Everything you ever wanted to know (or not really) about cleaning a barn but were too afraid to ask

I took some pictures one Saturday of our daily barn cleaning activities. I only go to the barn on Saturdays or if I have a snow day. But I did go for 4 1/2 years (even when I was very pregnant with Van and Anna) pretty faithfully. I don't go on Sundays because I am running the Sunday School program and I need to be there at 8:45 or so. But Anna and Van go every day with Grandma or Daddy. And by every day I mean, every day from November until about April when we keep the cows out all day. I am going to give you a run down on what we do. When we first go into the barn, it looks like the above picture. Cows in the stanchions. You can see in the above picture two rows of cows but there is another row you can't see. There is also a calf pen in the back. That's Chip and Anna in the above picture.

This is a front view of the other side of the barn.

Ok, now the cows are out and it's time to get to work. This is the 'before' picture. Lots of manure and hay all over, the mats get moved around because the cows kick them out of place. PS. The barn is really old. Chip is doing it over this summer. I'll be sure to post pictures of that. So there are lots of holes, cobwebs, stuff falling down... sort of like an old barn. :)

Ok, this is the other side of the barn. These guys haven't been let out yet. Can you see the calf that got loose and is trying to get to it's mother? That means more manure scattered in places it shouldn't be. The cows sometimes do the same thing.

This is Chip working. The first step is to shovel all the manure off of the floor and the mats into the 'drop'. The drop is directly under the cows rears and where all the manure should be.

Here's the other side of the barn. Same deal. Mats need to be straightened, manure needs to be shoveled and the mats need to be swept after the manure is shoveled.

This is the calf pen. Those are new calf stanchions that we put in a few years ago. They are cool because you only have to move one lever and it opens up all of them to let the calves out. The ones for the cows you need to open individually. I believe that's Van cleaning the cow pen. This floor is always really messy (and slippery) because on the left hand side of the picture is the door that all the cows exit out from. And they poop as they go of course.

This is a new calf. She is in the barn because it is too cold for her outside. She roams free. And calf's poop just like newborn babies. A yellow mustard color. This calf is only a few days old. And that's Anna too by the way. :)

Chip and his dad working on the calf pen.

Van cleaning off the mats of the calf pen

Anna sweeping the hay. We usually use silage (chopped up corn that we grow) but on the cold day prior, the machine must have been broken and Chip wasn't off the day before to climb in the silo and fix it. Hay is MUCH easier and lighter to sweep.

Ok, you can see the mats are swept now. All they hay that they didn't eat is swept through and used for bedding at the edge of the mats. You can see my mother in law sweeping the floor next.

This is the beloved barn cleaner and Van. This is my favorite job personally. I always like to do it and Chip told me his grandma did too. I think because once it is done, you feel like the barn is really clean. So this chain like thing is at the bottom of the drop. It goes all the way around the bottom of it sort of like a pulley would. It goes to the hole where we are standing and our job is to scrape the paddles clean to make sure it all goes in the hole. It takes about 15-20 minutes. You can see Van working on a dirty paddle and the one to his left is clean.

Now we are onto the other side of the barn. This is the old fashioned way of doing it and since this side isn't connected to the barn cleaner, they need to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and go dump it in the other hole. Can you see Anna right there helping?

This is Adam in the drop pushing it into the hole.

And here he is doing it again.

This picture shows the barn cleaner going around. It's a little foggy because it's cold in there. The left side of the drop is clean, the right side is still going. And fun little tidbit: All three of my kids have fallen into the drop multiple times and have been coated in manure.

Last step: grit. You can see Anna standing in front of a pile of sand basically. They take the grit in their shovels and spread it around on the floor so when the cows come back in, they don't fall. All the hay is pushed to the edge of the mats and we have a clean barn until tomorrow morning! At this point I bring the kids inside, strip them and wash clothes. Chip will take the tractor and manure spreader out and spread the manure and then go back into the barn and spread out the insilage or hay. The cows go back in the barn around dinner time.

Winter time fun

We have been enjoying the winter sports this year. We have been invited twice to a friend's house which has a pond. They made it and it is absolutely beautiful! We have a few ponds on our farm so I told Chip that has to be one of his many projects- get it 'entertaining friendly'. :) They have a lot of hockey sticks, pucks, goals, brooms, a basket of skates and other toys for older and younger kids to play with. They have a fire pit where we have enjoyed hot chocolate, soup and warmth! They also set up a grill where we hung out and enjoyed ourselves until the late evening with the help of a big spot light. I am excited that the boys know how to skate and I think this is something they will enjoy doing with their friends for a long time.

Anna and Van are having a blast in the snow too. We don't have packing snow yet but hopefully we will in the next few weeks. They go outside every day when they go to the barn. We are invited to go ice fishing this weekend too. I have never been ice fishing so I am excited to take the boys. They are forming a nice little group of friends and I am enjoying taking them and doing fun things!

