Pressure Washing

This post contains some gross images. Do not read if you have a weak constitution.

This week I had the amazing opportunity to do some deep cleaning where some deep cleaning needed to be done...the barn. Rubber mats sit on top of the concrete floor in the barn. Beneath these rubber mats lies a disgusting marshland of horse waste. Each year as the weather warms and it is no longer necessary to bring the horses from the pasture to the barn on terribly cold nights, the horsemanship staff takes the pressure washer and blasts away at the marshland to reveal the gray cleanliness of the concrete. In previous years, the mats were flipped over on top of each other, sprayed, flipped back into place, and then sprayed again (they are very heavy and this took a very long time). Last year, our Ranch Hand had the idea that we should create a mechanism to set the mats on and then be able to spray the mats and the concrete without doing any flipping of the mats. Both the mats and the concrete are able to dry and lucky individual does not have to do any moving of the mats in the process.
It works rather well, but it is a few days' process. Day #1-I tied the ropes across the stalls on which to hang the mats and two of the kind maintenance guys lifted the mats onto the ropes for me. Day#2-I took out my handy-dandy pressure washer and wand and blasted away at the nastiness. Day#3-The barn finished drying. Day #4-Katie and I moved the mats back into place (there are 78 mats in the barn).
The glamorous part of the entire job was that on Day #2 as I was spraying, some of the old manure rushed into the posts holding up the barn and came flying back onto me. It's safe to say that I showered in manure that day (I did shower for real later on, I promise). I'm very glad that chore is done. And I am very glad that I only have to do it once a year.
I would've taken pictures of the process, but frankly, I didn't want to expose my new camera to such grossness.

Here is one of the lovely creatures who donates to the mess I have to clean up.