The attic vents
With the weather warming up I really wanted to focus on getting the attic vents up (before the bees and critters get too active!) I went to the local hardware store and got some aluminum window mesh and some hardware cloth to enclose then vents. I found some of the old molding from the downstairs doorways and made a light frame that I stapled together (air-powered staple gun - 1.5" staples!) and attached the aluminum mesh to. These frames fit inside the front edges of the vents. The mesh-frames couldn't be made to fit too snuggly because the paint on the vent frames was latex and "sticky". The fit, however, was tight enough that I decided a simple caulking fit would be ok. I simply staple (manual staple gun - not air-powered) the hardware cloth on the backs (inside face) to help keep any animals that might make it past the mesh frame cover. I removed the temporary cover that I put in place last year, surveyed the area, found everything to be ok and then placed the new vent in the hole. It fit perfect. I came back and screwed 6 2.5" (3" ?) deck screws through the frame into the wall to hold it in place solid. I also placed the triangular top piece (I just reused the old one - after adding a thin piece of wood to help fill some extra space that appeared for some reason) and then caulked everything in. It was messy, but I got it all don! I even went and caulked some holes that the wasps have been coming out of (or going into )! I sprayed white paint over tings that looked like they needed it.
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| Showing the front mesh in place. |
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| Its up and caulked! |
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| Looks much better then the piece of plywood i had covering it last year! |
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| Wasps hole caulked and painted! |
Still working on finishing the canning shelves!
After trying to sand the first coat of the polyurethane by hand, I quickly decided to go get a palm sander! Again, local hardware store! I have tons of sandpaper and even though it was a little rougher than recommended (100 grit vs 200 grit) I made do. Sanding the shelves took FOREVER! Seriously, like 3-4 hours! It was 54 square feet - times 2! 108 square feet to sand. I applied the first coat a bit thick and there were some blobs of polyurethane that had not fully set; these blobs load the sandpaper very fast. I spent a considerable amount of time just changing sandpaper!
I also started applying polyurethane to the shelf frame. I started by applying poly to the feet since I want to make sure moisture doesn't get absorbed from the damp basement floor!
I did finish applying the 2nd coat of poly to the shelves but didn't quite get all of the first coat of poly on the shelf frame. The shelf frame needs to be stood straight upright so that I can get the top areas, and I couldn't do that since the feet were still curing.
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| Some of the shelves sanded and cleaned before applying 2nd coat of poly |
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| Also started application of poly to the shelf frame. I did the feet first to make sure moisture stays out! |
A new sheep joins my neighbors flock!
While doing a farm survey last week I noticed a new lamb appeared in my neighbors flock! I finally took a pic of him this weekend while doing another survey! I swear he grew at least 4" just this past week! He is still cute little bugger though!
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| Little lamb! |
Grape arbor posts milled
I put a huge effort into milling the posts I will need for the grape arbors for the new grapes. The new grapes are expected soon and I don't want to delay planting because I don't have the posts! I had 5 locust posts (3 milled and 2 raw log) that i prepared last weekend, but changed my mind and decided that I would use all milled posts. I got 8 6x6", 4 4x4" and 3 5x5" posts milled from the logs I had laying around the farm (rotting). There were some rough edges, but not a problem for arbor posts. I plan to paint these with copper naphenate like I did for the woodshed posts. I put them in the barn on sleepers to dry out a bit before I paint them next weekend.
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| 15 posts overall |
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| Most are oak, a couple maple and 3 locust (I think) |
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| You can see I tried to make an octagonal one - it worked, but the method needs to be improved. |
Tree removal to make room
I want to expand the front garden this year - I want to extend it towards the house. Unfortunately, this meant that I had (and still have to) remove some trees from the front lawn.
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The tree that's missing from this picture was leaning toward the road!
I used rope to tie to the tractor and pulled it down safely (relatively) |
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| Closer up - see the stump? I will have to trim that down too. |
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| Lots of branches need to be chipped and more firewood! Yay! LOL - I am going to have to build another woodshed! |
Getting ready to plow
Weather turned nice and dried up lots of the moisture - so much so that I think I could have actually plowed! Well, except that my plow was in pieces and the main part was in the barn, behind tons (literally) of logs! Well, I managed to get the plow body out of the barn using chains and creative use of the front loader. I hauled the plow body over to the garage and found the missing plow blade (I had removed it last year to help dig a ditch). I got smart and used a ratchet-chain-tightener to help move the heavy metal pieces so that I could align the bolts and re-assemble my plow. I think it is good to go now!
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| All together! No room in garage right now. I don't want to put it on the tractor until I have augured out my grape arbor holes! |
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