Dress Up

I think it's pretty safe to say that my kids don't play with toys that often. I mean, they DO, especially Van, but for Adam? He prefers the dress up bin. I am going to do a breakdown of the attire. I am pretty sure they are firefighters and the guns are their hoses, but you might just have to ask them for clarification. They are both sporting pj's. Van has on my father's correction officer shirt and an Amish hat. Adam is wearing a police man coat, a bat man winter hat and although you can't completely see it, a hard plastic baseball helmet atop of the winter hat. I want to do a blog about the thing hanging on the wall (my new behavior modification system) but I have just started it so I am going to give it awhile before I post about that. For now, just enjoy the above picture. :)

Ol' Dan Tucker

It seems like we go through phases here at the Furman house. When Adam was younger he liked to dance to polka. How we even came to realize this I have no idea. Then we were watching videos of Anna when she was an infant. (As an aside, I am happy to report that we even HAVE videos of our third child because they say with each subsequent child you have less and less. We do have videos of her. Her brothers are in them. They start out as, "Here is Anna at 3 months- and then Adam butts in with "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" But anyway, we have proof of her existence. :) And the other thing that amazes me with video is language development. You can have a million pictures but nothing captures how a child sounds, and the struggle to convey the message as a video would.) ANYway when Anna was a baby the choice of song was Lady Gaga. We have video to prove it. But now, Van loves the song Old Dan Tucker from the Wiggles. They got Wiggles cds in their stockings this year and Van loves to do the dance. If you google Old Dan Tucker on youtube by the wiggles you can see it. Van does all the moves and always has to have the hat (an Amish hat Adam wanted when we went to Lancaster). We have lots of video of Van doing the dance. It's pretty hilarious. And Anna enjoys it too as you can see.

It's been FOREVER I know...

The boys have set up some sort of fort area. Can you see Adam under the rocking chair? That's my favorite. :) Oh, and that they still have their pajamas on too. :)

And here's another angle. That would be my cusion to the benches in the other room, sitting on my coffee table and the other cusion is on the lounge chair. And a little surprise in my load of whites. I am pretty sure they are clean though. Anna is dressed for the day though. One point for me! :)

Ok, it's been 3 months. If you don't even look at this blog anymore, I don't blame you! Ha! I missed the first day of school, pumpkin party, Halloween, our hayride.... I get it. But I've been busy busy busy. Three kids, a house to maintain, Sunday School to run, piano lessons, and a brand new curriculum to learn and teach... life has been busy. But everyone is good. Here are some fun pictures that just make me smile.

Some things you should know about teachers

I have been thinking about this post for a while and I decided to write some things that people who are not teachers, may find handy. Some things I have just learned recently. This year is Adam's first year going to Kindergarten and I have to remember some things because I will be wearing the parent hat. Things that I find annoying as a teacher, I need to remember that as a parent. So here are some little tid-bits I have thought of:

1. If you are going to send in a birthday cake for your child (usually parents send in cupcakes but some do send in cakes) please provide forks, plates, something to cut the cake with, and no candles. The cafeteria staff often does NOT want the teachers involved in cafeteria related items. They can be somewhat soup-nazi-ish.

2. Teachers do not know about the following items and honestly, these type of things are not on their radar list of important details- when the chocolate lollipop order is coming, how to contact the class picture people, anything to do with cafeteria related issues, anything that happens in a special (art, music, etc.) and class yearbooks.

3. (I learned this one this year) When writing an absent note for your child, write their last name. So don't write, "Dear Mrs. Furman, Bobby was absent yesterday because he didn't feel well. Sincerely, Mrs. Smith" Write, "Bobby Smith". This makes sense since a lot of the students don't have the same last name as their parents. I just noticed when I got the notes back from the office, the secretary always wrote in Smith.

4. Speaking of attendance, perfect attendance isn't something that is really really REALLY important. If your child is sick, or if you want to bring them to a Broadway show or something, by all means, keep them home. Some parents make a HUGE deal out of perfect attendance and honestly, we say their name at the end of the year and they get a pencil. Don't drive yourself crazy over that one.

5. If the teacher contacts you about something negative that happened that day, it's a pretty big deal. I don't know any teacher that contacts a parent over a minor infraction, or if they weren't warned multiple times. So if you get a note or a phone call, PLEASE address it with your child. We are really hoping for that.

6. I know what your husband wears to bed, and how much he spent on your Valentine's gift and where he got it. I know the name of your parents' dog and what you had for dinner last night. I know if you took the door key from the Disney Resort as a souvenir and your phone number at work. Just saying.

7. Don't' try to pull, "Oh, I have no idea what you're talking about, Johnny, never had a problem like this in years past." We have every report card and comment and parent contact and referral from Kindergarten in the folders and will often contact past teachers.

8. Last year I had a parent tell me her child was the smartest child I would ever have. I don't recommend that. We'll figure it out pretty quickly if your child is smart.

9. Teachers spend A LOT of their own money. I don't know a teacher that doesn't spend out of her own pocket for prizes, school supplies, coats for kids, snacks, holiday gifts, books, books and more books, and just general supplies.

10. Your kids are constantly on our minds. What would work best for this child? How can I get her to do this? How can I get her to stop this? Would this be better? etc. Honestly, we become a little family. We are with these kids ALL day long, all year long. We have dreams about them. And we REALLY REALLY want them to succeed.

Our little reader

So we're three for three. All of our kids love books. Anna has taken to Big Red Barn, and any other farm books. Unfortunately, you can see a page she is sitting on. Even though it is a board book, she seemed to rip part of a page off. I taped it back. :)