More work on the closet

Back to the closet.... After we enclosed the building with the siding, I wired in the lights and receptacles. We wanted to place them within 6 feet of each other and we have liked having three lights down the center in the office, so we repeated that arrangement in this building as well.
It is very easy to "pull the wire". First, we decided where to place the recepacles (12" above the floor) and light boxes, they are attached by nails allowing for the thickness of the finished wall. We made sure the edge would end up flush after the wall was done.
Next, starting at where the main line comes into the house, we attached the wire (14 guage, 2 wires with a ground 'romex') to the frame about 20 " above the floor. Light swiches are about 4' above the floor. About 6" of the wire is left hanging out of the boxes, this gives you plenty of line to work with . There are great guide books for home wiring, the one we use is "The complete guide to home wiring" by Black & Decker , it has been invaluable.

Next is the insulation, we used used 6" fiberglass in the walls and 5" styrofoam in the ceiling. I cut each piece to fit exactly in to each place.

Plywood was cut and nailed into place to give the wall structure, then we put plastic over that to create a moisture barrier for the plaster so it does not dry too fast.


Richard is placing the start of the porch, these are the end posts set on j bolts to hold them just above the cement so they don't sit in water and rot.

Chickens Still growing

The chickens at almost 4 months and this one we call Sweetie will jump into your lap for a bit of graham cracker as a treat!







The veiw from the enterance to the coop, We put up the youpon poles for the chickens along the center posts, none of the birds use them, maybe it is too close to the top of the cage?

Resizing the Island and Taking time for beauty.

A walk with the chickens............

A rainbow in the distance.......against a beautiful sky and clouds.....

Turning flaming sumac leaves.....

Cactus in bloom....
And the resizing of our island.

We realized that it was hard for big dump trucks and cement trucks to maneuver in our drive , so it was necessary to shrink the center island and make the road larger. We just placed the cinder blocks stacked to establish the drive, so it was very easy to rearrange. It is now about 30 X 50 feet and so much better!

Someday we might build a short wall of them.......