Old corral

I started tearing down the old corral that was here when we moved. Husband came out to help and that made it go a lot faster! We got all the tin off yesterday and will wait till it's drier to bring the tractor up and get the posts out. There was tin on the three sides, as a wind break. You can see the rotted post laying there and the way the water runs off the mountain. It's been a mess and had become unsafe. Time for it to go. It was used for cattle in the past. It will be a big job, hauling off the debris and working to get the area level so we can put a fence back up. He might end up making a french drain there. We'll see when the area is cleared.

That looks like quite the project! It must feel good to get it all cleaned up and make way for something new and useful. My husband and I struggle with our place every day trying to work with the dilipaded barns, antique equipment and outdated tools. We cannot afford to upgrade and we're too stubborn to quit! Take lots of pictures of the process, it is always fun to look back once finished and admire the progress.

There were several features about the configuration of the corral setup that worked for me. But not sure we will put it back together the same. There is a chute area that is gated off. This is a perfect little place for me to put a clean horse so he will stay clean. The chute sides are made of old WW II iron runway panels. They make great wind baffles, but weigh a ton to work with. Not sure we will bother with them again.

We might keep the old tin sheets; who knows if they will come in handy?? We have a big pile of nice utility poles to use for corner posts. I don't know what all this corral area was used for in the past, but nearly every day some old iron, nails, or glass bits surface.

I thought of listing the old boards on a site, in case anyone wanted to use them for crafting. They certainly have patina!

This is what it looked like when we moved here 15 years ago. (Hard to believe we have been here so long--longest we've ever lived in one place.) Not sure when it was built originally. It was just kept cobbled together for many years.

Twelve years ago we moved where we are now. It was originally an old home stead and it's been interesting finding all sorts of stuff buried or half buried.

Lots of colored glass, hand made tools and nails.... We also have a big square corral made with treated railroad ties.

I wonder what folks will dig up here after we are gone? My missing pruners? My screwdriver? The gate chain?

Plan to work today getting the tin supports out. I advertised the wood on a FB group and some people said they want it. Will they show up before it goes on the burn pile? We'll see...

In my small paddock once I found a little porcelain dog about an inch in size. It looked like the little collectable animals that came in the boxes of tea my great grammy used to drink back in the sixties. I discovered it after a heavy rain storm. I think it had been buried but I don't know why. Maybe I had been playing with it when I was little and lost it there. Or my mom before me.

I like seeing pictures of the landscape around your home Marsha. It is so different than what is here in NH.

We have found alot of old medicine bottles oveR the years , all kinds of different sizes and colours . it would be great to track history of some of the things we find...

Cayuse, Rose Tea still offers those little figures made by Wade.....They can be collectible.

Ryan, the old medicine bottles can also be collectible......

It would be fun to see pictures of both the little dog AND the bottles!

Miniv, the little dog is gone! My mom misplaced it when she did some cleaning a couple of years ago. I had always kept it on the kitchen window will with a couple other items close to my heart and they "disappeared" all at the same time.

I keep hoping it will turn up somewhere. But I bet it ended up at Goodwill :-(

Miniv Ill have a look for the box of bottles tonight

Well, I've learned alot about demolition! I've taken it down as far as my strength and the mud will allow. Some of the rotten boards were holding up rotten posts. Some of the rotten posts were holding up rotten boards. Sometimes the eroded dirt was holding up something. It is certainly time for this mess to go. I'm a little worried about the nosy horses amongst the debris, but can't do much about it. Used the rolling magnet to pick up stray nails and wire bits. Miraculously, I have not hurt myself (yet).

Sorry you lost your little dog. Cleaning is always a dangerous time for keepsakes.

Someone came by today and picked up almost all the old lumber, old gates, and they want the tin and posts! Yay!! Not much clean up of debris to do. I did break a pry bar removing nails. Here is a photo of the WW II runway metal. I am hoping to reuse them, as they really make great wind baffles. and you can hang stuff on them. But they are HEAVY.