Setting the Stage...

Happy Sunday everyone.  Welcome back to the blog.  It sure has been an eventful week, and I am looking forward to sharing it with you all.   Where we left off, we got the concrete in and had to wait 5 days for it to be cured properly.  We did not wait the full five days.  Rick figured we were not putting the full weight of the cabin on it, it would be okay. 

We built our firewood holder for our fire pit.  It is a quick and cheap project during the time we had to wait for the cement.  We also purchased a solar fountain for the pond.  It is awesome, but this time of year is not getting enough sunlight to charge it.  Unless we pull it out of the water and set it in the sun.

We also went to visit our new friends Brenda and Shawn from the Pop Up Homestead.  It was awesome to see their homestead in person.  They gave us a lot of great advice.  We got to try their prototype card game.  It was a lot of fun.  They made us a fabulous carnivore dinner. We also walked away with a couple of comfrey plants.  They are already planted, and we are waiting for them to recover.  

Rick was ready to get started on building project.  It is over a year in the making.  He just wanted to get it started.  I will show you a succession of photos on how we got to where we are currently at when it got dark tonight.  It did take longer than what we wanted, but when you have to check, recheck and recheck again that you are square every step you take.  Rick also made some decisions on eliminating some of the cross braces.  He likes to build things strong, but sometimes it is overkill and a waste of materials.  Speaking of Rick, if he wrote this blog, it would be a rant about the lack of quality in building materials when meanwhile the price keeps going up.  He did not realize the osb boards are no longer truly 4x8.  Which really sucks, when you design your build around true to size boards and all of a sudden you have a gap along one side on your build.  The joist hangers were a joke.  They no longer hook over the rim joists.  Then you pound in the point that is supposed to drive into the wood and hold it until you start your nails.  Those don’t work worth a damn either.  The joists we cut out of square.  It would be 9 inches on one end and 9 ½ on the other end.    I could go on about it, but you all know the quality of things is crap now.

Have I told you lately how much I hate moving and restacking stuff.  There was a lot more of that this week.  We had to find all the materials we needed to get the next phase of the project done.  Since we are dealing with some rain events and heavy dew, we must keep everything covered, so there is a lot of shifting of things. This week we continued from the ground up.  I mentioned some hiccups above.   We used house wrap on the belly to help hold up the insulation along with insulation wires.  The insulation took a while.  It was reclaimed and we had to cut down to size we needed.  They were not all the same length, so it was one big puzzle.  We will not complain that it took a couple of days, it was free and saved us a lot of money.  Then came the osb.  We were gifted a few pieces from my sister and brother-in-law that just tore down a barn.  We got them on there and threw some new pieces on there.  Rick noticed a huge problem and started to measure.  That is when we discovered the new sizes on the boards.  So, he has to cut strips to finish out the floor.  He is really ticked off, but we will deal with it how we can.  So, that is tomorrow’s agenda in the morning.  Then the walls are going up.  We are very excited about that. 

It is official, the post office now recognizes our address, just now have to get all the rest of the companies on board.  Haven’t had to haul water lately.  We are still working through our ibc tote. 

Well all, thank you for stopping by.  We really appreciate you taking time to read out blogs.  Make sure you are subscribed, so you know when we post.  We do have a Wishlist on our page if you are interested. This coming week is going to be very busy and very productive.  We will see you soon.  Have a great week.

PS.  We had internet issues last night and could not get this to post.  So, it is a day late.  The bonus part is….we have walls.  Michelle and Mariane came over to help.  We all kicked ass.  Tomorrow we will be starting on the bathroom. If we can accomplish anything else, we will.  We really want to get this done asap.  I miss my bed and my dresser.  I tried to add more pictures, but that has been a nightmare. I will see what I can do to get them added.