Small projects

This week I will have lived in Arizona nine years! A lot has been done to the place since then. Big projects, like landscaping where there was nothing growing. Building a horse barn, complete with tack room, electricity, and cold and warm running water. Building a coop, aka The Poultry Palace. Installing water lines between the various buildings, and redoing them to ensure having running water even in the winter so we don't have to carry water between the house and the barn. Building shop/shed.

Now we are on the improvements and small(er) projects. Today Dan worked on improving the stall between Bueno and Buggsy so Cody could be moved back in his old spot. Bueno, being Bueno, took pleasure in intimidating Cody while he lived next door, and Cody felt more comfortable being across the aisle. This is until last week's snow storm which blew in from the west and, in spite of stall partitions on three sides, the poor boy had no protection and was totally covered in snow.

Dan is now making Cody's old stall wall taller and wider so that Cody can ignore Bueno, if he so desires, and he will have morning sun the minute it pops over the Chiricahuas. He will also not have to deal with hot afternoon sun. And, just a little unplanned nicety for us, Cody will not be able to help himself to hay if we happen to park the hay trailer a bit too close to that west stall.

I had the bright idea that a perennial herb garden would be nice around Italian prune tree. The perennial herbs, which I keep out of the garden so I can rotate garden beds, are now in pots that have a tendency to freeze in the winter. The rosemary that I have planted along one of the walks does beautifully, so why not thyme and oregano and some others? The only problem is the soil needed work as it was part of the building site and was compacted. So I have been at it with a little water and the pick, and the bed is now ready for tilling, manuring, dividing as an herb garden should, and planting.