The Barn Frame

Today the guys made more progress on the framing. They ran out of pegs so we decided to that they would make their own. I ran into town and got some dowels and they made pegs. The weather was great for working on the barn. The sun was shinning but the feel of fall is definately in the air.

The Last Big Bent Is In Place

Everyone was here by 7:00 am this morning to begin working. The last big bent was in place by about 8:00 am. Things were going pretty good this morning until Mike realized that the floor wasn't in any of the piles of wood. I tried to call Orva but got voicemail. I even called Mike L to see if anything had gotten left behind and he said no. So now we can only assume that the floor was destroyed. If this is the case I'm very upset that Orva didn't let me know what had happened. We decided that we would order new flooring from Menard's and hope that Orva will give me a refund on some of the barn.

We had to replace some of the posts, but we had some that we had gotten earlier in the summer from a barn near Anamosa that was being torn down and Nephew M was able to make a new Mortise and Tenon post.

We also realized that the perlins are missing too!

We wrapped it up today by 1:00 pm. Below are photos of the progress today.

Three Bents Are UP!

Nephew Mike, two of his crew, and Mike begin raising the bents today. Work started around 8:30 am. The sun was shinning but the temps were very cool- it feels like fall already.

It took about 3 hours to get the first bent in place. It was a trial and error game as the guys figured out where to put the straps so they could maneuver the big frame work. At one point the machine we rented to help lift the beams in place almost got stuck. With some creative thinking they got in "unstuck" and moved to a dryer section of the yard to work.

After taking a quick break for lunch they were back at it. The pictures below show the progress. By quitting time three of the bents were in place. Tomorrow work continues to put the last bent in place and I think they will start working on the flooring for the loft.

The Bents

Mike and his crew arrived a little after 7:00 am this morning to begin working on the barn. There was a chance of rain but it held off while they were working. When Mike and I got home from work the crew had put together the 4 main bents! We were very impressed- that was alot of work. Nephew had called us earlier in the day and asked us what we wanted to do with the repair on some of the beams. We decided to "band-aide" the beams to keep them original. Considering the barn is probably 100 years old we know that it's not going to be perfect. That's what is so beautiful about the barn!

As I write this entry (it's about 7:00 pm) it definately feels and looks like rain. I can hear the thunder. I think the crew made the right choice by deciding to hold off on working on the barn until Thursday.

Mike called around today and rented a high reach a 6k High Reach Fork Lift to be delivered on Thursday so that the crew can begin putting the bents in place.

The pile of wood is getting smaller!

Change of Plans

When Mike and I woke up it was promising to be another beautiful day. As I prepared some potato salad and various other things for lunch Mike went down to start sorting the timbers. Nephew Mike showed up with his two daughters Reegan and Brennan around 9:30 am. As the guys developed a plan for beginning to put up the beams the girls and I decided to make more Spaghetti Sauce.
We went to the garden and checked for ripe tomatoes, picked what we could and headed back to the house to clean them and make sauce. As we were busy cutting up tomatoes, peppers and onions for the sauce the guys came in and said we needed a hoist to lift the beams. We have now changed the plans a little- Nephew Mike and his crew will be coming up on Tuesday to begin assembling the bents and then on Wednesday (fingers crossed) they will begin setting them in place. Our main concern is that we need to get the barn up and winter is fast approaching.
As we discussed the plans the girls and I managed to keep working at our task of making Spaghetti Sauce. We canned seven quarts today!

Adding the Sill Plate and Smoothing the floor

I woke up to the sun shinning and to Mike trying not to wake me up as he came into the bedroom to change clothes. He had been up since 3:30 am this morning so that he could go to his part time UPS job.
I got up and while I got ready for the day he laid down and snoozed for about an hour.
Mike got up and went down to start working on the wall. I had a few more things to tend to in the house before I could go down and help him. Before I could get down there he was back at the house asking me to make a trip into town for some more lumber. So off I went to Lowe's to get some lumber. It didn't take me too long to get down to the store and back.
Mike finished the insulation and the sill plate today. Then we mowed- I did the field and he did the front yard. I also had to do some weeding in the gardens. Later in the day Mike got the Skid Loader out and started smoothing the floor of the barn.
Tomorrow my nephew Mike will be up to help us as we start to put up the beams! On Thursday as I was shopping at the Livery Stable, John (owner) said that he and Mr. Schlicht (my High School Biology Teacher) would be interested in helping us when we started to put the bents up! That will be a tremendous help to us!

