Gate

"So we are going to miter these, screw it together and then attach the cattle panel. Then we are going to (this is where I lose him for a really long time because I total do not understand how he intends to build the gate so that it rolls back and forth) and so does that make sense now?" Um nope.

I went ahead and helped anyway because that is the mature thing to do, and quite honestly I do not mind when I am confused and do not understand. I know that he can see it in his head and it comes out great and then I understand. Nathalie spent part of her evening talking daddy's ear off while he applied poly. We learned our lesson in Ks, do not wait to poly later. You will get busy, forget, and the wood will not stay nice as long. Everything we do here is poly-d and it looks so good and will hold up longer.

Frank and Tad attached the cattle panel to the gate frame. We had the piece of cattle panel on hand or would have used roll fencing, panel prices being what they are.

Being not mature at this point, or being gone from home with the kids... I did not help put it up. He put the hardware on it that he had purchased for this, including the rims pulled from the insides of some small tires. It is an amazing gate! I would never have come up with this on my own. I have seen sliding gates and I liked them, but Frank actually paid attention to their construction and was able to do this in a short period of time.

I think we need to scrape out the ground a bit more. There are 4 wheels on the gate bottom, and it has a piece of 2x2 on the inside of the gate that goes into a U-bolt when you slide it closed. When you open it, the long metal bars slide inside of the rims.

View of the latch and the bars. I do not know what these bars are meant for, but they were effective for this purpose.I am really pleased with the function of the gate. I do not mind gates that swing open, but this is so easy to open just a little, or completely for the truck to go in/out and you do not have to clear anything out of the way. We do not have the space here that we had in Ks.

The rims and more hardware, I understand the gate now but even with pictures and description he could not help me to see this until it was completed.

Another hardware view. We could have painted the gate, but I like light stained wood. I think it looks nice and will hold up well.

He needed a spacer here so he used the old inner tube from a bicycle of Nathalie's The bike is broken and old, she uses a new one now but the old one is around for parts. Not an expected use but works well and looks good!

The only drawback that I can see to it right now will be snow, and it wont matter if we have a sliding gate or a hinged gate. We will be clearing as the winter goes anyway as it was very frustrating to live here last year at the end of winter, not knowing what was under the snow. We could not clear it with a snow plow or blower because the owners told us that there was "a lot of stuff" under the snow and they were right! In Ks,the snow melted between snows. Here,it stays cold enough that it does not melt from first fall to late spring/early summer.

I think this is a really nice looking gate. It looks very professional and works so easily. Both kids can use it one handed and keep the goats inside, that was often a problem with large gates in the past. The kids preferred to climb them. Goats LOVE to get out of their space.When we go in and out a lot, we stake them out to eat somewhere else.

The gate is 16 foot long and the opening is 12 ft. The truck fits easily into the gate, he backs down through the garden. The first owners put rocks from the drive all the way to past the greenhouse which is perfect for where the barn is.

Siding

We started the siding yesterday. Bought 20 sheets as we knew that would be the main part of the barn, no cutting. We did not want to leave the siding in the truck, nor did we want to unload/cover it so we used it all at once. Frank and the kids did most of this while I handed tools or took photos.

Originally we planned on needing 8 ft sheets because the barn was to be 8 ft tall. That was in the early planning stages, and instead we needed 9 ft due to the 10" header. Now we have to rip 1 ft off of a sheet and put it above the current siding. The base will have a piece of metal trim all around, the siding will have trim at corners and the top part where it joins up.

My tired girl... Poor kids, they are learning so much but are really tired! They work hard, learn new things every day. If we give them the option to not work, they do not take it. The kids went out here to help with siding without being asked.

Tad has been using the nail gun on the barn, but he did all of the lower nails this time. Frank went to get new siding and left him to put nails in and trouble shoot any issues he had alone. Tad knows that means respect and he be so proud.

See, this makes my head hurt! I carried the metal roofing this way and my head skin actually hurt for days. It felt bruised and achy. It does not seem to hurt Frank at all. I would have helped him carry these, but he is so strong its just easier to do it alone!

We ended up having to move 2 boards from each long side to the outside. Kind of a pain at this point in the game but we worked it out. The ground is not level for the ladder which is a pain, we often have to shim the ladder up with pieces of 2x4. Frank put 2x4s along the base of the barn all the way around and they were level, this made it really easy to set the pieces of siding on and nail them in. No measuring, no holding in place.

