I remember thinking last year that we were having absolutely gorgeous weather for October. I have a few pictures that look like it’s August, but are dated October (and I’m sure it wasn’t August heat!). We got lucky enough to see some of that same October sunshine this year, with close to half the month being just stunning. I hope it hangs on a bit longer so we can do some chinking in the dry!
Last weekend we got the three lower windows put in and a few logs that had sagged over the years lined up a little better for easier chinking later. We had to raise the window height quite a bit; first of all because they were really low, second of all because we had to raise the height of the floor a little bit to make the crawl space big enough. We wanted the bottom of the windows to be high enough to clear the kitchen counters and them to all be the same size. So we will have to figure out what to put under the windows so they don’t look ridiculous later on. I’m thinking maybe double decker flower boxes with like shake shingles between or something. We shall see!
The next thing we did was set up the inside to pour concrete pilings for the floor crossbeams to sit on. This project went very quickly and was, “basically a craft project compared to the rest of our concrete experiences,” according to Husband. He was entirely right. It took 35 minutes to mix, pour, set all the rebar and the metal pieces to hold the wood off the concrete. I don’t think it took too much longer to set up! All in all a very quick project.
This week FIL went to Home Depot with the trailer and picked up enough wood to get the floor beams and joists in this weekend. With any luck, we will be able to fit in the plywood and a spacer piece under each of the doorways and get the doors in shortly! We’ve got all the doors ready to pick up as well! I ordered all the chinking supplies – still need to get some backer rod – and eventually we’re going to have a fully sealed Cabin!! I’m pretty sure once the floor plywood goes down is when the fun stuff starts. The transformation is becoming so fun to watch again!
Speaking of transformations. This property is gorgeous in all seasons. We haven’t had enough mud to be sick of it yet; last years mud was INSANE after the digging for the septic system. I’m hoping it won’t get too bad this year with all the grass regrowth we’ve had. We will still need to spread the dirt piles and actually seed grass in the Spring to get rid of the eye sores, but it’s not looking terribly muddy out there!
Somehow we got a volunteer sunflower growing directly out of the little patch of our driveway between the walkway to the In-Laws and where they park; which is pretty dang cool. The wind got to her and blew her half over, but she persevered. The leaves and apples are all but gone now, but two weeks ago, they were looking scrumptious! MIL made some blueberry apple cobbler this weekend and HOLY COW – it was gone within 24 hours, with only four of us present.
MIL and FIL have been working tirelessly on the garden for next year, and oh my ‘lanta, it’s going to be INCREDIBLE. The bird run got moved to the Northeast corner, and the garden area doubled in size. MIL has drawings and plans upon plans on how the new garden space will be used. I just planted some Lily Tree bulbs along the East fence; I hope they make it!! We’ve had some issues with voles (these little hamster looking mice/mole rodents) eating my bulbs and everything they could find in MIL’s garden! So I protected the new bulbs with some extra fencing. Soon I should be getting some Maximilian Sunflower bulbs shortly as well!
FIL fabricated the garden gate and is now working on putting up a couple of green house domes. Tunnels? Semi-domes? Green house structures. MIL is spending hours filling the garden space with any organic material she can get her hands on – rotting hay, leaves, grass cuttings, bird run waste (gold), and compost. She’s filling the beds with all the goodies and then topping them with a little more dirt from the walkways, and covering everything in cardboard to try to keep the grass and weeds from coming in. Last year we had to amend the dirt after everything had a rough go of things at the beginning; this year we’re preparing! It’s going to be a (more) beautiful sight in about six months.
The Homestead Journey 