Showing posts with label barn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barn. Show all posts

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Three-day weekend

One rafter girt up. Another one will go on the backside of the posts after the rafters are fastened down.
Here are most of the rafters up, but still needing their lower ends tied down with the metal hurricane ties.

The garden is coming along nicely. Except for the amaranth. So far, not one seed has sprouted, so it looks like we'll try our mangel beets here later this summer. We've been able to harvest lettuce and spinach and some beet thinnings.

And of course, Newt being cute. She just had to jump on top of the barrow full of Stella's green chop.

Stella is learning to back up on voice and hand command. Next up is learning to walk forward on command, which is easier to teach with copious treats. Toshi is taking to his role as man of the flock quite well. He scouts out choice bits of grain and bugs for the ladies and calls them over to partake. He also makes sure everyone gets to bed on time. His occasional attempts at mating have so far not met with success, but he's still young.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Barn-up, part 2

After setting batter boards and making sure everything was nice & square, it's time to dig the 3ft deep post holes.

Naturally, one post needed to go next to a giant old black locust stump. Lots of roots to chop through to get to the bottom.

Cleaning up the jobsite for the day. Three posts set and waiting for the concrete to dry before backfilling with dirt. Check out the handy dandy livestock-exclusion fence. Critters are very helpful with dumping out nails, chewing hammers, and general inspection work. The next step will be the rafter girts, that support the rafters. Since the slope on this side will be a bit less than the other, we're doing 12" centers. The upper ends will tie into the existing rafter girt with hurricane-strength joist hangers. We get snow and wind here, so we need to build everything heavy duty as possible.


Last, but far from least, Newt decided to be cute in the lawn furniture I stacked in hte drive so I could mow. A perfect vantage for spying on Crichton and lording over the canines.