Tad using the nail gun, I really do not like it at all. I dont know if he likes the nail gun, or accepts it as a male person. He knows that he will like it if he does not already, so he just likes it on principal. I think it is heavy. The nails blew through at first so Nathalie spent quite a bit of time hammering them down so that the goats do not get hurt.

Talking shop here. They are discussing how the top pieces will be cut and put in, and when are we going to paint. Are we going to buy a paint sprayer daddy, you know we do need one. Eric has one. Yeah buddy I know, I think we will have to. I cant see any way around it.

In all of Nathalie's picture taking as well as mine, we did not take a picture of the entire barn. I will get to that soon. I am just tired and overworked!

"Ok baby girl, its not hard. Watch. You can try it in just a minute."                                                                                                

"Daddy, I be scared." She tries it once, the air blew into her face and she freaked out. A pep talk later, she tried again. Frank turned the air the other way so she would not feel it again. Then she nailed 3 more times and total agreed with mama that screws and drill are far more acceptable.

Trying it one last time. As usual, they learned new things and it does not take much longer to teach as we go than it would if we just pushed through. When I was a kid, I had so many questions about electricity, plumbing, construction, milk cows. Just a huge range of questions lived in my mind, I wanted to know how everything worked and were did it all come from. I like knowing these things. My husband and my best friend Nikki spent years teaching me the answers to many of my questions. Nikki patiently taught me to use pneumatic tools and other hand tools, Frank taught me how to remodel and use more tools. When Frank deployed last time, I learned how to use even more because Eric was not all about doing the job for me. He helped me with so many jobs and taught me how to do things like rip 2x4s. Something I had feared and said no to Nikki and Frank when they told me too... Eric said, do it anyway and I did. I want my kids to know these things now, and they do. Nikki's children can use tools because she taught them as they grew, we have done so also and I am glad. they will be capable, confident adults in all that they do.

Tortillas

Buying groceries here is absolutely overwhelming. We do get some extra pay to make up for the cost of living, but there is no way to make up for all of it. Everything costs 25% or even more than we paid in Ks. For instance-cattle panel in Ks NOT on sale was approximately 18$ for a 16 foot panel. Here- 69$ on sale. 74$ is normal. That is a pretty big jump! I paid 2.38 for a large package of tortillas from Sam's club in Ks. 24 tortillas per package. Here, we pay 5$ for a package of 10. That is unmanageable! This is true for almost all food items. They are sometimes more than twice the cost, and our pay difference does not come near making up for that. We can definitely afford to eat, but if we can do it for cheaper and better for us, we might as well!

I have tried to make homemade food whenever possible for years, in Ks I would sometimes buy bread if I were tired or busy. A loaf of high quality wheat bread here is 7$. That is not happenin' so Nathalie and I keep up with bread making. I was tired of the tortilla cost, especially because we eat tortillas on average 2-3 times a wk for lunch or dinner. We eat a lot of Mexican dishes. I had heard tale that tortilla making was difficult, and that you needed a press to make them thin. Other people said no, you just need lard. Still others said coconut oil. I have no press, and I am out of lard. So these were made with some flour, salt, Crisco and baking powder. Everything I read said rolling them out thin enough was tough but I gave it a try!

They cook in about 20 seconds per side, I used my big cast iron skillet. This made tortillas big enough for burritos, and I can do smaller for tacos or enchiladas. I had no trouble at all rolling them thin, they were just as thin as store bought and MUCH better! They were more fresh, not at all chewy (I had heard this also), very thin and soft. We put them in a large ziplock bag and put them in the fridge. We ate them for probably 6 days before they were gone. Today I am making more of them, probably twice as much. I made enough dough to make 12 but I ended up rolling it so thin it made 16.

