ForeLocke Farm

Logging on!

2009-07-26T09:22:00.010-04:00

Finally!

After 10 years of dreaming, planning, researching, cutting, peeling and spending, I finally got to raise the first log on the foundation (the irony is, I later ended up taking it off, but that's another story) but not without a bunch of effort. First a late start, then more problems. The photo essay below tells the tale.

First log slinged, it only took about 75 tries to get it balanced!

Tying on a tump line to control the swing.

Giddy-up!

Bouncey...

Git along little loggies!

Come join your friends.

Almost there...

We interupt this regularly scheduled log raising to bring you this shot of the awaiting foundation.

Touchdown! (part one).

On to preping the log.

Triming the uh... butt.

Maybe another slice.

Finding the middle.

Marking the center line.

Transferred all the measurements from the foundation and starting to drill... for about 30 seconds...

in the first hole.... until the drill in the picture caught fire... Ok, no problem, off the hardware store to buy a "Heavy Duty" drill.

Ok, no problem, we'll just start drilling the first hole again... until we tear the chuck off this drill...

At this point I was about ready to bleed internally...

But hey, no problem, I'll just run to the rental place, they'll have something... you guys break for lunch i'll be right back.

An hour and a half later.... we were making pine flakes.

"Kids everywhere love the great taste of Pine Flakes!"

It's slow, but it works...

I can see the light! After 3 frikin' hours! I must have 20 shots of drilling the first hole, the camera girl was wondering if we where ever going to 'git 'er done!

Log drilled and slung (that took another 30 triles). Um, does those clouds look like rain....

And it did rain... if you look close, you might see the rainbow in this shot (finally some devine intervention).

Now, back to the log...

Up.

Up!

UP!

Uh... you sure this is gonna reach...?

Oh yeah!

So close...

Uh... I hope we measured those holes right...

Almost there...

Notice the dent in the foundation? No...? Good, me neither...

Almost there...!

Touchdown! (Part 2).

This end doesn't want to go down...

Needs motivation... 15 tonnes worth!

Just like butter (4000lbs of butter!)

Ok, well maybe it will sit better if I cut a bit off...

Just a shave...

Beautiful... except for the flying end.

On to the second log... after a quick trim of the bent, too tall rebar... notice how dark it's getting...

Fast forward! Day 2.

4 logs on the wall...
Of course, the holes didn't line up on the last one...

Done... almost, still have to trim all the all-thread, and tighten all the nuts... cut all the rebar...pin all the corners.... trim all the knots...

I see eff?

2009-07-17T18:05:00.016-04:00

So I was down in Mexico, and I saw this foundation, it's name was eff.

Ok, even by my standards, that was bad.

On to the basement!
I hummed and hawed on this one for a long time (years), how to do the basement, since costs can creep up pretty fast here. I'd thought about poured, but it's lots of money, and most of it is labour, somebody elses, plus you can get marginal results, if the contractor is shoddy, or you pay a ton for someone really good. As it was we already used a pile of cement on the footings (whaddya gonna do when your house weighs 50000lbs) but you shouldn't skimp here, ever!

I thought about cement block, but really it's not strong enough, unless you fill the space between with concrete, so then you're not really saving that much.

The problem with both of these types of foundations is that they have no thermal value, so you have to insulate on top of the cost, plus it's hard to do it right, after the fact.

Keeping this in mind, I'd also looked at the alternative.

In the end, I was lucky enough to talk to a guy at our local home show 2 years ago, who is the Ontario distributer for Quad-Lock ICF, which is a phenominal, DIY friendly, reasonably priced way to do it, and he really likes working with end-users like me.

Sold!

So over the course of a few days, myself and a bunch of friends (new and old) put this thing together, it's so light and easy to work with, I even had my kids and mother-in-law (all 98lbs of her) helping.

This is the first complete course laid out, this is probably the second hardest part (of the stacking anyway). The hardest (ok, lets say pickiest) is setting the bottom metal track into the footing.

The cool part? You get to play with a "Weapons Grade" nail gun!

That's also the scary part.

The one thing I wish I'd done was smooth the top of the footing with a trowel, just to make it easier to hold the track without it wiggling around on the bumpy surface, because with the freaking nailer, you don't want to be in the way. It will absolutely kill you if you aren't careful, at the very least you can end up with your steel toe nailed to the cement. Anything that can countersink a 3" nail into a 16" thick block of reinforced concrete absolutely demands respect!

No shots of it in action unfortunately, I was busy keeping my head down, as I let my American buddy Capt James Emge USAF handle most of it (more weapons training than the rest of us).

Here is fellow LHBA member James Linzel starting the first corner on the second course. None of us, including James had ever built with this stuff before, yet after the first row, we averaged 30-40 mins to complete each course! That's fast!

It must be fun, since James drove about 7 hours to get to my place just to help out. Thanks man!
Here's where we were by Sun afternoon, considering the late start Sat, I was happy. We could have gotten more done, but the Quad-Lock distributer wanted to check progress (and make sure we hadn't messed it up), and I still needed to get the gravel inside the footing for the basement!

Here's a video tour inside the foundation, shot by another LHBA member, Pierre Trudel. Pierre was lucky, he didn't have to drive as far to play with Quad-Lock, but a big thanks none the less!

(Note, video temporarily removed due to mass quanties of storage being taken up, I will get it zipped down and back up soon).

So, another week later (so it rained alot) we were ready to pour.

There's more work involved in installing all the bracing and preping to pour than there is stacking all the freaking ICF walls.

Pump truck and cement truck (first of 4) lined up and ready to go!

Here's the happy crew; Robert, the guy with the towel on his head (Quad-Lock distributer, that's part of the corporate dress code) his 2 sons and the pump operator (didn't get his name).

Um.. maybe a little too happy...?

Would you trust them to build your foundation...?

Mmm... juicy!

Wet setting the BAJ's (Big Ass J-Bolts!) for attaching the first logs to the foundation.

And another couple days later and voila!

Bracing gone, Waterproofing on, drainage in and ready for backfill.

Next step. Logs!

Something's a foot!

2009-07-01T09:58:00.004-04:00

Ya know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with clever witticisms for my blog entries...

Anyhoo, regardless of the type of house you build, you need to support it. That usually starts with some kind of footing, even if you are just building a shed on piers, the bottom of the pier must support the load of the house, plus whatever snow, wind, earthquakes, etc, so it is also technically a footer (or footing).

Since we're building a full basement, I needed to build a continuous footer (with a bit of a twist) to support the walls.

This part is pretty much like any footing, buy a bunch of expensive (crappy) lumber and wreck it building forms. Measure 56 times... cut once... cut again... screw it up, get another board.

