Double Time March .

March is near an end, it has been warm and dry. Most of the snow is gone.

It is chilly in the morning and you still need a hat when putting out the hay.
I think I have about the best drive to work possible. Except the "no drive" work situation is still always the best, I think.

I take the back roads from Forest Lake to Stillwater. It is scenic and rolling and you always see deer, turkey, pheasant, happy cows, hawks, raccoon or something.

I work at a horse barn that happens to have a tree service attached to it.
I feel I can fit in to a place like this.

Today I helped the morning chores. Richard put out the hay before I got there so I just started putting them out.

Every barn is different. One of the unique things here is the topography. We are adjacent to a creek falling into the Saint Croix River.

The grounds are essentially three tiers.

The lower one, south and east (towards the St. Croix) is three large paddocks.

When you leave the barn out the back; if you go right, and after passing six medium paddocks, you go down about fifteen feet to the lower big three paddocks.

The Barn is laid out in an "L" shape on the second tier. The older barn is the short leg of the "L".

If you go out the door of the old barn and take a left; you go up about twenty feet to the upper tier. There are three medium paddocks, then three more and then in the way back is a huge paddock for the herd and even more wooded rolling ground for trail riding.

If instead of going up the hill, you exit the old barn and go forward you get to a large pole barn housing a tree service.

Putting out and bringing in the horses is a fair amount of leg work. Not just is it way over there, it's also up there; or down there.

I am comfortable in both buildings and work in both on a regular basis.

Today for example, I put out the horses, cleaned the stalls, swept the barn then went for lunch.

Then I came back, grabbed my climbing spurs and jumped in the truck into Stillwater to climb and drop some small Norway Pines.

We were in a nice old ladies backyard and we didn't want to damage any of the other standing trees nearby.

Mike and I got there no problem. I got out and was immediately greeted by a fierce little rag-hound with a bandanna and a yap that didn't quit.

It was the funniest thing, he meant business, and was fast on those little feet.

I just ignored him.

She boxed him up. I climbed and Mike worked the rope. The pines were dead, but two needed to be topped to prevent damage to the other trees. The other one we just notched and dropped, with a line for control.

The sun was out but it was chilly, I even wore my barn coat climbing up the tree.

We packed up and came back home, her son was going to do the clean-up.
I filled out my time card and left the barn/tree service for home by three pm.

Tomorrow is Friday, payday.