One of the sites that I read said do not try to roll out a 2nd while the first cooks until you are used to this. I understand that for sure, I burned one trying this. By the time I was finished though, I could almost roll one while the other cooked. I will get faster. The first one I rolled out was not cooperative, kept wanting to pop back. I assume this was the gluten not ready to stretch so I let the dough rest about 10 min and then it rolled out with no pop back. Sites also said that if you use any type of thin oil, like cooking oil, they are like rubber and will just pop back and never roll out. I wouldnt have used soft oil, but it is good information. I want to try some coconut oil, I think doing half coconut or Crisco and half lard would make an even more tender tortilla. Lard is said to make the best tortillas. It was a good new experience and I saved about 4.50$ in the event. Today I am making angel hair pasta, probably some other type of pasta (I have a pasta maker) more tortillas and some scones as Frank has to go in early all week and needs breakfast. Oh and I am making bread, almond milk and probably dinner early so that I am not running late for once. Last night Frank made dinner with me at 7 pm and it was pancakes, eggs and sausage. Good quick dinner, but I need to plan ahead better and I won be rushing at the last minute.

"Mama, this orange thing that we use to stake out the barn area is of fiberglass construction." Uh huh."So its very flexible, it does not break easily. I found some of daddy's string and made a bow.Come see me shoot." Baby, did daddy let you use the string? "Well, I cant ask him exactly but he wont mind because I didnt cut it.I just wound it. Its not all knotted up." Oh ok. Turns out, daddy complimented his use without cutting it.

"See, I am shooting our camping chairs." Baby, you will tear them up! (Natahlie)"Dont worry mama, he does not hit it very much. But Tad, why dont you use this chair with the weave so it has holes, you can hit it through the holes." "Nathalie, I will probably just miss." And he did.The bow is fun, he has good arrows but no good bows.They had compound bows for years, they finally gave out. He loved them, but wants a good re curve bow. We will wait and see around birthday or christmas. In the meantime, I enjoy his ingenuity.

Last of the roof

So once again, bad order. Sorry. Maybe someday blogger will go back to normal, I am not holding my breath. We had to cut the last sheet of metal for both sides, well he split one down the middle and used 1/2 for each side. Not a lot of photos because Tad and I pushed the metal up, Frank pulled them up from there and Nathalie stayed on the roof handing him tools and screws the whole time. It was fast enough, putting the metal down, that Tad and I hardly had a break between sheets. It was hard for us to carry, because it is long and heavy. Tad is a hard worker, thank goodness we have both of them! She wore out up there and dissolved into tears once, so of course Frank stabilized the current sheet and went up to comfort her.

She had a blast, she became comfortable up there quickly. She learned that her rubber boot bottoms keep her safe as long as she listens and pays attention. I am sure Tad would have had more fun up there, but the metal was too heavy for her and I to manage alone so they could not take turns.

Sometimes I had to be on this ladder to help line up the metal, Frank keeps it pretty comfortable though. He can do so much himself from the top side,I dont end up feeling unsafe. If I do, then he just changes the plan to something that does not overwhelm me.

When we got all of the roof panels on but the last, Nathalie climbed down to do chores, Tad climbed up to help apply the last piece and the roof cap and I went in to make dinner. It was 9:30 at night before we were eating, this photo was taken at about 8:45. It stays light here for so long!

Tad climbing down for some tool, I think Frank had to pre-drill all of the holes for some reason. The metal would not stay lined up, it was a pain.The ridge cap took much longer than he expected for this reason but it looks so good!

I took most of these pictures from the porch steps in between making homemade tortillas. Sometimes our "homemade" lifestyle is overwhelming when we are so busy. Sometimes N makes dinner alone and sometimes I do,but it is often a family affair. We often all 4 come in exhausted and hurry to make dinner and clean up together.

I think the green looks good. We really were thinking green and yellow look good together, but I think we are done with yellow. The greenhouse and house are already yellow, so we will go with a traditional red barn. Red and green look well together, kinda christmasy but its good. Many more pictures to come, this was Tuesday night. We took 1 night off, and during that night we shopped for the next nights...

Baby girl

Baby girl loves her daddy. There are many things that Tad does which she cannot yet do, this bothers her! Whenever Frank can give her the opportunity to do some things that appear hard, she is so excited. "Mama, daddy say I can go up on the roof with him! I am gonna hand him tools ok?"

"Hey mama!!! I be on the roof!" She has been up here before, she likes it. She wanted to be up there alone with him though, she thinks he is an island and she wants to share the space. He can do ANYTHING and she wants to be his ONLY helper sometimes.

She even strikes a cute pose! This was monday evening. We did the whole roof in 1 afternoon and 2 evenings. The trusses and facia were done of course,but the actual roof deck, tar paper and metal were done in a very short period of time. 2 full working days would have been enough, and we were all so incredibly worn.

