We traded in our Dodge 1500 SLT Hemi for a 2008 Ford F-350 Lariat. Unlike most F-350 owners, we opted out of the dualie option to increase ride quality and drivability on narrow back country roads. This truck redefines horse hauling luxury in the world of 1 ton trucks. At speed the ride is smoother, more comfortable and less noisy then many touring sedans. We’ve got a Leer truck cap on order that should arrive in two weeks for installation.

Nancy will be hauling Eef to a riding clinic on Sunday in the new truck. I had to get a hitch with a 5 1/4” drop in order to hook up to the Brenderup trailer. I gave it a test drive w/ the trailer and I could hardly tell I was pulling a load.

Yes, I’m alive! I’ve an enormous backlog of posts regarding various projects and goings on at Casa Pecor and Oak Hill Stables. Not the least of which is my boxwood transplant project. This photo was taken back on April 22^nd, after I had begun moving the mass of small boxwoods visible in the background into a more orderly progression along the walking path. My brand new John Deere tractor backhoe attachment (more on that later) helped me dig the 18” deep trench in short order. In fact, the backhoe has proven invaluable during the upheaval of each boxwood, which you can imagine is a careful process. I’d slowly work my way around each boxwood with the backhoe teeth and bucket, loosening the soil until eventually I could dig down and under the root ball and lever up the entire bush.

The photo above was taken on May 8^th and shows some progress. So far I’ve moved 24 boxwoods. I have about 8 more to go before the path is fully lined on its way toward the kitchen’s brick patio. This project was placed on the back burner in order to get some pasture mowing completed before we trucked off to a horse show in Pinehurst, NC. Now that we’re back from the show, I’ve still more pasture mowing to finish before I can finish transplanting boxwoods. Hopefully on Friday I’ll be back to this project. Next week I hope to clean up the garden beds between the boxwoods and the house in preparation for an english cottage style garden bed!