For the last three days, I’ve been in Grass Valley. The renters moved out and I needed to look at the property – and then make plans to fix what needed to be fixed.
At first, when I saw the condition of the house, barn and grounds, I was really angry. How could they treat this place like they had? I DON’T EVEN HAVE A BARN ANYMORE! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A BARN AND AN ARENA AND FLAT SPACE AND A WASH RACK AND A HAY BARN!! HOW COULD THEY NOT APPRECIATE IT HERE?!
But then I decided that anger wouldn’t get me anywhere and … that’s just one more thing they took from me: my happy… so I decided that turning the place around and making it the heaven it was – would be such a treat for the new tenants. So that is how I decided to think about it all.
You see, the new tenants viewed the place when the old tenants were still living there (no comment) – and they still wanted it. They could see the bones of the property and that it was a lovely setting.
So… cleaning it all up and bringing it back to how it was, would be a gift to them. And that was a good thing.
(It took two, 3-person cleaning crews all day to clean the house. The stalls had 6″ of compacted manure… you can probably fill in the rest… .)
But, we did it. The fence guys still have a few days of work. We still have to weed whack, the handyman has to do his thing and someone will do a dump run… but all in all, it was great work. Everyone came together to . make it happen.
And the house, barn and trees were grateful. I could feel it.
And so was I. Very grateful. I love that property.
I had been packing the car to – leave for Grass Valley -with the doors opened. I didn’t even see her until I had already backed out of the driveway. I took this photo as soon as I saw her. She is looking ahead… “LET’S GO!” Poor Scouty had to stay behind.
In Grass Valley, the grounds were so lovely and green. So many trees! Yes, we lost several due to the drought, but we have so many… I LOVED walking around them. The previous tenants kept horses in this pasture so the grass was short.
The seasonal creek was running! After big rains, it is very swollen.
While inspecting the fences, I saw this twisted branch…
It is so lush over in the next pasture where no horses grazed… perfect for rotating horses in the pastures.
And tonight, I made it home just at sunset. (Paso Robles is 5 hours away from Grass Valley.). I let Norma, Gwen and Dodger into the big pasture. Annie/Mo/Missy Miss have eaten it all down so the older horses are safe to graze tonight. Sigh. Peace. No more worries. The new tenants signed the lease as I was driving home.