The Foundation is Done!!!!

Mike and I both had a vacation day today so as soon as he got home from working his part time UPS job we began working on the wall. It was about 8:00 am. The forecast called for rain and it was cold for August. We worked until around 11:00 and that's when the rain became a steady stream. We had been working in a drizzle most of the morning, but when it started raining harder we packed up and went up to the garage to see what the radar looked like. The radar showed that rain was pretty much covering us but the forecaster said that it should be clearing around 1:00 pm. We got some lunch and by 1:00 pm it was still raining. We both ended up taking a little snooze while watching TV. Oscar, our cat decided he'd take a snooze on me as I reclined in my chair. I woke up because Oscar was sitting on top of my chest and after a while thirteen pounds sitting on your chest gets a little uncomfortable. By this time the sun was back out and we headed back outside to work on the core fill.
Bucket after bucket.....both of us feeling it in our backs, but we kept going. Finally around 7:00 pm the last hole was filled!!! I can't tell you how glad I am that the cement work is done!

Saying Good-bye to Our Beloved Hound

Today we said good-bye to our beloved German Shepard Shadow who had been a huge part of our lives for the past 14 plus years. The day started out like any other day (except it was Mike's 45th birthday)- it was Monday and it was raining so I had Mike take Shadow out to the kennel for the day. The routine for many years has been to grab some bones for the dogs and take Shadow out to the Kennel to spend the day with Cheyenne. Today would end that routine. I got home before Mike and went about checking the gardens to see if anything was ready to pick. By the time I got done Mike had gotten home and was walking down to see what I was doing. Normally by the time Mike got out of the truck Shadow was greeting him with his barking. Mike commented when he got down to the garden that Shadow had gotten up but went and laid back down. I think both of us just thought he was hot (it was pretty humid) but we both thought it strange because if Mike was anywhere within sight of Shadow the wailing and barking begin- he just wanted to get out to be with Mike.

We finished in the gardens, walked back up to the garage and I went inside to get a bath. When I finished I went down to the basement and was looking for some wall paper paste when I heard Mike come in and ask me to come upstairs. I remembered thinking he sounds sad or something. I said I'd be there in a minute. When I got upstairs he had gone back outside and he told me to look at Shadow. I could clearly see that something was wrong, he would try to walk and then looe his balance. I tried to coax him toward the house. He stumbled his way to the steps. It took him a few tries but with my help he made it to the deck landing. He stood for a second and I opened the door to the house. He went in but clearly wanted to be on the porch. He went back to the porch and laid down. He never got up again. I called the Doc Troupe and he said he would come over and assist with Shadow.


As we waited for Doc to get there Mike and I sat by Shadow's side and petted him and told him how much we loved him. I got him some water and he drank a little of it. He seemed to know we were trying to help him. And we both knew he was asking us to let him go. As hard as that was for both of us we didn't want him suffering anymore. It was time to let him be free.

I took some final photos of Mike and Shadow. My favorite one is the one where Shadow had inched his way over to put both paws on Mike's legs. I truly believe this was Shadow's way of letting Mike know it was going to be okay. A nightly ritual with Shadow used to be to jump up on Mike's leg as he was sitting at the table so he could get a kiss from Mike and also to see what was on the table for supper! That was also part of the nightly ritual Mike always shared part of his supper with Shadow!

Doc finally arrived. Doc has been coming down to the house for the past several years to administer the necessary shots to the dogs because Shadow could not get in and out of the truck anymore. As soon as Doc stepped out of the truck Shadow started growling and trying to get up. He was still trying to be our guard dog till the end. Mike and I both calmed him down and I assured Shadow that Doc was just here to help him. Doc first gave Shadow a pain killer and he soon relaxed and fell asleep. We had a few minutes of reliving some memories and then it was time for the final shot and time for us to say good-bye. It took only a short time before the big old hound lay silent.

