Moving the Stock Tank to a Safe Place in the Back of my Garage

In May of 2015 we had electricity run from my main power pole to the barn because there was a water hydrant out there (dug many decades ago) hooked up all the way underground to my water in my basement. We brought the horses home in June of that same year and, initially, that’s simply where they hung out, that’s where I fed them, where I put up their red fence corral, where I stored their hay and where their water tank was. We cleaned out the old lean-to off the back of the barn for their shelter too. Sadly though, as many of you already know, this last record breakingly awful winter was too much for my old barn (and thousands of others) which means it is truly no longer safe.

Even before this my hay was getting damp, dusty and moldly in the barn and my horses refused to use the lean to off the back for shelter. So, I spent several weekends last summer cleaning out my Grandpa’s old machine shed (which my ex absolutely trashed) for their hay storage and for their shelter.

It went so much better then I could have hoped and now it seems like it was made for them! Almost every morning this long last winter I would see them safe and sound in their new little shed, enjoying the south facing sunshine. Such a relief!

But there are three things my horses need and I only moved two. They also need water of course. But their water requires electricity so I can plug in a tank heater to keep it from freezing all winter long. But there was NO WAY I was keeping their water out in the barn anymore or electricity hooked up out there either.

(FOR REAL I was having nightmares of the front wall of the barn falling and taking my power pole down with it! I got the barn unhooked from the pole ASAP.)

But where was I going to put the tank?

If you read my Summer-to-do-List post you already know my solution.

I was finishing my garage this summer anyway complete with electricity and insulation. My horses already have full access to the back of my garage because I also expanded their horse pasture last summer.

It would still force them to get some exercise to get to their water AND it would get them as far from the barn and as close to me as possible. Safe and sound.

My friend Rachie came over and helped me in mid April (actually it was on Good Friday) to cut the hole in my garage and move the tank into it (which is why I actually have pictures this time that include me in them!)

Unfortunately (and isn’t that just how it ALWAYS goes?) all eight of my livestock mats were exactly where I wanted to put the tank. DKAS;HFH UINZVB@!!!!!! THESE THINGS WEIGH 100 POUNDS A PIECE. I looked it up because I knew it had to be over 80 and this is how one website described them: “The tiles are not rollable, they weigh about 100 lbs each and are not very portable.”

And you know when a website describes them as “not very portable” that you’re in for a bad time.

Rachie was nice enough not take a picture of me collapsed on top of them and trying not to die…

It is literally everything I can do, throwing everything I’ve got at them. They’re just ridiculous! I ended up “rolling” them (kinda) so they basically flopped over longways which was actually easier than trying to drag them. I got my butt kicked!

What would have been a really quick job: Cut a hole, move the tank and DONE ended up laying me up with a sore back for two days.

For those of you who are probably wondering: YES, it was kinda awful to cut a hole in my garage but after going over this and over this, it was my BEST solution and I am very happy I did it now!

After cutting the hole we slid the tank out about two feet. Because my garage slab is a few inches higher then the grade I used some leftover lumber to support the tank on the outside which ended up not doing anything at all because it turns out my slab actually slopes toward the center of my garage so my tank isn’t touching the wood at all.

(I’ve since replaced that wood with cinder blocks and I’ve also put in a header to support that stud I cut above the tank.)

The ground was still frozen at that point so I just screwed a 2×4 to the garage to hook their fence to in the meantime. I will be putting in new posts and wrapping the tank in insulation eventually. I will also be boxing it in (with an insulated cover) so it can double as bench seating in my garage.

I AM HAPPY! This is going to save me money in electricity this winter because the tank is so much better protected and my horses never need to go out to the barn again!

On top of that this lazy forgetful girl is also thrilled because I’m literally parking, every day, ten feet from the tank. I don’t need to freak out and worry and remember to run out to the barn to see what the water level is anymore!

What a relief!

There are two more things still on my wish list though.

The first is a large, heavy duty hose reel to make it easy to tuck the hose away when I’m done filling the tank. I’ll be mounting it as high as I can and I hope that if I slowly reel the hose in it will then totally drain of water so it won’t freeze solid in the wintertime and thus I won’t need to bring it in to thaw it out every time I need to fill the tank!

The second thing is not quite so simple. I’ve wanted for years to put an outdoor spigot on the front of my house. Right now its no big deal to run hoses around to my back deck but this winter will be a different story.

I’m going to be replacing all the stone and stucco on the front of my house with regular siding anyway. So, that’s actually the perfect opportunity to put a new spigot there! I’m also going to go ahead and add another outlet on the front of my house too, as the only outlet I have on the front now is in my flower bed.

June is feeling wonderful after we had such an ugly cold and rainy “spring” but, honestly, after that ridiculous winter I’m just glad the air doesn’t hurt my face anymore!

My grandma’s perennials in my flower bed, along with all the milkweed I planted for the monarchs, are looking good! Next week I’ll show you how I made some “irrigation” for my new raised beds in my vegetable garden and for my flower bed using old leaky hoses.

For those of you that read my summer to do list you know my two big jobs this year are finishing my garage and ripping the stucco and rock off my house. I am progressing on the rock and stucco and this tired girl will be VERY glad when that job is done.

I am so sick of, and I cannot stress this enough, manual labor!

I’m also progressing on yard and garage clean up. How on earth is there MORE trash after all the trips to the dump I made last year?!

Actually, I figured it out.

Going through my garage again I realized that everything in my life has an expiration date of sorts. (I was not aware of this until now – I really thought I got rid of ALL OF MY CRAP last year.)

So it seems that if I’ve owned it for a certain amount of time and haven’t used it then it literally turns into crap to me. So, exactly fourteen garbage bags worth of things that I kept last year I guess hit their expiration date for me this spring…

I even gave away a trolling motor and an old boat my dad gave me because they hit their expiration date this spring too I guess…

I don’t feel like I have ANY say in this matter whatsoever lol It is what it is!

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!