Check level eleventy billion times...repeat. Speaking of which, I did get slightly off track the first day with a borrowed laser level. Good thing I verified things with a spirit level and got conflicting results.

Our soil has good bearing, so despite the house weighing in excess of 80000lbs, the footing is fairly standard. I did go a little thicker than the required 8", mostly because a 2x8 form board is not 8", stepping up to 2x10's got me 9 1/4" at least, and since to get level, the forms were staked above ground, I ended up with 10"+ in most places.

The odd looking section in the front is for a walk down for access to the basement. We didn't have grade to do a walk out, so this is the next best thing (at extra cost tho). LHBA has a saying. 4 corners = 1 house. 8 corners = 2 houses, and they are absolutely right. Although worth it to us, that small 8x12 footing doubles the number of corners (and therefore rebar bending required) and the time to square and level another section, plus as much cement as one whole other side.

In the center of the footing, you can see a square form going up. This is one of 2 center pads that will support the RPSL's (Ridge Pole Support Logs) that hold up the RP (Ridge pole), aka "big ass log" that holds up the roof. 2 additional bump outs are also being built at each end of the footing to support the 2 end RPSL's.

And here we are, ready to pour. I stapled thin plastic inside and out of the forms to make removing the boards easier, as well as helping the cement retain moisture during the cure, instead of the ground sucking it all up. The steel has also all been placed, I put 2 strands of either 15 or 20m rebar (5/8ths or 3/4 equiv) spaced 8" apart. This is actually gross overkill (10m would have been fine), but I had the material, and it cost me literally n0thing, so I used it. The center pads (also oversized, but what the hey) got 4 strands placed in them.

Pouring day.

I'll admit, I cheated a bit here and called in a pump truck, but after a crazy week of my day job, building the forms in 90 deg weather, plus bailing hay until 9:30 the night before, wheelbarrowing 12 cubic meters (15+ yards) of cement wasn't on the list of fun things to do, plus it would have set up too fast, plus I would have had a hell of a time getting the center pads filled.

I actually don't have many pictures, I was too busy running behind the pump raking the cement and troweling it level.

Concrete pumps are really cool!
7:00am on the dot, he was here.

By 7:20 the first cement truck was on site and by 7:30 we were pouring

2 hours later, they were long gone and I had all the vertical rebar dowels placed (and just in time, because the cement was drying really fast). By this time I was physically destroyed. It took all my butt to climb in the truck and drive home. It's a good thing we started early, because I was already hot and humid by this time.

Ready for the foundation!

Breaking new ground.

2009-06-01T17:38:00.006-04:00

Well not new per say... it's old ground but anyway.

Not much other than after a late start (not my fault) and a bit of running around to get a culvert delivered (a driveway helps) things are moving along.

The foundation hole is done and driveway will be finished tomorrow.

Stripping... uh, the topsoil.

Tonka toys for big boys...

Sighting for grade and squaring the foundation hole which, uh... isn't a square, it's a rectangle... so would that be rectangling the foundation hole?

Foundation done.

The bark is definately worse than the bite.

2009-05-28T21:43:00.006-04:00

When using whole logs to build a house, the first step (after cutting and moving them to the site) is to peel them.

When I took the course, they said that after you peel 1 log, you've learned everything you need to about peeling.

Well I must be a slow learner... because I'm up to about number 18 (of 65!) and still learning.

I've learned that no 2 logs are the same. I've learned that every day they seem to peel differently. I've learned that if 20 people drive by while you are peeling, they all have 20 different opinions on how to peel (tho I seriously doubt that most of them have ever peeled a log in their life) and yet not one will actually pick up a tool and help.

I also learned in class almost every trick in the book to get other people to peel your logs (I must have been asleep at that point) yet I'm still here... still peeling.

I learned that you should get the boy scouts to peel your logs, and make a "donation" to the troop.

The logs in Washington must be easier to peel, or they got some freakishly large muntant scouts there, but where I live, "the boy scouts don't pack the gear to peel these suckers".

Hell, I've had 2 soldiers out helping me peel, and they've both been to war and they tell me it's hard!

So yeah, still peeling, and I do have to put out a special thanks to everyone who has come out and lend a hand. At some point there will also be a special token of my undying graditude to those who have really gone above and beyond.

But for now, "Get back to work bitches! We still got more logs to peel!"

"$%#$@$ you guys! I'm goin' home!"

Move over boys. Let the ladies show you how it's done!

After carefully examining all the scientific evidence, I have determined that this is indeed a log.

Um... log dog?

Nice to have friends.

Load 'em up and move 'em out.

2009-05-28T21:09:00.005-04:00

Well, since this is a catch up post (from freakin' March no less) I'm not going to be that wordy.

Movin' day was a bit stressfull, but in the grand scheme of thing probably won't be a huge deal compared to everything else going on.

Paying for it was a different story... ouch trucking is expensive...

Took 6 loads total (you know the trees are big when you can only fit 13 on a load) but managed to get it done in only one day.

Nom... nom... nom...

First load home.

Come here you!

Upsy Daisy!

Pull!

Oh boy... that's a lot to peel...

A log house needs logs...

2009-04-24T21:18:00.006-04:00

Ok, yeah, seems obvious.

So since i'm not building a kit, it's not quite as simple as deciding on a supplier and ordering your logs (if you can call them logs).

So, being me, I did things a little differently. First I put an ad in the local rural newspaper, which with full circulation, covers a 100+ km radius, and several townships.

This resulted in an avalanche of phone calls (which suprised me) with everything from commercial suppliers (wanting a very commercial price), to people wanting me to remove a tree on their lawn, to somebody wanted me to build them a log house (call me next year).

Finally, after a bit of a false start, I made a deal with a private landowner who selectively cuts and manages his own woodlot.

The cool thing was, he let me walk the woods and pick the trees I wanted, so I got to spend a bunch of days in Feb and Mar tromping through the woods (which was a reminder that I was a bit out of shape after a long winter... dry heaves are not pretty and really disruptive to the serenity of nature) flagging the trees I wanted.

First few on the ground.

Looks can be deceiving, these are biiiig logs. 24"+

Almost half of what I need.

Helps to have someone hold the tape while you take pictures.

The bigger they are the less you need to make a wall.

I wish I'd taken pictures of some trees while they were still standing, and of "my logger" (as I now affectionately refer to him) Bob.

This is a scary (in a good way) guy with a chainsaw, he makes putting those trees down as easy as cutting the grass. I guess after 25 years of practice, you get good at it.

Next up, bringing 'em home!

Log Home Model

2009-02-08T18:30:00.010-05:00

I've been wanting to get back and edit this post for a long time, since I never really did like it, it was just a fast place holder, but it's been a really busy spring.

Backtrack

As you know by know, the intent is to build a log home. However, not just any log home, a real log home, not a watered down kit (no offence to any kit home owners out there).

After 10 years of researching houses (most of that log homes) I finally bit the bullet and signed up for the Log Home Builders Association (LHBA) course. I flew to Washington state, completed the class and became a log home builder. Ok, at least in theory, I haven't actually built a log home yet, so I'll reserve the formal title, for a little later.

Side note: For anyone seriously interested in building their own log home, I strongly encourage them to check out the LHBA website: http://www.loghomebuilders.org/. LHBA is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching people how to build their own home, from scratch, without the high expense of a kit, or a team of craftsmen. Now, there's nothing wrong with those other approaches, but for those of us of lesser means, and a stronger desires than just what everyone else has, the LHBA provides the opportunity and motivation.

Ahead 2 steps.

Now, the class also changes ones perspective on what a house should be. Dellusions of grandeur often set in, and you can easily set oneself up for failure.

With that in mind, after the class my wife and I had some frank discussions on what we wanted in a home, vs what we needed. There's a Finnish proverb that goes: "Happiness is a place between to little and too much."

Hopefully we got/get there.

With that in mind, and some preliminary floorplans (see previous blog entry), I purchased a set of "stock plans" from the LHBA at a much reduce price over what it would cost to have a set designed from scratch (membership hath it priviliges).

With that done, I set out to build a scale model of the house, using 1/2" wood dowels. This is a step highly recommended by members of the association, and I heartily agree. It doesn't need to be fancy (mine definately isn't) or of great detail, but it's a great mental exercise on how the log structure is built. It also allows for experiementing with design details, (and making mistakes) BEFORE you start to build, where doing something wrong, could cost you a lot of $$.

It's also a lot of fun, and makes a great conversation piece, when talking to people such as suppliers, building inspectors, code people, aproval departmets, etc, etc.

Below are the results of my building. It did not take it to a great level of detail (or even completion), but the structure and orientation of everything is there.

Making Plans.

2009-01-03T21:07:00.018-05:00

Ok... so getting back to an update finally.

If you've been following along (besides seriously needing a life) you'll know that the intent is to build a house where the farm is. The current way of doing things, quite frankly... sucks.

Now, building my own house is something I'd wanted to do for the last 10+ years. I've never been satisfied with any of the houses we've lived it for 1 reason or another, plus there's some primitive instinct that runs through me that just drives me to want to build.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I wouldn't be satisfied with building a normal, run of the mill house. That would be too boring and easy, and well that's just not me. Yes, looking at the floor plans below, doesn't show anything remarkable at all, and it's interesting the different feedback I've gotten from different people. I attribute that to the way people live and the experiences they've had from the houses they live in. I think to truly design a floor plan, you have to examine your lifestyle. Match that with where you will build (a good designer will say, you can never plan a house 100% until you have the property) and then you can design something that fits you're lifestyle.

What you see below is really a rough draft. I didn't go to far with the details until I did get some opinions. The next update will be more refined.

Also, watch for the next post in a day or 2, that will unveil the type of house we intend to build. Those who know me already have a pretty good idea, or know outright, those who don't... well I have no clue as to why you'd want to read this. Either way, stay tuned.

Sometimes life hands you material...

2008-12-01T09:05:00.006-05:00

Or at least something to blog.

Yesterday was a typical day, lots to do before the weekend ends (hell I still had round bales in the field to pick up) so I fired up the tractor and went through the routine of switching hay fork for the material bucket ("Hand me that hammer! No! The bigger one! #%^#$#%#! And some oil... and the torches!") hooked up the hay wagon (which for mysterious reasons I'd brought home instead of leaving it at the farm) and headed out. Now it's been snowing recently, but not for a couple of days at least. Last year we had lots of snow, but not the type that forms ice... unlike this year.

So I'm heading up the first hill, not far from our house and about half way up I'm starting to spin... no big deal, I've got lots of power... and ok... slipping a little more.... no problem, I've got newer tires... lots of traction... then I realized I wasn't going forward anymore...

Things tend to happen in slow motion at times like these. There's a point between moving forward that times seems to stand still... until you realize you are no longer not moving forward... but backwards....

Then things speed up real quick.

2 and 1/2 tons of steel and rubber may go up the hill slowly, but it sure goes back down fast!

So here a am... in the middle of the road, pulling a backwards luge run (with a performance worthy of an Olympic medal)...

Did I mention I was pulling a hay wagon?

It's amazing how fast one's mind can work when you are running at a level of near panic as I simultaneously had to steer, brake, look backwards, work the clutch and try to figure out which one of the 16 forward or 8 reverse gears might get me out of this without dying.

Did I mention that my wife had been following behind me in the minivan? She can drive really fast in reverse if required to.

Ok, in addition to: steer, brake, look backwards, work the clutch and try to figure out which one of the 16 forward or 8 reverse gears might get me out of this without dying, I also somehow managed to wave frantically at her to get the ^%$^$%^$ out of the way because gravity waits for no farmer and his tractor.

Somehow, I manage to jack the ass-end of the hay wagon into the snowbank to stop myself...

Or at least in theory...

The wagon did stop, but the tractor didn't...

It kept going and swung around the wagon tongue, so now I'm perpendicular across the road...

Um... I hope nobody comes down the hill.

Luckily I didn't stay that way, as the tractor continued it's parabolic arc around the hay wagon, thoroughly testing the metallurgic properties of the tractor drawbar, the wagon tongue and the hitch pin, along with the stress parameters of my heart valves. I finally did manage to find one of the 16 forward, 8 reverse gears that got me out the situation, however I was a couple of seconds too late, because by then the tractor had come to terms to gravity and worked things out mostly on it's own.

Now all I had to do was turn around... and try to go up the hill again.

I really should do this more often...

2008-10-30T20:56:00.008-04:00

Yeah yeah... I say that everytime!

Is almost 4 months since my last post really that long?

Doesn't seem like it.

I actually seems like the summer flew by, despite the lousy weather, and the ruined hay (far more than my last post) we're well into fall, even had the first snowfall (10cm in some spots) but it's almost gone (small favour).

Lots has happened, but it seems like there's never enough time to accomplish every thing that needs to get done before the real winter hits (like the barn, firewood, fencing, etc... etc... etc...)

At least the hay's in.

and we've got...

PIGS!

