Progress Report end of 2010

It is hard to believe we have lived here 4 1/2 years. As in all things of time and space, it seems we have accomplished a lot having pretty much done everything ourselves. And on the other hand we have not started the main house which we thought would have been in the works by this time.

But as life takes us on this ride, or should I say "this adventure" we are learning to go with the flow and enjoy the process. What we realize is that each new finished project is a huge step in added comfort and ease of life, so that in its self is worth the effort! So in gratitude we carry on....

This has been a year of patience and caring for family. Not large enough blocks of time to do the big things , but we did finish the greenhouse (well almost) , the drive way is just the way we like it and it is keeping in good shape. The trees that Richard trimmed last year are filling in nicely . We got the annual rye planted so we have the green pastures.


The chickens are happy campers, all the permanent buildings are holding up very well to the elements. We are staying warm in the "room house" as our daughter calls it and we are so ready to finish the "shop" so We can have a cleanable warm kitchen with a solid roof!

Insulating the green house

We decided to insulate the ceiling of the greenhouse so it would retain the heat from the solar gain created during the day. We received the 19 R/ 5" fiberglass insulation for free from a building that was being torn down.

The rafters are 2 feet apart on center (meaning that it is 2 feet from the center of one 2X6 to the next 2X6 center) so the insulation should have just fit, but they kept falling. We put up nylon rope with roofing nails across the rafters to hold the insulation untill we could put up the plastic to hold it in place.


We found it easier to cut the plastic in short pieces , then we stapled them to the rafters.

More work on the Greenhouse

The change in elevation between the 2 sections was about a foot deep, so we decided to reinforce it with 2X4s pounded in the ground and screwed into from each board going across the width of the building.


Against the south side where the bottom board ended I took short lengths of left over tin and pounded them down into the soil and then nailed them to the frame.

I had our bobcat guy bring a load of super select (about 2 yards ) to the greenhouse when he was working on another project.

We received some free replacement ,double glazed windows. We planned on putting them up for the winter and taking them down for the summer. I bought vinyl edging to glue around them because they had very sharp edges . When I put them in place they cracked because of the pressure. We ended up custom ordering "sliders" with screens from HOME DEPOT
which will fit perfectly into the openings!
I left the cracked windows in place until the custom windows come in.

We learned that painting on the wood preserver / stain at this time is the best. This way we did not have to worry about over painting on the tin once it was up.
Next was putting up the shell made of tin. We only had 3 sides with a little cut work around the windows. Since we were working with recycled tin (there were rusted spots), I laid out the tin and calculated what pieces to use where before we started putting the sheets up.

Excitment in the neiborhood

Today a neighbors white cow was in search for her new born calf. Vaughn , the owner did not know that she had given birth and moved her to another pasture. There is nothing like the determination of a mother to find her baby!
So this cow tore through Vaughn's fence , ran down our street and tore through two other neighbors fences, including steel panel fences and an electric fence making her way to a large pasture miles from her calf.
A cowboy for hire ($75.00) with horse, trailer, dog and 45 years of experience came to lasso the cow and get her home. At the first try, 30 feet away , he caught her by the horns. She was then lead into the trailer and sent home.
A short time later a black cow , who had followed her buddy the white cow, through all the broken fences, made her way to this same pasture. Vaughn with a bucket full of grain coaxed the black cow down the road, back to friends and family. And that is about as excited as it gets around here on our dead end street.... I LOVE IT !!!

There was another funny incident in the local paper, I will write it verbatim....

At approximately 10:16 a.m., Officer Cary responded to the Lexington Food Mart on Hwy 77 and 5th Street to investigate a vehicle reportedly crashing through the front windows of the store. As officer Cary arrived the vehicle was gone and the owner of the store told the Officer that the known driver of the vehicle pulled up to the store and the next thing the owner remembered seeing was the vehicle jumping the two foot curb, crashing into the window and resting inside the store. The known driver exited the vehicle went to the beer cooler picked out a pack of beer took it over to the cashier and attempted to pay for it with a check. The owner in disbelief refused to sell the beer to the driver. While being refused the driver asked the owner of the store to hurry because the police were coming and the driver admitted he was on probation, intoxicated and did not want to go to jail. After the refusal the driver got back into his vehicle exited the store and drove off. The Lexington Police are attempting to apprehend the driver with a warrant.

More Pigeon coop work

Back to the Pigeon coop to finish the framing and put up the tin. Sometimes when working with recycled material there can be alot of rust. We have learned that the older tin being of a thicker gauge can be better than the new tin that is of a lighter gauge even though the older tin has more corrosion. The way to deal with the rust is to wash the tin with a soap solution , scrubbing with a brush. Then after it is thoroughly dry, spray on Phosphoric Acid (not diluted) let that dry, then apply paint, either a color or galvanized paint within 24 hours.

Richard made the door by clamping together 1X6 boards and attaching them with 2X6s across , top, bottom and middle. Then he uses 2X4s for diagonal support.