As Doc drove away, Mike walked down back and I removed Shadow's collar. As I looked at his big spiked collar I remembered the day that Mike brought it home for him! From that day forward it was the only collar he ever wore. I think he actually thought he was pretty cool with all those big spikes sticking out of it! I will wash it and put it in the drawer in Mike's night stand- this way a part of Shadow will still be sleeping by his side every night.

Mike returned and loaded Shadow in the truck for his final ride. Oh how he used to love to go for a ride. If you said the word "go" or "truck" in the same sentence look out because he was not going to stop barking until he got to go for a ride! I went in the house and got the rug that he always laid on at night so that we could wrap him in it. We decided that the "Butterfly Sanctuary" would be the perfect place for his final resting spot. Cheyenne could see him from the kennel, and we could see his grave from the downstairs window and from the bathroom window. While Mike dug Shadow's grave he asked me to go and get "kong". Kong was Shadow's only toy- the only one he ever wanted! For years another nightly ritual was for Shadow to get kong and try to get someone's attention- he wanted you to try and take it from him. It was a game of growl and tug of war! And if you weren't willing to play watch out he might just come over and plop kong right in your lap!

Finally the grave was ready and Mike gently lifted Shadow and placed him in the grave. He then took kong and put it between his paws-just the way Shadow used to hold kong as he was biting on it. I then placed the rug over him. We both said a little prayer for him.

Neither of us slept very well. I got up in the middle of the night and happened to see a star shinning in the window- and I knew he'd made his way! He was free and he could run as fast as he wanted again. God Bless you Shadow. You will forever live in our hearts. I am so glad for the time we had with you and the many memories you gave us. Rest in Peace my Shadow Badadow.

The Block Foundation is Done!

8-15-09 (Saturday) Mike and I worked all day on the foundation. We got all the block work done, and about 1/3 of the fill done. We were both exhausted by the end of the day. I have a great respect for people who do this sort of work everyday for a living. It's a lot of work and wear and tear on one's body! And even though I've been wearing gloves my hands are dry and cracking- I need this part to be done! Mike and I both have this coming Friday off and we plan on finishing the fill on the foundation. Please no more rain!

I added a penny that I found when we first went to look at the barn to the foundation (for luck), a 2009 quarter (for the year we got the barn), and a 1962 penny for me (the year I was born). Now I just need to find a 1964 penny to add to the foundation for the year Mike was born.

On a different note- Mike and I began harvesting our potatoes Friday night! We only have the first row dug and already have three huge baskets of potatoes! I just love this part of gardening!

Here's a couple of pics of the wall- now you can see where the doorways will be!

8-16-09 (Sunday)

When we got up today it was raining so no work is getting done on the foundation today. It was probably a good thing we are both pretty tired from yesterday. I think Affie is the only one who is loving all this rain. I decided to take the opportunity to do some more canning. I made four quarts of Chili Starter. And since Mike's birthday is tomorrow I made him a Peach Cobbler since he's not really fond of cake! I also made a casserole with our fresh produce from the garden including our potatoes for supper tonight. I also made two loaves of Zucchini Bread with Zucchini from our garden!

This afternoon the sun came out so Mike mowed and I worked on the weeds in my Strawberry Patch. Mike tried to work on smoothing out the inside floor of the barn but our skid loader is low on fluid and wasn't turning very well so he decided to wait to finish.

Well, another weekend over! Back to our real jobs tomorrow...

Rain and More Rain

We were back at it by about 7:30 am again this morning. We were making good progress when the clouds moved in. Mike went up to the garage to check out the weather on the TV and returned to let us know that a storm was going to hit in about thirty minutes. Since Nephew Mike rode his bike he decided to leave to avoid riding in the rain.

Shortly after he left (11:30ish) as Mike and I were trying to finish up the 2nd row on the South side it hit- the temperature dropped, the winds picked up and the rain started. Luckily I had put everything that needed to be out of the rain in the back of the trailer on the ATV and Mike jumped on it and pulled it into the garage. I quickly covered the bags of mortar and headed for the garage. We were almost half way done with the second row on the South side when the storm hit.

