Goodbye, Chicken Barn

There was an old chicken barn on the property, which had been falling down for years and was a bit of an eyesore (though filled with lots of good scraps for building projects).  Enter Rob's backhoe:

Definitely changes our view!  There's so much space now that things are getting cleaned up (for perspective, if I had taken the above photo 2 months earlier, there would have been at least 8 broken down cars in the shot).  Our farm is taking shape!

As Jon furthers his knowledge about trees and shrubs, we are thinking about adding a shelterbelt/buffer zone and some variety to the trees on the property, which are mostly Manitoba Maples right now.  They are fast-growing but in their later years (now) tend to fall and break.  Eventually they will make room for more Oaks to push through, but now that we have more space we'd appreciate some evergreens and maybe some fruit trees.

An observation from Jon:  Ever since he moved here, this is how most conversations have gone:
"Oh, you haven't experienced a Manitoba winter yet??  Just wait, it's horrible!".  Jon said this morning that he thinks Manitobans secretly love the winter.  By going through hardship together and having something shared to complain about every winter we become closer.  I thought this to be a very astute observation by my husband!

Off to the barn to feed the chickens, rabbits, and cats.  Roseanne is recovering well from her spay, unfortunately there is another small female cat hanging around (click here to view my classified ad on eBrandon).  We don't really have any capacity to take on more cats, and so we're hoping she moves on when she doesn't find what she needs here.  As a cat lover, I find it frustrating and overwhelming that there are so many cats who need homes: If everyone would spay and neuter we'd be in a much better place.  The shelters are full, as are the online classifieds, and yet there are cats like Roseanne showing up and having kittens because someone along the line didn't do their part. 
We've re-homed 5 cats this year and spayed one mother, so I can feel good about that at least!  I need to keep my urges to rescue more cats in check, lest I turn into this: