Hot

No other way to describe it.  The weather, demands, tasks needing completed, hot.  Just no other way to describe it.  With my work schedule, the girls birthdays this month, and all the work needing done on the cars, house, land, and everything else it is a little overwhelming.

My plans for the week and reality did not quite mesh.  The week started with me being broke down on the side of the road while on my way to work.  The tornado taking out one of our major hospitals has thrown us for a loop.  The other major hospital in Joplin is full.  This means anyone needing specialized care must be transported twice as far which has resulted in a lot of time on the road and great loss of sleep and time to accomplish anything else needing done.

We haven't figured out everything we need for our drip irrigation for the berries so we had to get some water on them.  In the past we would fill our water tank at home and drive the nearly 30 miles to our land.  This was not ideal.  Our city charges sewer fees for every drop of water we use no matter how we use it.  We also use more fuel to pull the tank that far.  We set up an account to buy bulk water in a town much closer to our land and we will save a lot of money.  The last time we watered we used 250 gallons of water and it cost less than $5.00. When the irrigation system is installed we will save even more as we plan on using rain barrels and creek water to irrigate.

 We planned on having a pre-birthday party for the girls today since I may have to work late Thursday which is my oldest girls thirteenth.  We were planning to eat dinner together, eat some ice cream and give the girls their big combined gift, and then go do some fishing at dusk.  When we walked into the house after being gone all day it was 86 degrees inside.  Upon checking we found the central air unit frozen up.  We just had the freon topped off so we checked to ensure all of the air vents inside were clear and then checked the outside unit.  The vents were covered with filth.  I had sprayed it down a couple of weeks ago but apparently not good enough.  After about two hours with tooth brushes and the water hose it was finally clean and blowing cold air.

Needless to say this ended our fishing plans we accomplished our other goals.  I still don't know what to think about this weather.  I have no idea if global warming is real or just an unproven theory but this has been a year of weird weather.  Record snows, a late spring, tornadoes hitting everywhere, and now record heat.  God help us.

Until next time....

Finishing the floor at the cabin

Well we thought we would wait a few days until we went back out to finish the final details on the floor joists and lay the sub floor.  I had a little mishap after leaving the farm the last time we were out. I was about 10 miles outside of town when the tread decided to separate from the top of the tire. For some stupid reason  I had thrown the spare trailer tire and jack into the back of the Jeep which Jenn had. Problem was, I could not get a call thru to her.  I noticed the tire was still holding air so Race and I made a very slow trip home at about 5 mph.  As soon as I backed into the yard the tire blew.  Talk about someone being on my side that day.

My shift Tuesday was busy but I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep so my impatience got the better of me so I made a date with my wife to meet me in town to pick up some more materials and head out . We met up at the local big box construction store and here is what we picked up.

It's hard to tell be there are 2x4"'s in the back of the truck as well as all the flooring.  We had some load on there and with the way the wind was blowing we had to make a few stops along the way to retie the tie down straps.

We made it out to the site without any major problems.  I had a few loose ends to tie up before I could start lying the floor. We had decided to build the cabin so that it could be moved at sometime if the need arose.  This required building the cabin on "runners" or beams that are 4x6.  I placed three beams the full 16 foot length and upgraded the floor joists to 2x6's.  For all the piers we dug down below frost level, removed any organic material and tamped gravel until it was level. we then used patio blocks and on top of those the prefabricated pier blocks which the beams ride on.  In order to move it in the future or in the off chance it settles we can jack the cabin up or down and remove or add blocks, whatever the case be.  A good sized tractor should be able to pull it anywhere I wish to place it.

notice the use of the jack to get the joist level

This photo show the pier blocks I am speaking of. There are a total of 9 just for the cabin itself. The porch will require 3 more.  Prior to getting started I wanted to check and ensure we remained square and level as we had a lot of rain recently.  Lucky me we were.  We finished added the three remaining pier blocks with 4x4 blocks.  I checked everything over and found that we had missed nailing a few of the blocking boards so that was completed and we were ready to begin the flooring.

More interested in the water

Another of my apprentices assisting in securing the rim joists and blocking.

Getting the first piece straight and square was the hardest part of the day.  After that it was a simple matter of laying a bead of adhesive down and then nailing down the floor.

 Moving right along.  At the point I am on the second row of sub flooring.

Who me?  I made a mistake of letting Race have a drink from my Pepsi so now he thinks that when I have a drink it is his and he "allows" me to have drinks.

 Laying down the construction adhesive.  This floor should not come up!

Getting closer to being done for the day.

laying the last piece!  And yes I will and braces at the piers with posts

 Now that the floor has been installed it is time to review the plans for the framing. I was planning on starting framing but my unexpected hospital stay ruined those plans.
 

Race gave me his sign of approval

Jenn and I completed placing all of the wood for framing and the completed sub-floor under a tarp to keep the water off of it.  Lets hope it holds up with the wind we have been having.

This will be the view from the front porch of the cabin, except for all the butts of course.  It does not take long for raspberry plants to grow.














So we are at the end of this phase and at the beginning of a new one.  Our priorities are getting the cabin framed in and a roof over it's head.  We also have to work on an irrigation system to water all of the plants.  I had originally planned on starting the framing this week but with this nasty bug I have I can't walk ten feet and get short of breath .  After spending four days in the hospital I can act as armchair foreman however and let the girls bang some nails!

Thanks for stopping by, recommend my site to your friends, add a link to your blog in the comments and I will do the same for you.  Until next time..

Michael

Raspberries Added to the farm

Yesterday was a very productive day at the homestead. The girls got all the raspberry plants in the ground.  We started with two forty foot rows. They are a red ever bearing plant called Polka.  I mentioned in a previous post that we are using a no till method for the raspberry plants. It is a very easy method so we will see how it works out.

The plan for this week is to plant two more forty foot rows of raspberries which will be the Heritage variety which is also a highly rated plant.  This will give us a total of close to fifty raspberry plants, a pretty good start for our first year.

The blueberries are looking good as well.  Needless to say I am praying for rain over the next few weeks to minimize the need to haul water.  We are also planning on getting the cabin started at least the foundation, beams, and floor joists set.  Wish us luck as it is a lot on the list.  I failed to mention we are also doing sheet rock work and painting at the house.

Polka raspberry plants