My boys getting ready to go up. It is time to start the metal!                                                                                                          

Finished product with tar paper. We got the first half done Sunday night and all of the birds went running in as soon as it started to rain. There has been a tarp in there since we got the fence, trusses and house wrap done. We wanted the goats and birds in there to have more space, and have a cleaner yard. Granted we have the chickens in the yard but it is controlled. It is crazy that the birds discounted the tarp but were happy with half of a roof!

Another view of "finished" to this point. Each task that is completed makes us say/feel like, oh look its becoming a barn! The kids always wait for one of us to say it. Tad says, "So...the last time you said that, did it not count?" No son, not now. Because NOW we are farther along! Because of our roof trusses being gambel vs gambrel (traditional barn roof style) it looks  almost like a small,square house vs a barn. I think, that it is wonderful. 

Kitten is just making sure all of our tools are safe. Thankfully he does not pee on them, like he pees in the house! We got him neutered and it has helped, he is still peeing in one corner but it does not smell as bad. We cannot have this behavior, we have to find a solution. The vet said it can take 2 wks for the behavior to stop and it may not ever. We are hoping. One of our winter projects is to rip the carpet out of the living room and hall, and lay matching faux wood laminate to the bathroom. So I mean it will match the bathroom. It is darker than we like, but we do not want to redo the bathrooms. I am tired of remodeling, but I cannot handle the LR carpet. I hate the way it looks and feels, and I know that it isnt clean. Everything from it sticks to fabric and clean laundry, so it has to go.

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Ok this was supposed to be attached to the last blog post! Along with many more pictures. Doing the best I can with the crappy blogger changes. Frank and Tad were finishing the roof as it started to rain, I was in making dinner as Tad is capable and I was not needed at the moment. Nathalie was trying to beat the rain in chores, hurrying to get everyone fed and watered.

I was in the kitchen and the window was open. "Oh no, the tools!" She ran with those long, endless legs out to the tools. They are on pallets and do not get wet, as long as they have their tarps and plastic over them. She made it, though the boys didnt! They were saturated, completely by the time they were done. They got the tar paper on, climbed down and put the last of the tools that they had been using under cover and came to the porch dripping. They had to dress off in the dining room before the carpet. It usually rains softly here, just a drizzle and it is easy to work in. It seems to rain heavier in fall, and it is fall here.

Roof From Sunday

Blogger turns all the order of photos around backward right now. Every picture I post is wrong, I post them in order and they switch order so I have to do it backward. It also wont let me post captions properly so sorry about the lack of info, and for no posts for a long time.

I will try to continue blogging today, I have to walk away sometimes because of how difficult it has become. I have used blogger for years, and love it but it is just a free site so I dont have anyone to complain too when it changes. It regularly changes and I have to re-learn which is fine, but this time there is no solution to some of the new glitches. Hopefully they will be worked out soon.

Tad became very comfortable on the roof, thankfully as it isnt my favorite place anymore. By the end both kids were like cats in a tree up there. They loved it and it is a good education. We are completely done with the roof, I will try to get photos of that blogged despite my blogger problems.

Roofing

 
Frank and I did the facia boards while the kids cleared this area. Mostly they used a hedger and their hands, Frank is cutting here with the sawsall. Just some pieces that were too big. This is going to be the hay area. We cannot put all of the hay in the barn, or build a barn for hay so instead we will use T posts and fence around the bales of hay, and put tarps extended over. I think if we do 2 tall posts in the center of the bales, so center of the hay fence, the tarps will drain effectively. 

   
The goats helped with the clearing process by eating. My door for the feed room will be on this side of the barn. I wont have to enter the barn yard fence at all to feed, I will go into my side door and bring in hay, and the feed room will be a small half wall room just inside of the door. Hay feeders will hang on the opposite side of the wall so the goaties can stand up to the wall and fuss but they cannot trample me. I will keep grain and chicken food in there as well. 
   
Facia boards, we did the right and left sides which took a very long time. the ground is soft, spongy, has old rotted stumps and trees. This land was logged in 2005 and the compost is deep and hilly, hard to place a ladder in for scaffolding. That part takes longer than the boards.
   
