Barn roof view of the back hillside and my finger.

 

More progress on roof.

Mr. President and I went to town on the roof again today.  It went a little faster not having to work around the cupola.  It still takes time.  Lifting and moving the ladder while sitting on the peak of the roof is not easy.  We counted the new pieces of roofing and I am short two pieces.  I finished up around 1300 today and got down off the roof for lunch.  Zeke had been missing for last 1.5 hours and he was waiting for us in the yard.  He limped over for a hello.  I have no idea how he hurt himself.  He is always doing something.  Now he is under house arrest, a few days of imposed rest.  He will hate it.

I had to go get more small long roofing screws.  The only place I can find them is at Zimmerman’s in Pendleton.  Home Depot doesn’t even carry them.  I had to drive all the way to Hermiston to get a couple of pieces of roofing tin.  More flashing for the far end of the roof also.  Most importantly, I got nine cans of hornet/wasp spray.  I plan on waging war in the morning to take back the old house!  I think there are over 500 hornets living in the walls and eves of the old house.  Last year it was box elder bugs, this year yellow jackets.  It is always something. 

The 80 acre pasture was fertilized this week and should be planted late fall.  The upper prime pasture still looks very damp after being disced last week.  I am surprised how much moisture is still in the ground. 

Tomorrow is a day of rest as far as the barn is concerned.  My muscles ache all over from crawling around and reaching across a ladder.  I am going to mow the pastures and knock down some weeds.  Hopefully, make a dent in the sagebrush on the hillside.  Annmarie wants to go in first thing and get some deck furniture.  After that I will start mowing. 

I was sure Wednesday would be the day we finished the cupola!  Mr. President came over at 0800 and we spent two hours finishing the siding assembly inside the barn.  We finished cutting the metal flashing that goes under the siding and then disassembled the entire thing into neat little piles laid out all over the barn. We managed to get that 30 foot ladder in place on the roof, not a one person job.  I had two different screw bags and had belted myself into the safety harness.  I decided to install the long sides first.  They weigh around eighty pounds and had to be carried up to the roof then drug up roof.  The worst part was trying to hold it in place while standing on those two little toe hold boards.  It kept trying to slide down while I was holding it in place and trying to not fall off the roof.  I got both long sides installed then installed four 2x4s across the top, side to side.  It was a good thing as the top had to be spread out almost two inches. The ends were relatively easy as they only weighed half of a long side.  Once all the sides were anchored together I put on the roof.  I stand in the vent holes to reach up onto roof.  I then installed the tin roof and peak vent.  I was drinking water like crazy and felt my brains cooking. The ambient temperature was 95 degrees and on top of the roof was 10-15 degrees warmer.  I called it good once the roof was installed.  I crawled off roof and there was no way I was going back up. So it is still not done.  We have 13 hrs into the current cupola alone, but this is a good thing.  The first one took 40 hours to complete and was done on the rooftop, piece by piece.  I am hoping a few hours on Monday will see us finished and back onto tinning the main roof.  I expect to be done in a few days and can move back into some fencing upgrades and a few gates. 

On a very good note the upper prime squared pasture has been disced under and is going to be ready for hay planting next year.  This will give us plenty of hay next winter.  Annmarie calculated that we need to separate out the baby calves in November so they can be kept away from the bull for six months. We will wean the two heifers and one neutered male all at the same time.  Next year we will breed the heifers. Things are starting to go in the right direction with the animals. 

Soon to be second cupola.

PGG going out of business sale.

It is happening.  The barn roof is going to get finished.  I crawled up onto the roof today and installed the pressure treated wooden anchor pieces.  Took a bunch of measurements and then Mr. President and I went into the barn and started cutting OSB.  We measured and cut out the four sides.  Then we started to add the 2×4 reinforcements.  I only had to crawl back onto the roof two more times to take measurements I did not know I needed.  Once that was done I considered mounting it on the roof and hollering down measurements for the siding.  The last cupola took 40 hours to install and I don’t want to repeat that.  So we are cutting the siding and fitting it in place.  The entire first layer is on and we are going to do the second layer first thing in the morning.  They are all numbered and layered so I can put it back on once the cupola shell is installed on the roof.  I am hoping to be done tomorrow! 

One of our local feed and farm supply stores is going out of business.  I managed to get two more gates and 100 T-posts, the last five bags of chicken layer crumbles, five bags of wheat and the two barrels of protein supplement for the cows.  The one barrel of protein supplement was the only thing I was sent to purchase.  The gates were selling fast I don’t think any made it past Monday. I have enough fencing supplies for next year except 8 railroad ties.  That is the only thing left.  I may get the barn roof done early and I have to install the cow fence over by the barn to make sorting easier and I want to install a small gate down in the lower pasture so we can let the animals down into the school house pasture next year.  I still have to fix school house pasture but the small gate will make it easier to move the animals.  Just a few more projects in the making. 

Summer storm rolling in.

Creek crossing for bull.

I wanted to get up on the barn roof last week, but our bull has been back just over a week at that point.  Annmarie told me he had gotten out of the pasture again.  He has been back less than 14 days and he is already escaping.  So instead of working on the barn roof Mr. President and I went in to Grandma’s house and cut the apple tree and lilac bush back from the sidewalk.  She had gotten a notice of noncompliance from the city.  She is now in compliance. 

We then went and worked on fence.  I had walked the fence line and below Donna’s house and found the creek crossing had been bent back by the bull.  Also, it looked like someone had been testing the fence all along the wheat field.  It was loose and bent in multiple locations.  I know the bull never got into the wheat field.  So we spent several hours tightening fence, installing some new T-posts and several wooden stays.  We also rearranged the panels over the creek and clipped them to the T-posts down next to the creek.  The fence looks much better now and the bull has not escaped since.  We went on vacation over the weekend so there was NO farm work done.