The weather has been, as we say in the RAF Mountain Rescue, "honking." Like a wet weekend in Keswick, except I can't forget about work and go have a nice cream tea, or better yet, a pint.
So, we went driving around yesterday while the rain fell, and gathered up stuff we will need, eventually. I have all the electrical first and second fix materials in, as well as some plumbing stuff and heater duct for the old oil furnace, which we'll hook up, although likely not use.
The truck alternator seems well fixed, so there's that to be grateful for.
Yesterday afternoon, tired of waiting for the rain to end or at least die down, I slowly and carefully maneuvered the very heavy sliding glass patio door out of the garage, using the old garden trailer for a dolly or what Americans would call a "hand-truck," and on to the subfloor decking.
I was hoping to get some help for this job, but managed it on my own, going very slowly for fear of damaging the $450 unit.
Once it was out waiting on the subfloor decking, I may as well fit it, so I did, even though it was still siling it down.
Then, an early start this morning and the rough frames began to go in. By the end of the afternoon, we'd done a whole 39-foot wall, and half an 18-foot one, including a couple of completed window holes. This is the south wall, so there are four large windows and the patio door, to allow the sunshine to heat the room during the winter months.
Here's the chief builder and bottle-washer, reflected in that heavy old patio door, with a sheep in the background on the other side of the door.
In case you were wondering, we do have drawings. They're not full plans, just outline sketches and projections, done on the drawing board with t-square and triangle, just like they taught us at school in Sheffield.
They're not required by the town planners -- all we needed for the building permit was a sketch showing the measurements to the property line. The only things that will be inspected will be the septic and our plumbing. But I need them to explain to myself what the building should look like when I get done.
Otherwise it could turn out just about any old way it wanted!
Although my subfloor was supposedly guaranteed for 100 days of rain, it has warped. We've had around eight or nine inches of rain total in the last few days, enough to warp the subfloor and my brain. The sheep are like walking, soggy wet off-grey sponges.
Luckily, the damage is in what will be the utility closet, easily fixed.
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Welcome to our Farm Blog.
The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.
The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive and read backwards from there to get it in chronological order.
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