Discovery of a Blarney Stone and a Reverse IKEA Problem

Francis persevered this weekend through wind and rain/sleet- although most of the work this weekend was done inside the barn he still had to battle the elements to mix cement. As I was working 12 hours day shifts all weekend, my friend Marina acted as my surrogate and supervised the goings on and did the barn chores for us.

Friday afternoon say Francis removing the rest of the cement pad where the tack room will be. Remember last week he said it was coming off so well, he would take it all off and use the nice level cement beneath for the floor as it would be cheaper than building up about a 3x10 section up by 3-4 inches with cement? Well, it would have been except for some surprises found beneath the slab. We have always wondered why the slab was there... we know now ( or we think we do). You see Francis discovered 2 huge boulder/outcroppings of bedrock underneath.

The "Blarney stones"-- notice the are above the level of the
 surrounding cement

Stones after Francis has jackhammered the
points off so they are below floor level

Obviously when the barn was built over a hundred years ago, there was no such thing as jack hammers. So they just built "around" the boulders. Guess later when cement was added, they made it a bit higher in this one section to account for the outcropping of rock. So our cheaper strategy didn't work. Francis had to play with his new jackhammer toy and demolish part of the rock so it wouldn't jut up above the new floor he was going to pour. Of course, I said he may just have covered up our Blarney stone and the pot of gold that is underneath will now never be found. This all resulted in a new cement floor that is now roughly 10x 11 feet.... cheaper no- lovely? most definitely! AND he put some of Romy's old horseshoes into the cement where the doorway will be...( NO he was not artistic enough to make them look like a horse had actually walked in the cement-- he thought of this after the fact hehe).This project took the majority of the weekend.

Ready for new cement

Pouring new cement floor

    

Notice the horseshoes embedded in the new floor....

Lovely new "tack room" floor!

 You can see that Marina and I have already moved some of our tack ( riding gear) back into the "tack room"!! walls or no... trying to decide what to make the walls from is next design dilemma...

new "tack room" -- see we already put
our saddle racks and saddle it it!

On Sunday Francis went to town "cleaning" the barn. He moved an old car stored in the barn further down the alley. You see he so wants to get rid of this car, but my two boys don't want it thrown away-- it is an old VW Jetta and was my car and then their car in their teen years. Even Marina's two sons have memories of that old car taking them around the area to "various social functions" shall I say. If that car could talk I'm sure it would be x-rated most of the time....hehe . So for now, it is still in the barn, but now further down the alley. He rehomed a support post where the current feed "room"/area is. He moved all the old stall doors/lumber further down the alley to  open up a lovely space near the "used" area of the barn. Oh and he installed a drain into the floor near the door for when the rain/snow melts in spring and water may come in.  

temporary feed room and tool storage

He cleaned out old debris and yes he found evidence that I had indulged my passion for chocolate many years ago. While cleaning up garbage he found an old wrapper ( must be at least 12 years old and I haven't frequented the barn in all that time) of a Cadbury Snowflake--- if any one knows about Cadbury Flake bars-- they are sinfully delicious and melt in your mouth-- but the Snowflake was even better as it was made from white chocolate----oooh I do love white chocolate! I have introduced Francis to Cadbury Flakes (any British person will know what I'm talking about) and my children as well. They all have fallen in love with them. A favourite childhood memory of mine while growing up in England, is buying ice cream from the man on the beach- a "99"---   ice cream in a cone with a Cadbury Flake stuck into it-- bliss !!! Funny how suddenly something sends memories flooding back......

He finished the weekend by finishing putting the barnboard back onto the side of the barn that he had removed the first weekend of the job. If you remember, he removed it to do the new windows and put waterproofing wrap under it. Anyway, somehow between then and now we have a reverse IKEA problem. You know the one I mean.... when you buy something in a box that comes with instructions and bolts etc and at the end you have "extras" left over??? Hmmm- well, Francis had the opposite issue--- he has "lost " boards since he removed them- not really possible but somehow there were not enough to cover up all the wall now. So either they shrank with all the rain ( not likely), Pippa ate them ( she has taken to standing at that end of the barn everyday and had decided she doesn't want anything in her way--I had bought chairs and place there but she "moves them out of her way" everyday; or ?????? Anyway, we will now have to find some ( steal)  from somewhere else in the barn to finish off the one little corner...actually I think I know what happened-- Francis dug down ( note pile of earth at far corner) in order to get to the sill plate to replace it when he did the windows. I think the old "ground line" came up to where the barn board finishes as it is level with the top of the hill. 

Francis says he didn't do much this weekend- but the transformation in the barn is AMAZING. Even more so we can see the vision turning into reality......

The dogs and horses are developing a rather parasitic type relationship--- Bonhomme has figured out that Raphi's feed tastes great and so he takes every opportunity to go in and scavenge... Raphi seems quite content to share his breakfast and supper each day. He even seems to forgive them for barking and chasing him during the day...