We've been buying local grass feed organic beef since we moved here a few years ago...and it's truly the best thing ever! However, as good as it is, after a while, a little variety would be a good thing. I thought about chickens, but quality chicken isn't that hard to find, and it's not that expensive. Fate, and the Internet intervened, and I saw an ad for someone selling piglets locally. I figured that I'd get two and give one to my in-laws as a x-mas present (and yes, meat makes a great present!) I mentioned this to someone at work, and 2 turned to 3. On the way there, word had spread... and then there was 4 (good thing I'd brought the big dog cage).

Then my wife talked to her brother... and he told one sister... she told the other... so I was back to get a second load.

Since then they've gotten bigger and well... ravenous. They've lost most of their cuteness (I see them as bacon in waiting) and are about 2 months from heading to the big processor in the sky.

I actually think they're easier than horses, they don't smell any worse, are less trouble to clean (they designate 1 spot and that's it) and at least useful (if only to keep the number of bags that go to the curb down to one a week). Certainly something to consider for the future, as I'm treating this as an experiment for now and strictly break even. The great thing about livestock this way, is that if the cost of feed goes up, it get's passed on down. It doesn't have as much risk associated with it that crops do.

And well, they are a sight cuter than a hayfield.

Hey! Hey! Hay...

2008-07-22T21:12:00.010-04:00

Sheesh.

Actually... CRAP!

Of all the years to start farming, I pick the one with the most rain.

So far, getting hay dried to the point where it can be baled has been next to impossibe. I have a whopping 10 round bales for the winter. I should have nearly 150 by now.

All the hay you see down in this picture, plus an equal amount that was cut after this was taken (this is a big field) is now fertilizer for next years crop.

Due to the weather, and a string of failures with "new" (to me) "field ready" equipment just delivered from the dealership all of this hay was lost.

I suppose that's how it goes, but I had hoped to at least cover costs this year. Not looking to get rich, wasn't even planning to turn a profit, just break even.

I might still be able to salvage the year, if it would stop bloody raining! Hay will likely command a decent price; since everybody seems to be in the same boat as me.

Don't pray for rain.

Pop goes the Reba!

2008-04-26T22:16:00.008-04:00

Finally, after a long 11 month wait, the last month being the worst, as progressing to delivery took for-ever, we finally got Forelocke Farm's latest edition.

Sabre.

Despite all my attempts at planning, after making sure Reba had a finished stall, after making a special trip to buy straw, bringing them in every day, making a trip out to the barn before bed each night, checking her udder, back end, belly sounds, etc, etc, etc.

She had the foal in the middle of the day, when nobody was around...

In the middle of a big puddle of mud...

Sigh.

Got milk?

These pictures were all taken the morning after he was born, so he's less than 18 hours old.

As you can see he's already full of beans!

It's like trying to hold down a whitetailed deer.

Waiting for the other hoof to drop...

2008-04-13T20:57:00.004-04:00

I don't have a picture of my own...I'm too afraid to drop the camera in the mud.

Mud...

Teh Horror!

I'm covered in it.

The horses are covered in it.

The truck is covered in it.

The tractor is covered in it.

My entire being... my very soul, oozes mud.

I can't escape it.

It permeates me.

Mud... Gray... Sticky...

Mud.

Blizzard of 2008, aka...

2008-03-10T20:22:00.012-04:00

Big Juicy!

At least that's what some of the local radio stations were calling this latest storm. And yes... big juicy was a wet one!

I guess it's been a couple months since I posted here. In some ways a lot has happened, in others not much. What has happened is snow! As of now, this winter is the second snowiest on record, and we are a mere 35cm from breaking it. The record being 444cm. Doing the math, that mean that we've had 13.5 feet of snow! It a good thing we had a big melt in Jan otherwise it would be up to the roofline. As it is it'll be a while before we're completely dug out...

Not surprisingly the horses have a new appreciation for the barn. Of course, getting to it proved challenging at times.

Since January, I've pretty much dug in (or dug out as it were) and just did what I had to do to get the basics done, which pretty much amounts to feeding and watering the horses, stuffing wood on the fire and blowing $^&%^$# snow! I can't say I regret buying a snowblower this year, it's been a godsend. Nothing beats a good blow.

We also have a new additition. A while back we had a puppy (ok, I didn't, I was away at the time) for a grand total of a day. It was kind of a knee jerk reaction by my wife to our kids.

Since then, I looked for an adult dog that needed a good home (rescue). One that was trained and quiet. After much searching, and driving I found Suzie. She's a lab x, possibly with pointer of some kind (which is the best of a bunch of wild guesses and speculation at this point but it's what we're going with). It took a week or 2 of adjustment on her part, and she still has some trust issues (especially strangers) but for the most part she's settled in just fine. She matches the "farm dog" persona perfectly. Oh and she seems to be enjoying the snow more than most.

Hopefully this weekend, weather permitting, I'll recify the "haven't worked on the barn in 3 months" conundrum and get something done... Reba's foal is due in a month!

Happy Belated New Year!

2008-01-04T07:58:00.000-05:00

Other than that... I got nuthin'

Well..

2007-12-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings Everybody!

Boy.... where to start?

2007-12-22T08:36:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've put anything up here I'll admit.

With the silly season upon us, and the weather, and returning to my "regular" 9-5, things have been slow to progress on the barn.

I say on the barn, because all the day to day stuff (did I mention blowing snow?) has kept me busy, actually with just barely enough time to squeeze what I absolutely need to do.

Just how much snow fell? You be the judge. I think I'd eviscerate the plow guy if he did this to me!

I had hoped to finish the warm room weeks ago, but that's been put on hold, so we've been hauling water to the horses. The temporary stalls are still temporary, and I've discovered perhaps too temporary, as Mac and Pearl seem to have found ways to escape, or at least challenge the boundaries of my design...sigh.

I did manage to get the last gable end finished... the one I had left unfinished, because it was out of the prevailing winds... that is of course, until a blizzard blows through...sigh. It's amazing how efficiently you can work when the wind is howling and snow is blowing down the back of your neck.

The weather is supposed to be horrendous starting later today...at least from an outside work perspective... rain. That means I need to get hay this morning, to be sure I have enough while we're away during the holidays. Just no repeat of last weekend...I still have an imprint of the truck's tailgate on my butt!

I've run out of clever titles...

2007-12-04T18:52:00.000-05:00

and daylight it seems, because everytime I think of the camera, it's too dark to take pictures, so once again, they will come later. Today became another snow day from work and I finally got back at old man winter, when I went to pick up the tractor and my new snowblower! ;-D While it was in there, they fixed a couple things too... no charge, since they should have been working when I bought the tractor (block heater is a good thing in this climate). I have to say, the guys at the farm dealership in town are pretty good.

Anyway last night, I woke up at midnight, with only one thought racing through my head... (I find this happens for a lot of things, especially stuff I haven't found a solution for) the horses must go in the barn tomorrow or today since it's was after midnight, whatever.... Until now, they've been outside, despite/inspite of the weather.. but last night I couldn't go back to sleep until I came up with a solution. Thankfully I had it figured out by 2 and managed a few more hours sleep... otherwise I'd be really bagged instead of just bagged. So after blowing out the driveways (and man does that thing ever shoot snow!) Maggie and I built (I dragged her into my insanity this time too) temporary stall partitions. This is the first temporary construction I've done to date on this project... I really hate temporary... it tends to become permanent, so I made sure it was something I would have to tear down later... preferably sooner.
At 5:00pm today, unceremoniuosly by the weak glow of the single solar light I managed to get installed (and because the spotlight I had hooked up on the generator decided now of all times to burn out), Pearl became the first horse to go in the barn... and she promptly showed her appreciation for all the hard work ... by crapping on the floor.

It's official...it really is winter.

2007-12-02T18:00:00.001-05:00

With 30-40cm of snow forecast for the next 24 hours, I think winter really did make a early debut. Already we have almost as much snow on the ground as we did for the entire last year! I guess we were overdue, the last time it snowed this much, this early, was 10 years ago (I know I remember living in the city and my son Brandon's toys (he was only a year old) were all buried in the snow and I had to dig them out...in spring). Now the other reason it's gonna snow like crazy is... because I'm building a barn! Today, despite the snow, and weather, I managed to get one gable end finished from left from yesterday. The side I started first, is the direction the wind blows... normally, except of course for today! At least all the siding is up now, and I bought a couple of tarps to close up the 2 big end doors (until I can get real ones...). Incidentally, if you want to challenge your dexterity, try putting up tarps, in the wind... by yourself. Now try and not get blown off the ladder, and get the tarps up remotely straight.

Anyway, all I need to do now is close up the loft ends and install the smaller door...build some stalls... and I can finally get the horses in. Of course winter may be over by then. Still waiting on that miracle.

Winter??

2007-11-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

I'm baaaaack... and a little late with this post.

Well after 2 1/2 weeks in Halifax (16 of those days working straight through) I finally made it home, the project is wrapped and I hope I won't have to go back. Friday night I flew in and Sat morning, (something like 12 hrs later) I had a hammer in hand. The warm room has a ceiling now (thanks in no small part again to my father-in-law for soldiering on in my absence) and is ready to insulate and have the door installed. None to soon, because 8" of snow fell just before I got back and it was -15C when I arrived!

Thanks to another work bee (and some slightly warmer weather) on Sunday, we managed to put almost all walls up on the ground floor and about half on the road side of the loft, stopping only because we ran out of wood and daylight. Now I guess walls are a bit of a misnomer. One of the advantages of the pole frame (and post and beam as well) technique, is that you have lots of options for filling in between the posts, since they provide all the structural support. As such, we got creative and put the siding up first, before the studs, which means the building is all but closed in. OK, I know that sounds weird, but when I get around to taking and posting some pictures I hope it will make sense. Now, I'm not going to make any predictions on when, so I'm hoping for a miracle (yes, I'm at that point now) that I can finish closing things in this weekend. I guess it will depend on how much help I can muster.

Oh, and if anyone asks... I'm bagged.

Different walls for different halls.

Now it looks like a barn!

all it needs is a door(s), and some more siding, and windows and stalls, etc...etc... etc...sigh...

Up up and away...

2007-11-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

Well, all good things must come to an end. After 5 weeks (less than 4 working on the barn due to weather) I left to go back to work (Halifax again!) I keep saying this is the last trip, and I think it finally is. So I wrap this up for a week or two while I finish out here. Good time for reflection and physical rest! I leave you with this (recycled) parting shot... my last pictures are on the camera at home.

Today was one of those days...

2007-11-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

that I spent futzing around with a bunch of small things trying to attain something larger (that and I had some horse social issues to deal with). Running short of cement yesterday put a huge dent in time today (and the days are getting really short now). Even though I only had to mix and pour 2 bags, by the time I got the tractor setup, water hauled, mix, pour and float the floor, I was only left with enough time to frame 2 more walls for the warm room. Of course I spent a bunch of time figuring, planning and measuring out the rest of the walls and such, but those 3 hours spent mixing cement would have seen the room completely framed.

Cementing the deal.

2007-11-05T20:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, I take it back... getting the cement truck in is just as hard as mixing it yourself, if not worse, or at least it it uses muscles I haven't used since the start of this project!

Anyway, after getting a price quote (gasp!) I decided only to pour part of the floor this year (cement is more expensive now because of the additives for cold weather). Basically the warm room and where the stalls are. Besides, the 8 cubic meters I did get (full truck!) near killed me.

Above is a picture of the warm room floor just before the pour. I hummed and hawed over what to do in here for a heat source (still on the fence), and decided in the end to insulate the slab and install the Ipex pipe anyway. I may not use it (I hope I do because dollar for dollar, this was the single most expensive square footage in the whole barn!) but once the cement is poured what's there is there and you can't put it in after so I went for it. Unfortunately none of the options for cementing a slab are very environmentally friendly, but I tried to at least pick Canadian made materials (cuts down on transportation fuel) and products that save more energy than it takes to produce them.

On the top of the floor (what will be under the slab, so I guess it's the bottom then... well anyway) is a thermal foil bubble sheet and the perimeter of the slab has 1 1/2 inches of EPS foam to act as a thermal break, with the gaps or cracks filled with expanding spray foam. Concrete is a huge heatsink and without the thermal break, all the heat would just bleed out. The Ipex plumbing gets zip-tied to the reinforcement wire I laid down, which in this case actually serves to hold the pipe down suspended in the slab more than it does to strengthen it.

Form up on me.

Plastic sheeting goes down before the cement is poured otherwise you have to spray water on it for hours until it cures, because the ground sucks the water out. It also helps moisture from
coming back up from the ground later after the cement cures.

Another big honkin' truck... at least it was dry this time.

Grey Gold!

After all that work we came up 1/2 a meter short of cement... in the warm roof no less! That means I'll have to break out the cement mixer tomorrow...sigh

Under the weather...!

2007-11-04T18:42:00.000-05:00

It's offical, there's a roof over my head! My in-law's decided to drop in today and we gave at'r and got the final side complete! Feels good to be able to get out of the rain! Now there are still plenty of details to work out (understatement!), but the big chunk is done. If I can get the warm room done in the next 2 days and the floor poured, I'll be a very happy camper.

