It looks like we are making progress on permitting. Building and Development gave us a partial permit a few weeks ago for the driveway and the Pole Barn. So, we were able to contact the construction people who are doing the barn and at least get on their schedule. Unfortunately, at the moment the date they can expect to start is January, 2024. We are hoping that once fall hits, however, things will slow down and that date will get moved up. Fingers double crossed.

The last hurdle for the Arena was getting Stormwater Management to come out and finalize the boundry of the wetland nearest to it to confirm our building wouldn’t impact the wetlands on the property. Our arena is close to one of them. They came out a few weeks ago. They told us one part of our fencing had to be moved away from the wetland and then there were questions back and forth, but they did finally give us a LONI, which is a letter of no impact.

So, we reprinted the engineering maps with the new fencing boundry and re-submitted those to building and development. So, finger’s crossed (yet again), we will be getting our full Agricultural Exempt permit soon and can move forward with building the arena. Of course, I’ve said that numerous times before and there is always something else.

In other news, our generator that we use to get water from the well died (we don’t have electricity yet). The generator was given to us, so we didn’t lose any money on that end, but we did need to purchase a new one. We haven’t really used her (it) much yet because we are having trouble with our well. (Of course we are.)

The water comes out for about 10 minutes and then stops. That’s a problem when you have to fill two 100 gallon stock tanks. That’s pretty much a problem, no matter how much water you need. So Heumann Well in Johnsburg has been out, twice now to fill our water tank with water, which is very much appreciated, so the horses have water. Heumann’s is trying to get to the bottom of what is wrong, but so far it’s a work in progress. If you need well or water softener work, we would recommend them. They are very nice and work hard to get things right.

Shelter
Since we don’t know if we will have our arena before it starts to get cold, we have begun to build a VersaTube shelter for the horses. We got the kit from Menards and Kevin, Rachael and I began work on it two weekends ago, and hope to get it almost done this coming weekend. Or at least before it gets cold. It’s 30 x 12 and comes in a box that isn’t huge, but weighs like 1,000 lbs.

And then you just take the metal pieces and fit them together and screw them down.

This is how far we got the first weekend. Harley likes it.

Versatube sells garages and carports in kits like this too, so if you’re looking for something like this, we are pretty impressed with it so far.

So, in all, we are moving forward inch by inch, the problem is, so is winter and cold weather. If anyone knows of a way to heat stock water tanks without electricity, let us know, as we are currently trying to figure that out, in case we don’t have electric before the temps get down to freezing.

And lastly, Princess says hi. The trees nearby work great as shelter and keep the bugs a little more under control.