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The Best Present

Last spring, Mountain Man started building a new barn for me. He got the stalls built and the rest of the barn framed and then went to work on other (paying) projects. Now, he’s back working on our barn finishing what he can before the snow starts flying. It won’t be finished this year but I thought you’d like to see how it is progressing.

When you look at the pictures, keep in mind that Mountain Man has done EVERYTHING by himself (no help at all) including lifting all the steel on the roof, lifting all the walls, etc. Also, all the lumber (except the OSB board) has come from our timber and been cut and planed and finished by Mountain Man. It’s been incredible watching him work. He struggles into the house at sunset aching and tired but then he gets up the next morning and is hard at work again.

Here’s a retrospective in pictures.

First, we select the site. The horses are going to have about 25 acres of pasture and prime mountain views. I sure wish our house had the same views!

Then, Mountain Man starts on the stalls.

First up is framing the walls.

Next, with the help of our excavator and our tractor, he lifts and holds the walls into place.

In the morning, he stops to admire all the work he has done.

Mountain Man completed our three stalls and for the longest time our barn looked like this. Everyone who came by kind of wondered what the heck we were doing but I didn’t care.
This summer, as I grew more confident in caring for my horses, I realized I wasn’t going to use the stalls anyway. The horses were healthier and happier out in the pasture and had no interest in spending time in lock down but they needed shelter so Mountain Man whipped up a run in shed for me.
But with winter coming, Mountain Man wanted to get back to work on the barn. He started off by getting the other side ready. This side is going to have a giant tack room for me and another stall.
Drainage became an issue so Mountain Man got busy digging trenches and laying pipes to carry water away from the barn.
He followed the same procedure lifting the walls on the other side with the tractor and excavator. And, piece by piece, he lifts the metal onto the roof. While he is up on the roof, he gets the idea that I might enjoy having a huge cupola surrounded by windows; a place where I can go to read a book, do some writing and enjoy 365 degree views. He envisions it as a private sanctuary for me so he starts framing it. You can see part of it in this picture.
Here is our barn as it stands for the moment. I can’t get used to seeing walls where for so long I’ve only seen framing. It’s going to have lots of windows too but for the moment the window holes on my tack room are boarded up.
We’re also putting in permanent fencing although the horses haven’t even attempted to get near the electric fence. I think I’m more scared of it than they are.

Maybe some women wouldn’t even want a barn with old smelly horses but this has been my life long dream. And, even though he himself doesn’t understand why people would want to ride a horse when there are good old tractors out there, with every nail he has hammered, every piece of lumber he has planed, Mountain Man has thought only of how to please me with this barn.

I could share many other pictures I have of him hanging precariously off the roof, getting stuck deep in the mud digging out the foundation and struggling as he builds the barn but I could never even begin to express how much I appreciate this gift of the heart he is giving to me.

Thank you Mountain Man.