A little paint and a lot of sweat.

I am in Columbus, Ga. visiting my parents and there is a dapple and chocolate pony we've put up overnight in their back yard. It's something their neighbors have come to pretty much expect anytime that we come here for a visit. Later this morning we will load up the pony and drive him over to Livingston, AL about 50 miles from Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama.

Often, we stop off here after trailering a couple of horses to North Carolina's western mountains and back to our home in Brooksville, FL, or when bringing a horse back from somewhere after we've made a new purchase, or like this time, taking a horse for delivery that we have sold. Stopping here is a way to break up a long trip and to see my folks at the same time. They are in their mid-eighties. And, like most parents, they are glad we come, no matter what the reason.

My mom and dad live in a modest house in a modest subdivision about 7 hours from our small farm in west central Florida. They've lived here for more than forty years...since right after I graduated from Opelika (AL) High School in 1962. And, I guess I am fortunate that they have a decent sized back yard that is fenced where we can stick a horse or two overnight.

A couple of years ago, we stopped off here with a pair of black and white Spotted Saddles, and when we woke up the next morning, one of them was up the street in a neighbor's back yard. We still don't have a clue as to how he got out.

And, sometimes when we are here with a horse or two, the neighbor children come over. This is pretty cool, they think.

And, every time we are here, the next door neighbor's dog starts barking the minute we arrive and does not shut up until after we are gone. It makes me wish I owned a gun.

I wrote in an earlier blogging that neither my wife Annette or I are given to sitting still very much. It seems we are always on the go, and I think this is an indication of that. About five days ago I returned from a 7 day trip that began in Tampa, took me to Minneapolis, then to Winnipeg and on up north in Manitoba, Canada to the Port of Churchill on the Hudson Bay. In case you don't know, that's on the southern shore of the Artic Circle. Then, I returned home by flying into Denver before flying back to Tampa and driving the one hour to our farm. It was a long trip and extremely cold, especially for a Florida guy with thin blood. In a way, it is nuts that I hardly caught my breath before we loaded up three days later with this pony and set off on this trip, which will end on Friday afternoon once we get back to the farm.

We love our farm, and any time I get back there from one of my business trips, I feel extremely fortunate. It is not large and certainly not fancy. Next week we will celebrate our second Thanksgiving there.

When we purchased it in June, 2006, the property was a total mess. In fact, when we did our final walk through late on a Thursday afternoon, Annette cried and I had this sick feeling in my stomach. It had been several weeks since we had last visited, and in the meantime, its condition had worsened considerably from the bad state it was in already. We knew when we decided to buy that it would take a lot of work. But, the site of it on this last check was almost more than we could take. And, I told an upset Annette that she had until 8 a.m. the next morning to decide if she really wanted to take this step. Our closing was scheduled at 9 a.m.

We bought the place and moved here mostly because our daughter, Natalie, her husband Hutch and their four children Carson, Connor, Coleman and Ashton live about 20 minutes away. Annette and I were living in Jacksonville some three hours northeast in a gated community on a golf course. One day, as a throwaway line and thinking it might make me some points, I told her that since she had retired after 38 years of teaching, if she ever wanted to move closer to these four grandchildren, I would sure consider it. After all, I said, she had paid her dues.

She didn't believe me because I had been pretty much involved in Jacksonville for four decades, and we have two other grandchildren who live in Jacksonville. And, to be honest, I am not sure I believed it myself...and part of me thought it would never happen anyway. To raise the bar, I said we would need to find a place where we could live with our then boarded horses, and it would have to be very near a state forest or park where we could trail ride without hauling. That criteria, I felt, would be extremely difficult to meet.

Oops.

Next thing I new, Natalie and her mother were on the hunt, and somehow, they found what is today Spirit Woods Farm, sitting right there on 55,000 acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest and tons of beautiful horse trails. It was a run down piece of property that would take a ton of loving care and sweat. It had potential, but you really had to look hard to see it.

Back then, less than a year and a half ago, this weed infested place in Brooksville was a very long way and very different from the golf course house in Jacksonville. But, not today, thanks to the incredible hard work and dedication of Annette, along with the help of some neighbors who were thrilled for us to be there.

The Thursday night before we closed on the farm at the bank, I told Annette once again that we did not have to do it, we could walk away and it would be just fine. I also said that if she decided to go forward, I promised I would at least get the entire place cut and mowed before the sun set on Saturday, the day after our closing. I had no idea how I would make that happen.

We closed on Friday morning as planned.

The next morning, a man named Bo Bo and his wife arrived with their tractors and set out to cut down the wild and runaway growth that in many places towered higher than the few fences on the property. By sunset, it still needed a lot of work, but our new farm had a buzz cut, and it did look better. To celebrate, Annette and I sat on the tail gate of our truck, drank some wine and watched our first sunset, something that has now become an evening ritual. It was a wonderful beginning.

You have to know that it is very very hot and humid in west central Florida during the first week of July. And, that was exactly the case when we bought this farm. Imagine, among all of the other ugliness of the place, a two stall barn sitting in front of the house and visible from the road that looked as if squatters had been living in it for half a century. It was depressing.

Now, in my line of work, one of the first things I preach to my clients who want to make changes is that they need to send an immediate signal--an undeniable sign--that things are going to be different. They should demonstrate that hange is coming and it is starting right now, not tomorrow. You have to also understand that my line of work is cerebral, not physical, and I have never been given to doing things like building stuff or working in the yard, especially when it is hot. But, I looked at that depressing, ugly brown barn and said I was either going to tear it down, or paint it. Right then.

It was paint, I decided. Red paint with white trim. I went to Lowes and I bought as much red and white paint as I thought I would need. It turned out not to be enough so I bought more. And more. And I painted and painted. And, I drank water and more water. And there were times during that 100 degree Saturday when I thought I would just simply fall over dead.

I didn't die, and before the day ended and we had our second sunset of wine on the tailgate of our truck, the barn was no longer nasty. Instead, it was a bright and sparkling red with white trim.

The next day, that red barn and our mowed pastures and paddocks were like magnets attracting neighbors up our driveway to welcome us...and to thank us for making a difference in their small rural community. One of the visitors we will remember forever is when a lady who lives across from us came up the drive in her horse drawn buggy. It was the first of many of those kinds of joyful sights we have come to enjoy.

Now, if you want to get some idea of how our little farm looks now, you can check out the pictures over there on the left. It is sort of a testament to my wife, Annette, and her love for Spirit Woods Farm and everything that is associated with it, including and probably especially me.