Every (hurricane) cloud has a silver lining...

2007-11-03T19:39:00.000-04:00

Well maybe not, but because of hurricane Noel, my trip to Halifax has been delayed a day or two. On top of that I got a visit from a friend and colleague Jon today and we got the steel installed on the left side of the roof! This is a huge thing, because now I can frame and insulate the warm room (where the water will be) before I go (hopefully). I should also be able to get the cement floor poured (ok, I'm breaking down and having a truck brought in, it's actually about the same cost as mixing it myself and far less back breaking let me tell ya!) before I go (and before the cement plant closes for the season!).

Progress.

Kinda looks like a barn now.

Half...

2007-11-01T19:45:00.000-04:00

One whole (looong...) day and only half a roof...

Sigh... Not there yet.

Ok, time to pay credit where credit is due.

Roofing is not something one should do alone, if merely for safety reasons. Installing steel roofing (especially on this scale) is damn near impossible by yourself. For the top section, I enlisted the help of my wife's brother-in-law's Melvin and Pat, and as usual, my father-in-law was in attendance as well. Unfortunately Pat could only stay until 2pm, but Melvin hung in until dark. Let me tell you, this guy is part squirrel! He walks around on a roof like it was the ground! Needless to say, if it wasn't for him, I doubt we would have got the top done (which, I forgot to mention, included installing a large part of the 1" straping across the trusses, since I couldn't get it done before they showed up. Hopefully he'll come back to finish installing the ridge cap (still working on my slight fear of heights).

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T19:31:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-31T07:44:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-10-29T21:33:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-26T20:25:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-25T19:58:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-10-23T19:26:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-10-21T20:48:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-16T07:37:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-10-13T21:29:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-10T19:13:00.001-04:00

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!

2007-10-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

Now look what I went and did...

2007-10-06T21:50:00.001-04:00

First there was...

MacArther.

then came Ginger...

and...

Reba.

Now please welcome...

Pearl.

The not so super secret recipe...

2007-10-06T07:50:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-04T21:19:00.001-04:00

I think I overdosed on cement...

No time to waste...

2007-10-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

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...."

Well...that's all she wrote...

2007-09-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

Until the end of the month. I wanted to take pictures just before I left to show progress, but I didn't get the chance. Tune back at the end of the Sept, for more... um...something.

Rain. Rain. Stay away.

2007-09-12T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the rain was yesterday and last night, which slowed things down a whole bunch. Not just by cutting into work time, but also by turning the work site into a freakin' mudhole!
I broke down and bought a load of screened gravel from a local quarry to make cement (what a difference!) and ended up wasting 3 hours trying to get the stupid dump truck unstuck.
Once again my neighbour to the rescue with his trusty/rusty bulldozer (nicknamed Dozey because one light on the front is out and it looks like it's falling asleep).

Even with Dozey on the job, they needed a little extra help from Johnny.

Here's a question.
How many horsepower does it take to make 2 Deere power?

At least once the truck was gone things moved along a lot faster. I guess for now I'll have to use the gravel in the pit strictly as infill, until I can figure a way to screen out the clay/excess sand. For now though, 12 post are up, and if I can keep this pace (pray for no rain) I might have all 24 and the floor poured before I go back to Halifax on Sunday.

Can I drop you a line...

2007-09-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

So... building a barn requires an expensive transit level or... a bunch of dirt cheap(ish) poly rope and some pegs. Needless to say, ropes got the nod for this part of the project. In actuality, the Egyptians built the pyramids this way. After having experienced this myself, I'd say they were either very patient, very lucky or they &#$^%#& swore a lot! This is one of those places that a little time (ok alot) spent pays off in the end with a straight (more or less) building.

Time for a few introductions. This is Johny (yes I have kids), my tractor. Now, buying a used tractor is like buying a horse, you never really know how old it is, or if it will kick you when you bend down to pick something up. Needless to say, I've spent a bit of time correcting it's behaviour since I bought it. (You know you're in for it when: Since the guy at the farm dealership who sold it to me retired, everyone has been apologizing to me for it...sigh). Also, since it's a John Deere (was the colour too obvious a clue) it's has a few idiosyncrasies to begin with.

Stuck to Johny's butt is the cement mixer I bought, because... well I wanted a cement mixer, and I thought one that was tractor driven would be a good idea. Riiiiiiight... Apparently it was manufactured in Italy (ok, I tried hard to buy local but this late in the year I didn't have many options (in fact this was the only one I could get without waiting until spring). Now I don't speak Italian... and apparently the people that built it don't speak English... if the manual is any clue. Now, without being too cliché I think Italians know a thing or two about cement (isn't the leaning tower of Pisa made of it?) and by that extension, they should know about mixing it, and therefore cement mixers... where they seem to lack knowledge is with North American tractor attachments! It took 3 frikin' days to get this thing hooked up and working properly! There was a trip to the farm supply store (ok, maybe that was a John Deere thing, but anyway) in there and I had to involve 3 other people and some serious cutting tools (think chop saw) to make it work! Bleargh.

Now a post frame building (a.k.a pole barn, I guess I didn't mention I was building a pole barn, but anyway), requires posts, lots of them. In this case 24 to be exact. Now I probably went a little overkill here, but I'll be damned if it's gonna fall down in my lifetime, or the grandkids lifetime. The best bet for setting posts in the ground (to me anyway) is cement (now I remember why I bought a cement mixer). Unfortunately, cement carries with it a lot of
embodied energy, so from an environmental standpoint, it's not the best thing, however, there really isn't an alternative, unless you want the damn thing to move (no a floating barn is not an option). At least mixing on site with my own gravel and water (hauled by hand from the river no less!) lessens that as much as possible.

As of this writing, there are 8 post in the ground (16 to go dammit!) with each post requiring about 2 full mixers of cement, each load takes 1/2 a 40kg bag of cement, 30 shovels of gravel and 10 gallons of water, so that's 4+480+ 80...carry the 2...=1 fuckton of work!

Semi-easy-meduim-hard day.

2007-09-06T08:03:00.000-04:00

Loading wood, unloading wood, cutting wood, edging wood... oh and placing the square lines for the barn posts!

Now I know why they call it labour day...

2007-09-05T06:57:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it's gonna take me a while to get this organized, due to... well, lack of time. I still want to get done what I can, so I'll have a memory jog later.

Anyway, Monday was excavation day...

Lonely little picket...

Here comes my neighbour Verne on his 1956 John Deere Bulldozer...

Talk about recycling!

First load of pit run...

Jimmy on the backhoe....

The craziest part... total out of pocket cost... $90.

Day 4 at home...

2007-09-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Morin'...

Ouch. I'm a tad sore this a.m. Must be the 3 solid days of grueling labor! At least now all the sawn beams for the barn are done. I have to start getting some pictures up. I'm going to take the camera to the farm today and try to get some before the excavation begins...then I've got to peel 12 - 20ft logs for the center uprights, except that I don't have all the trees yet so I have to cut down some more... hmmm where are those chainsaw pants... sigh... I guess the only easy day was yesterday...

Here's a picture of perhaps the best small scale investment I've ever made...

This is a Logosol M7 portable sawmill (sans powerhead). All those 8"x8" - 12ft long beams on the log deck were selectively harvested from the forest on the property and sawn on the mill, saving a boat load of money and lessening the environmental impact of using wood. Ideally I would have liked to cut all the wood for the barn, but time constraints (Winter! Gee how many times am I going to say that?) forced me to purchase the lumber from a small regional mill. Hopefully the trees were harvested in a responsibly manner.

Permit me to get excited here...

2007-08-31T12:22:00.000-04:00

I GOT MY BUILDING PERMIT!!!

Home today...

2007-08-16T22:11:00.000-04:00

Gone Sunday. Waaaaaaah!

The only easy day... was yesterday!

2007-08-10T19:52:00.000-04:00

Ok.. so it's been a while...

Which is kind of an understatment, given all that's happened since July. Halifax was just so much damn fun (sic) that I just had to come back (insert sarcasm here), but not before going back home for the long weekend (+ a couple of days). So I'm stuck out here for work again. Bad timing (again!). Winter is coming (AGAIN!) and there's so much to do yet. Winter? What? It's August? Winter? Oh yeah it'll be here before you know it if the barn's not built! And the water's not hooked up and somehow not freezing, without electricity to pump it.
Now all this might have been what had me stressed and exhausted from not sleeping, probably a bad time to have a chainsaw in my hands. Now Mr. Safety, had all the gear on, but no chainsaw chaps/pants (because I don't own any, but I'm always careful (except for the tired/stress part mentioned above)). So it shouldn't come as a surprise when I lost control over the saw and it decided to pay me back by trying to cut through my leg instead of the tree I was trying to harvest. Needless to say, even reving down from full throttle, flesh doesn't have the same resilience as wood does.
Adrenalin has a strange affect on the body, I'm sure there's a scientific explanation, but I'll call it pure survival.
Once you stop the device that's trying to unceremoniously trying to remove a limb from your body, and you peel back the shredded pant leg and actually look (bad idea) and see the meat and fatty tissue all exposed (ick), things start to happen without any conscious thought. Colors disappear, everything become a shade of brown (who put on the sepia filter?). First, you clamp down on that sucker, cause nobody wants to bleed to death in the middle of the woods (so undignified), then you get out of danger, walk out, quickly and efficiently to safety (did I really go through all those raspberry bushes?) and yell for help (never taking your hand off the wound or even looking in the general direction). Only once help arrives, and you are in the car and hauling ass to the hospital, then can you think about passing out, before then, it's all outside of your control, unless you've done this many times or have had some kind of conditioning for this (military training? Nah, I've never seen anything like this in the recruiting pamphlets). So 3 hours and 12 staples later, I was back to work (forgoing the chainsaw in favour of buying fence posts. Once bitten, twice shy...literally). Hardcore? Maybe. Deranged? The jury's still out.

Nuthin' much going on...

2007-07-23T09:36:00.001-04:00

Well there's always something going on, except that I'm not there to write about it. While we're away, my father-in-law is looking after things, not that there's much things right now, just making sure the horses are fed/watered, and preping stuff around the house... ie: catching up on all my backlogged work I'm behind on...

Goooooooooo East! Again!

2007-07-08T21:28:00.000-04:00

Well... back to Halifax... again! I so hope this is my last trip... otherwise I'll lose my mind. The whole crew came with me on this time, so that provides a distraction... also an extra layer of stress... at least during the actual travel part. Flying with kids... my kids... is um... trying. Ah well, we're here now, and they've settled past the "Possessed/psychotic/freaky" (and by possessed I mean Exorcist the original movie possessed) stage of the trip.
"Look Daddy, a starfish!
"Yes sweetie."
Daddy look! A jellyfish!
"Yes son."
"Look! Another starfish, that one's bigger than the last 29!
"Yes honey."
"Look!"
"Look!"
"OK kids, um how about we stop looking like tourist n00bs, and move at least 10 feet farther down the boardwalk than where we started? Mommy and daddy are hungry and would like to eat before everything closes."
"Look! A starfish!"
Sigh....

Don't whiz on the electric fence...

2007-07-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

For anyone who grew up with Ren & Stimpy, this saying is as familiar as "Dude! You're getting a Dell!" for people of the last few years. For an individual who shall remain nameless (OK it was my father-in-law), I'm guessing he wishes he'd seen that show. After the fencing was installed and my gelding tested it for us... "Hmm now that the fence is plugged in, I wonder if it works?" Bzzzzt!... horse goes to his knees... backpedals on his belly for 20 ft... gets up, shakes. "Yup, guess it works!" (note: spoken through tears of laughter). I would have thought my father-in-law would have figured not to touch.... but the next day, as he opened the gate, he dropped the chain on the fence... Bzzzzt! Then later, he was petting one of the horses over the fence... "You're such a good girl... such a nice horse." Bzzzzt! Then later he backed into it again. Bzzzzt! Now he won't go near the silly thing without unplugging it first.

And after 6 days... I'm still laughing about it.... ;-)

The gang's home...

2007-07-07T14:46:00.000-04:00

Well, it was a close run thing, but on July 1, the horses came home. Thanks to the help of my father-in-law, we got the fencing done on time and everyone home. I was a bit worried over the adjustment period, but they settled in just fine.

Happy Birthday Canada!

2007-07-03T08:44:00.000-04:00

OK, so it's belated, but I was busy celebrating, so that's my excuse.

Despite the politics, weather, and assorted other minutia, I love my country! I find myself becoming more vocal about my patriotism the older I get too. I also notice this among my peers, of course this could have to do with the company I keep and the region I live in...

I thought this might be a long ranting post about this...but I think I'll just leave it at that.

Many more Canada!

Leeeeeeeeeavin' on a jet plane....

2007-06-16T21:51:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow I'm off to Halifax for 2 weeks of... well... work... lot's of it. The first of my last 2 trips with this job! Yay! I can't wait to come home and I haven't even left! Blogging may be a little slow over the next little while, but I'll get back to it soon. Oh and pictures coming too!

Under pressure...

