Welcome back to another post update about the blogs favorite Pepper Boy, and the barn that has my heart.

As you know if you’ve been following along, Cayenne spent the summer in Colorado at my Aunt’s 80 acre property. It’s just too hot to realistically keep the horses in the valley at the family barn. Temperatures soared to 119 at some of the hottest points this summer, and my thermometers were definitely confused after California life. Fortunately, for me at least, the time has come and the big red gelding of the barn is coming back September 27th.

To prepare for their arrival, I have picked up some of the storm debris from the 80 mph winds we had recently. I so wish I had a before picture to accurately show you guys just how messed up everything was, but here’s the after above. The pine trees at the canal had a lot of upper branches crack off and plummet to the grass and walkway below, leaving needles and sharp barked branches scattered everywhere. I made quick work of those pieces, and into the wheelbarrow they went. Before that was a litter of pecan shells and smaller twigs; they were a bit more argumentative getting into my muck bin than the other stuff. However, after that I still had the messiest spot where a large half of a pecan tree came down left to pick up. It took at least three trips to the dump trailer to get it decently clean, flat and more or less normal looking. My goal was just to reduce how much work my family would have to do before they settled in at home after traveling for 10+ hours.

I especially made sure to take care of aunt Helen’s house since she has a lot of pinecones, and tree debris all over her patio. I felt bad looking at all her pots, plants and decor strewn all over so we fixed that. B and I made sure to tackle everything since it would’ve been a tough task for her when she gets back. She has two new knees and it was easy enough for us to conquer.

B also made quick work of the fallen RV spot, many support beams, awnings and such had broken free and collapsed in the storm. He placed them in a nice pile to be loaded when the time comes. My Aunt made sure to let us know she would be taking pieces down that stayed up so it wasn’t a problem to just pile them up.

Across the lawn, the pasture is overgrown and the lake is back. My goal is to have the water in the pasture pumped out by the time my Aunt gets back, as long as all the storms have disappeared. You’ll have to cross your fingers for us. It’s up to a horses barrel for sure, and is a ripe green mushy color. While I haven’t seen any mosquito larva or adults, it’s pretty gross to look at. I’m so glad the water hippo horses are all out of the barn so they can keep a safe distance from it haha. That being said, I’m afraid to wash the remaining unused troughs without draining it in case that triggers another storm. In a perfect world, I am going to scrub thouse before the 25th, but it truly depends on the weather.

I am quite happy to see Cayenne again, it’s been too long in my opinion. I can’t wait to love on him, and bring him back into work again. More to come on the horses, until then I hope you enjoyed a small barn update and a countdown to look forward to.