While we were waiting for it to pass I went into the house and Mike stayed in the garage. About 40 minutes later the clouds parted and the sun came back out so we headed back down and finished the South wall.

Continuing the Construction of the Wall

The forecast for this week-end was supposed to be hot and humid so we decided we'd get an early start today. Mike (hubby) is finally finished with the overtime at Kirkwood so we would have three able bodies to work on the wall. We started around 7:30 am and the weather was beautiful- low 70s, some wind, and mostly overcast. We were making great strides on the wall when the rain started! It was a teaser at first so we continued working. It was around 9:00 am and we had the East wall done, and we were starting on the South wall when the down pour came! We grabbed what couldn't get wet and dashed for the garage. We hunkered down for about a half an hour hoping it would stop and it didn't. We decided to call it good for the day and if it stop raining and dry off hubby and I would get the first row of the South wall done. Mike left and the rain continue on....then around 1:30 the sun came out and hubby went down with the shop vac to vac up the water. While he was doing this I was trimming the trails in the woods. All of a sudden it starts raining again! I continued on with what I was doing but Mike had to pack it up again. When I finished trimming the sun had come out again and it was starting to get hot like the forecast had said. We decided to take a chance and lay the one row on the South side so we could have a better start for tomorrow- we successfully laid the low! Even with the humidity rising as we were working the breeze and the shade of the tree kept us from overheating.

Hopefully tomorrow we can finish the wall!!!!!

Getting There...

Nephew Mike and I started work around 9:00 am on Sunday. It was alot warmer today so we took a couple hour lunch break! We got two more rows added to the front and decided to wrap it up until next week.
The bunnie showed up again! Early afternoon I was carrying more bricks to the front when I saw Asia take off after the bunnie. She had the bunnie in her mouth, and I screamed at her to let it go...and she did! The bunnie wasn't hurt and took off as fast as it could to my "Butterfly Sanctuary". Asia was then escourted to confinement to the house for the remainder of the afternoon.

Progress on the Wall

I have been trying to find out the history of my barn so I called Mike (guy who bought the farmstead that my barn was previously located on), and he was able to put me in touch with a lady (Mary) who had grown up on the farm. I called her last Tuesday and she said she would check with her older brother and see if he remembered anything about the barn. She called me back on Friday- she had spoken with her older brother and he told her that their father had purchased the barn from someone not far from their farm. He said that they cut my barn from the foundation and moved it! He told her that he was about 10 or 12 years old (he's 69 now)and he remembers helping their father put up the foundation for my barn.

When she told me this I got chills. It is pretty amazing to me that this barn was moved once before and now many years later its being moved again! I'm calling my barn "Christina". Why you may ask - because my barn reminds me of Stephen Kings book/move "Christine"! Those of you who are fans of Stephen King will know exactly what I mean!

Mary also told me that her mother loved to take photos so she is going to try and find some of my barn!

Today while I was waiting for Mikey I made some Spaghetti Sauce from the tomatoes, onions, and peppers from my garden! This has been a bad year for tomotoes - way too much rain. I have sixty tomatoe plants but most of them are looking pretty sickly! This is the 2nd year that I have gotten heirloom tomotoes from my high school Biology teacher. Last year the sauce that I made was so good we decided that we wanted to make more this year but I'm not sure I'm going to get enough tomotoes this year. I only had enough tomatoes today to make 3 quarts- but hopefully I'll get at least 9 more quarts! It is wonderful to be able to pull a jar of my sauce from the cupboard! I made it and I know what's in it! And it taste so much better than anything you can buy from the store!

Nephew Mikey came over aroung 11:30 am and we began work on the wall again. The temperature is unbelievable for this time of year! Low 80s and a slight wind- perfect weather for working outside. As we were working a baby bunny showed up. He/she kept running around the foundation looking for a safe place to hide. Mike finally caught the little guy and put him in the pen with Affie. We went to check on him/her after we were finished working and couldn't find the bunnie.

Here are some photos of our progress today: