well as ride, do chores and try to keep up with the laundry. As to housework, well, that is far down on the list these days......

Again he would say that he didn't do much, but it all takes so much time between running to the hardware store to pick up the bolts/screws/drill bits/ and other paraphernalia that is required to do all the " little" things, plus coming to my rescue when I need help with this that or the other thing. I also dragged him away to open up the swimming pool for the season. It is all rather a blur now. 

The picture on the left shows the current tack room space "BEFORE" we started the project. The tack room sits where a stall used to; the floor has been levelled and cemented over previous weeks.

repair of the joists-

He spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning preparing the structure. Joists of the ceiling ( floor above) had to be "lifted" and  repaired. In the afternoon framing of the tack room  commenced. It included "dry fitting" the two windows in to the spaces they would take up when the room is finished. Please note carefully the lack of safety equipment in the above photo-- no glasses, gloves etc. And YES he did injure himself and require immediate first aid as shortly after the picture was taken he injured himself!!!

We are repurposing one of the old windows from the house for the tack room wall that faces the alleyway. This window is not "functional" ( ie does not open) but will provide natural light. The second window isn't functional yet either as it is in the new inside wall he has built to help maintain the weight of the barn in preparation for fixing the leaning outside wall.  


We had discussed that we wouldn't be able to finish /close in the tack room this year due to finances. I had wanted tongue and groove pine and had priced it out and decided it was prohibitive to my budget, so would just wait- especially to do both the interior and exterior walls of the tack room. On Sunday we "played hookey" from the project and went to the trailer for the day. This is our summer getaway place and is on the Ottawa River on LeBlanc Island. Francis loves being at the trailer and his dedication to the barn project has robbed him of his precious trailer time, so this weekend I said we must go. Besides being a holiday Monday there was no hardware shop open to buy material anyway ( or so I thought). However, I came home on Monday night after working a 12 hour day to find my tack room not only framed ( he had done that earlier in the weekend),but also enclosed with a paneling that looks like barn boards. WOW! what a difference it makes.  He had carried all the saddles/ saddle racks, bridles and boxes of gear into the tack room and "organized" it- complete with nails on the studs to act as temporary bridle holders, etc. I have a tack room!!