2007-06-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

OK, now that I've put a song in your head to distract you, I wanna tell you about a great way to make money for your retirement. Listen up! For a minimal upfront investment and a 1/2 hour of your time I can tell you how to put serious money in your pocket. How much money upfront you ask? 10 bucks. Ten measly bucks! But how, you ask? Here's how!

Follow these 9 easy steps:

1. Go to your local autoparts store (shop local!) or Walmart... sigh.
2. Go the the tire section.
3. Buy a digital tire gauge.
4. Return to the parking lot. Check your tire pressure (all 5. ).
5. Reel in horror at how out of whack your tires are.
6. Go the mom and pop gas station down the road (support local business!) Ignore the gauge on the air pump.
7. Balance the tires at their maximum recommended pressure (take the time to use the gauge properly).
8. Now, take the money you save in gas and direct it to the investment of your choice.
9. Repeat steps 4-8 every 2 weeks.

Changed work dynamic...

2007-06-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

It's funny how one thing can affect the other...

So with no water at home, one can't have a shower, and in this heat, going without is out of the question, or at least my co-workers think so... that and I find it really hard to face the day without that little wake up. Luckily, I work at a military building and there's a shower/changeroon on my floor. Unfortunately, the military's not big on things like oh... privacy! Now that's not really a big deal for me, at least I thought not. See the shower area is right off the the only bathroom on that floor, and the door that separates the two is jammed open all the time. Usually when I (and I assume everone else) use the head, I automatically avert the eyes. It's just ingrained! You can have a conversation with your best friend at the urinal, but you never stop looking at the tile 6" from your face. Eyes on the tile... never leaving the tile... hmmm.... not a bad grout job... don't care for the color, but even and smooth... anyway, so there I am, ready to climb in the shower, hanging up my towel and I notice a curtain that separates one section from the rest. So I think, I should close this before... as I look up, one of my collegues walks in the bathroom... too late. Now I'm not shy, and if it's buddies in the shower after the gym, or camping or whatever, no problem... just keep those eyes above the neck. Strangers... whatever. But geez that's gonna make meetings awkward from now on. I mean, how do you talk across the table about Exchange Server routing groups and not wonder if the guy's thinking about your packets. Sheesh... I hope the water truck gets to my place soon!

Well... Well... Well...

2007-06-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

Actually this post should read Motherf***ing#^$%^$#%$#!$#^$& well!

Sigh. Living in the country is not without it's challenges. Most people in this country take for granted turning on the tap and having water come out. Living outside of almost any urban centre means you have a well. Now, here's where growing up in the country (as a kid/teenager) and living in the country divert down very different paths. Rarely did things like the well running dry really have much impact on my life (short showers maybe, but that's it), since it was never my responsibly to have to do anything about it (besides, we had an Artesian well growing up, so even if the pump lost it's prime, within 20 mins things were back up and running. Now however, there's a family behind me who can't drink, shower or flush the damn toilet! (do you smell something?). This segues nicely into a favourite topic of mine... conservation. Now, this is not the first time we've run into a problem here, so I've got some insight into the subject, however this time I was caught off guard. The first summer we moved to this house was blazingly hot and there was a period through July/August where it didn't rain for almost 6 weeks. We never really thought much about the well all summer, as we always had water and though we didn't waste it, we really didn't look out for it much either. Then, when I was away and my darling wife was at home alone, poof, the well went dry. I also learned that our well wasn't very deep either, I had thought it drilled (this is what the real estate info had said), but lo and behold, the well was dug and only 27ft deep. Of course, there are pros and cons to both, types of wells, just as there are about 1/2 a dozen other options for a potable water source for the home, but I digress (for now). Suffice to say, despite the fact that we are careful about the water we use, and are always after the kids to not waste any (my daughter loves to leave the blasted tap running all the time) and we've replaced the washing machine and dishwasher this year with models that conserve water (the washer had the lowest water consumption of all other models on the market) and the fact that it has rained a lot this year, and I checked the damn well only a few weeks ago and we had plenty of water we still ran out. So where'd it all go? Good fraking question. OK, end of rant... for now, suffice to say, water will be a hot topic of a future blog, to be sure, as I want a better system for ensuring the tap doesn't run dry, with global warming, and unpredictable weather, one can't be too prepared...

I've got a woody...

2007-06-07T22:03:00.000-04:00

Ok, well not really, but what invigorates me after a day sitting on my arse at a computer all day is cording wood. Or maybe that's not true either... how about... it needs to get done and the stupid pile is in the way? Sigh...

Judge a Blog by it's title...

2007-06-07T14:50:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the last post didn't really backtrack that much... plus I hit something and gagged this entry (farking laptop keyboard and my clunky fingers..) so try again.
I grew up in suburbia with my grandparents... but not the one people think of today... the torrid 80's affair, with wide streets, BIG trees, large lots, fences that all the neighboorhood kids climbed over moving between yards, gardens, italian neighbours with chickens, park close by and you rode your bike everywhere kind of place. However, I spent a lot of time in the wilderness, family cottage and especially in my teens my mom's farm. The country is in my blood, for better or worse I can't get it out. 2 years ago, we bought 5 1/2 acres and a house outside of the "town" of Renfrew. This property basically amounts to waaay too much useless grass to cut, and the rest bush. Still, it's a really nice place, but the house has been one nighmare DIY repair after another to the point that even though we've fixed most of it, we can't stand to live there anymore. I've always longed for a fresh start and the chance to build a home for my family with my bare hands so we purchased 120 empty acres this spring to start over with.
A good chunk of this blog will be dedicated to the trials (oh so many) and tribulations of building from scratch, a barn (we have horses and right now no place get them out of the weather other than the really expensive board I'm paying), garage/equipment shed and a house. That and possibilities of modern homesteading in the 21st century as I would love to wrap up a 15 year career in the IT industry for something more backbreaking and less stressful (still to be determined if the less stress thing will work out). So that's where we are right now... bare land, little money and less time... stay tuned!

Populating the back...field.

2007-06-07T14:33:00.000-04:00

Which incidentally has absolutely nothing to do with the farming references that will be scattered all over this blog. No, this is more like my backtracking a bit to bring those up to speed who might be reading (like I'm expecting a large audience). I've basically started this for a couple of reasons:
1. I've always wanted to.
B. This should help keep my few close friends up to speed on what's going on in my tumultuous life....
and three. As I've gotten older and busier, I've found that moments go by and then tend to get forgotten, as such, I'd like to keep them down somewhere. Of course this assumes I'll actually remember to keep this up to date or actually have the time...

The Grand Debut....

2007-06-01T11:52:00.001-04:00

Can't really call it an open house as there's no house yet....

Stay tuned...