Happy Halloween!

Aaaah! A Skeleton!















And I've come to the conclusion that building the roof structure is a %#$$@%! of a lot harder than actually putting on the roof itself!

Yesterday I got a phone call...

The help I lined up for Wednesday couldn't make it until Thursday. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since I would have had to work through the night to finish everything in time for the steel (as usual, sometimes things don't go as planned...). Regardless, slowing down was a good thing, as I'll be able to finish up a few other things that should make the day go easier tomorrow. And really, it's not like there's a shortage of thing to do in the mean time!

36 hours and counting.

Well it's Monday night, and Wednesday morning I'm supposed to get help to install the steel. As the pictures show, all the trusses and rafters are in place, but I tomorrow I have to install 2 rows of purlins on one side, double block 34 rafters and install 7 rows of purlins on the other, plus install all the strapping on the top trusses (fresh of the mill from Sunday). Tomorrow's gonna be a long day....

All the rafters and trusses are up.

Good end profile shot.

Really looking like a barn now...

Truss me. ;-)

Steel my heart.

Anyone who's known me for a long time knows that roofing is not my forte (ok, that may be the understatement if the century). Though it may not look like it to look at that pile, I have a building that has 3 separate roofs, totaling 100 sheets of steel and 2500 roofing screws(!)... and i want to have it all done by the end of next week!

Now we're cooking!

Getting there!

Roof over my head (too bad it won't keep out the rain...)

















60ft to the end. Do I see a light?
















My neighbour says it looks kinda like a prison.

















All those rafters and no paddles...
















Another day, another bottle of Tylenol.

Yesterday went well...

Today was well... a wash, litterally due to yet more damn rain. Other than getting soaked trying to complete some long overdue fencing, I didn't get anything much done.

and still no pictures!!!

Today... was a good day.

It's amazing what you can get done with a good sized, well motivated crew. We put well over 1000 board feet of lumber and 23 sheets of plywood and who knows how many nails into the barn today. The loft floor is complete, the rafter plates are in place (just need to finish drilling and bolting) and if it wasn't for lack of material, all the truss plates would be up (always something to slow us down...). All in all a good day.

Finally some Photos!

Is it level?

It's a big chunk of woooood....


















Shear factor!



Every post junction where a top plate
comes together or runs over, requires a scab (length of 2x8 nailed to the post) and a minimum 1/2 thru bolt with 2" diam. washer and lock washer. This is to prevent shearing forces from tearing the barn apar. All total there are 24 posts, but as in the photo, most have a junction, so require 2 bolts. Add to that the plates required to support the loft, and the side roof sections, and the final top truss plate it adds up to a whole lot of Tylenol.

Still not a barn...

Desperate Horsewives...

Move over primetime, I've my own goddamn drama in my pasture!

Ever since Pearl moved home, it's kinda upset the balance of the herd. Now horses have their own unique social structure, so this isn't unusual for there to be some competition for Alpha horse when a new animal arrives. Now, before Pearl moved in, Ginger ran the herd, and occasionally, was pretty bossy to Reba, and got Mac pushing her around too. Nothing violent, just pushy, and since she's not in foal, I attributed it to her heat cycle. Initially I split them up and put Mac with Pearl for 2 reasons; he usually gets along with everyone, and I wanted them to get used to one another because I intended to harness them together this winter. In a strange turn, Mac started being a prick to Pearl, and was pining for Ginger (forlorn looks over the fence) but Ginger stopped bossing Reba.

Then yesterday I opened the fence between the four.

Biiiiiiig mistake!

Took a while for them to figure out the gate was open, but when they did I had a real honest to goodness horse cat fight as Ginger went after Pearl. I was like some twisted soap opera where the women go batshit and start pulling hair and kicking and squealing. So I had to wade in between two 1400+ lbs crazed bitches (OK, 1 crazed bitch and one defending herself, but I digress.) and break up the fight and separate them. Meanwhile Mac and Reba are running crazy like they were watching a UFC cage match.

Now Ginger and MacArthur are together and Reba and Pearl are in the other half. Ginger has taken to the XXX equivalent of horsey foreplay to impress upon the rest that if this is the only man (OK half anyway) in town, then he's mine. I hope the neighbours kids don't come by when this is going on, I can just hear them. "Why is Ginger sniffing MacArthur down there? Ewww! What's that?"
"Uh nothing. Go ask your mother."

So now I've got one hormonal crazed mare, 1 disgruntled old bitty, one pregnant voyeur and one gender confused gelding.

We now return to our regularly scheduled barn already in progress...

Is it a barn yet?

Kinda, sorta, maybe, possibly, conceivably, could be, might be, perchance, weather permitting, almost if you squint real hard and try to imagine being inside and the smell of horse's butt then... perhaps.

