is there anyone available with a truck to pick up building supplies for me on friday afternoon or early on saturday...

we have hooked in this really nice builder man and he can build the new pig pen this weekend so we can permanently separate charlotte and Wilbur with decent pens of their very own..

I have tried to look at this realistically...A. money is really tight and B. quite frankly I do not think brad will be around forever, I think he is a senior pig and C. I absolutely am never taking in big pigs ever again because none of them are easy to care for here like ellie!

so..I have decided to renovate a new pig pen well but in a more temporary manner. when brad does eventually naturally pass on, I can move one of the younger pigs to his area and then I can dismantle the new pen and give the barn guys back some more space. I am planning on using our portable horse corral for the new pen fencing and just adding a post and a gate which will greatly save on the cost of fencing. closing in part of the barn yard undercover area will give one of the pigs a nice roomy house and be cheaper than building a new one. we will put in a wood floor covered with stall matts instead of the usual permanent cement pad. it all should come together pretty easy, it should last for a few years at least and it will be easy to dismantle when it is no longer needed. it is a good plan (if it works the way I think.)

I am re-thinking the ultimate lance outside kennel plan too. it will be an expensive and labor intensive project and now I am not sure lance will even be staying over in that dog room. we will still up the yard fence to 8 feet cuz he does need a safe yard to hang out in. but I am thinking of moving him to the computer room and then his free in and out roofed and enclosed kennel yard can be the already existing front cat run. that should save a ton of money instead of building something entirely new.

there is so much that needs to be done or re-done or tuned up around here. we still have to buck up brads pen and make it stronger and more fool proof safe, brent is on top of that. we need to get ready for winter and get all of the air conditoners out and the heaters moved back in. we absolutely have to fix the floor underneath the dog room fireplace by building a proper tile covered hearth because they have peed there so many times, the urine has soaked into the fireproof pad and the smell of ammonia accumulating now is BEYOND horrid...it is driving me insane. I bleached the shit out of it tonight and it did not help all that much anyway. I need that fixed asap or this place will continue to smell gross and neither the animals nor I want to live in a gross pee smelling house.

money is always such an issue...I need to be careful where it gets spent. we have taken a couple of big unforeseen financial hits recently and I need to take that into consideration when coming up with new plans...priorities need to be set within realistic cost.

big sigh..that kind of sucks.

man..if I could just stop having to think so hard for even a week or two..i bet my head would stop hurting.