Naturally Frank said his cuts were not perfect on the front, but I think it looks great. This is our first large project and it is encouraging that we are so capable. I didnt doubt that, but there has to be a first time. our neighbor is a contractor and he comes over from time to time and gives advice which is wonderful, he found only 1 flaw in our bracing and nothing else needs to be changed. 
   
"Mama, daddy's scaffolding makes a see saw. Can we have it?"
   
"He is heavier than I be. I cannot move him. Tad raise up a bit so I can see, or is it saw?"
   
"Nope. I am going to sit here with you up in the air." 

   
"Baby girl bring me some 2x4s." She starts her first trip up. She has been on the ladder, but not in the trusses.
   
"Ok now can I come up daddy? Can I sit inside?"
   
"Yep, as long as you hand me tools and do not look at your mother too much. She will look worried I am sure." I mean, yeah! N is a little fluffy sometimes and she is just 10! I was not all over a roof until, well I was at least 11. 
   
She stayed up here handing tools to him until he was ready for us to hand up the sheets of particle board.
   
Tad and I pushed up sheets until he had enough up there to do all the whole sheets. In retrospect, we didnt love this method. We prefer to climb up and down, Tad and I, and hand him sheets up and then climb back up to help place them. The pile was in the way and we had to move it twice which took up time.
   
Frank stacked them all and then came down, we all got tools and headed up and spent the next several hrs getting this side done.
   
The 2nd half, which we did last night, took under an hr. 
   
Taking a break. Not that we are exhausted-this half was done after Frank did 24 hr duty which naturally means he is gone much longer than that, and has been awake from 6 a.m. Saturday morning. It is now Sunday around 3 p.m.
   
This is the first roof I have worked on since I was 13 I think, as a kid I was happy on a roof. Now I know what a true injury can feel like, and I do not enjoy it as much as I used to. Its not bad work though. 
   
We ran into a problem-we made the overhang 2 ft instead of 22.5 inches. the point of that- it makes it 24 on center. We were 1.5 inches over and thus did not make it to our 2x4 on the first full sheet. Nothing seems to be perfect when we build, maybe if we did it all the time but we do not. Thus, Frank had to go under and attach some 2x4s along the truss that didnt have enough under the particle board for a bite.
   
I offered to go down and he stay up top, but I cannot do this. I am not tall enough nor strong enough to hang between them for as long as it took for the 2 of us to position the several 2x4 pieces under there.

   
Nathalie was taking pictures and did so until the battery ran out on the camera. I got the last few pictures needed to show project completion on my I phone so I will have to post those when I upload them. 
   
"Daddy, I be glad you are not a plumber." I am handing him the nail gun here, it is a heavy beast. Even if I could hang under here, the nail gun is just too heavy. 

   
We had to do this both sides, but he knew that the 2nd half and it was much easier for him to put the wood in. 
   
Tad climbed up, and he was all over the roof like a cat but she didnt get any good movement pictures at first. I got some good ones later, but again those are on my phone. 
   
Moving around the particle board. The lumber yard consultant suggested 7/16 and I am glad. They told us at Lowes that it could be really thin, but that would not have worked. We can walk on this but it bows a bit under our weight even with it nailed to the trusses and braces. Anything thinner would not have worked to walk on. 
   
She got a little bored, I will not show you the other 13 photos they took. They are photos that she wants for me to delete. I will keep them in case she likes a boy that I do not like someday.
   
Here Tad is working with us. Nathalie joined us when the battery died. She was nervous but by last night, she was happy up there. I came in the house to make dinner while the 3 of them finished putting in the last 3 cut pieces and lay tar paper, and I looked out to see her leaning over from the top point, looking into the barn. I went out and calmly asked, do you understand extinction? Yes ma'am. Do you think there would be any humans if we all failed to mentally evolve better than that? No ma'am. What were you doing? I was seeing daddy. He was inside the barn with the neighbor. I wanted to see him. Then climb down punk. I would miss something mama. You gonna be missing your life baby. I would go to heaven mama. Nevermind punk stop being a butthead. 
   
It was a long day, but a great learning experience. Each time we do 1/2 of something, we learn that the 2nd half takes 1/4 of the time. we are growing fast in our abilities.The kids gain knowledge daily. I was hesitant to let them on the roof but Tad logically asked, "how can I be a man and build a house, barn and shop for my wife and kids if I do not learn? As you see, his logic won!