Whatever the weather...

Bleargh... it's been raining on and off (mostly on) since Thanksgiving, but despite the weather (and lack of my primary helper) Maggie and I soldiered on and managed to get quite a bit done. Most of the framing work can be done by one person and an extra pair of hands. Since she's pretty strong to boot, one side of the outer top plate is up around the entire barn, and we managed to almost finish building up 3 of the inside uprights all the way to the top (16ft!). If we can get another day or two like today, I might be ready to have a work bee on the weekend and get the rafters and trusses up. Of course I've said things like this in the past (the concrete comes to mind... oops. :S ) and haven't even come close, but it never hurts to be optimistic.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now look what I went and did...

First there was...

MacArther.


















then came Ginger...
















and...



Reba.


















Now please welcome...





Pearl.

The not so super secret recipe...

You will need.

1 tractor
1 tractor attached cement mixer
Round nose shovels
Tank to hold large quantity of water
Trailer to carry tank
4x4 vehicle to tow trailer
Three 5 gal buckets/pails

Ingredients.

1 big ass load of gravel
Whole lotta bags 'o cement
100 gals of river water
1 bottle Tylenol arthritis or your preferred over the counter (or otherwise who am I to judge) muscle pain medication


Take 3 Tylenol arthritis. No sense putting it off...

Tow trailer with tank to river.

Drive back to job site to get the pail you forgot.

Back trailer down boat launch into river.

Put a great deal of faith in the person in the truck holding the brake and stand in trailer and scoop 20 five gal pails of water into tank (remind self that this would be a good time to fix the floor of the trailer...).

Put boards/misc junk on surface of tank so that only half of the water spills out on the way back to the job site.

Preheat cement mixer to 375 deg.

Fill a 5 gal pail 3/4 full of water...strain your back pouring it into the cement mixer.

With a round nose shovel, add 20 heaping scoops of gravel to the cement mixer.

Check water level and adjust to a soupy water/gravel mix. Spit water/gravel mix out of mouth when it splashes (where did that water come from again..?)

Open a bag of Portland cement and pour almost half into 1 pail, some into your boot, almost half into the other pail and the rest on the ground... save some to inhale into your lungs...

Pick up pail of cement and attempt to pour into cement mixer...if bucket is too big for hole or otherwise oddly shaped to not fit (guaranteed) jam arm in with bucket to ensure most of the cement goes in the mixer, ensure you spin at the same RPM as the mixer to avoid much injury (torn skin no longer counts). Be sure you inhale a good portion into your lungs.

Remove bucket and arm (order does not matter). Shake cement from your sleeve. Use shovel to scrape spilled cement from ground, add to mixer. Allow to mix for a few minutes while you gag the cement out of your lungs...

Add 5 heaping shovels of Tylenol... er gravel.

Check consistency of cement, it will either be too dry or too wet, if too dry, add just enough water until it is too wet. If it is too wet, add just enough gravel until it is too dry.

Keep adding gravel/water/cement until you achieve a thick mix or soupy mix, depending on application; a thick mix looks like dark grey baby vomit, a soupy mix will remind you of the time you ate the ice cubes from your drink on that discount Mexican Vacation you took last March, or just say $%^$%&^$ it and use it like that.

Dump cement into wheelbarrow. Since the mixer doesn't dump at an angle conjunctive to the mixer, jamb the sucker underneath and bend something... eventually it will fit.

Scoop up spilled cement with shovel.

Dump cement out of wheelbarrow at almost the exact place you want it (more or less in the form).

Better take a couple more Tylenol...

Repeat 17 times or until you run out of cement/gravel/water/back muscle.

bleargh...

I think I overdosed on cement...

No time to waste...

Within 1 hour of being in my driveway, I switched the car for the truck and was off to Home Hardware to pick up cement. Consequently, Sunday turned out to be a big day. I was expecting help, and it did finally show up, but it was late, and 10 bags of cement to pour a 12x10 slab 4" thick was a little depressing... timeline wise. At this rate, it will take the entire month just to pour the floor and I'll be wrecked. I thought about calling in a truck, but that costs $$$, and I've already got money invested in a cement mixer, the idea being that I would save on the cost of the job and gain the equipment by the time I was finished. Besides, a lot of the cement work is fussy and time consuming, and a big truck won't wait around without the price going up, so after much deliberation, I decided to pour a reinforced faux footing around the perimeter (to frame the walls on) and the stalls and feed room floors and the rest will stay gravel until spring, that way I'm not rushing and can move on to the important stuff.... like the roof!

At least yesterday, I had some extra hands...

Even if they are behind her back sometimes...

On my way...

As I jumped in the drivers side of my rental to leave for the airport, I started it and flipped on the radio and out came the lyrics: "I'm goin' home...."