A Little Bit More

Mom had the Friday and Monday before and after Easter off of school. Along with a trip to Ogden for Ellie's blessing we got a little more done at the R-N-R.

It may be a little early (April 9th) but we decided to get some potatoes planted.  It is all an experiment, so we will see if we planted too early and if potatoes work very well in Kanosh.

Mom also hauled a water barrel out to water the two trees that were planted out in the pasture area.  I think she enjoyed driving the tractors.

I got a little more done on the barn.
But I may need a taller ladder.

The Roofing Banshee Visits The RNR

Brad touring the farm.

This photo is actually the second day of Brad's visit.  The first day we added a lot of blocks between the rafters, we installed the fascia and the eave sheeting.

After the sheeting was complete and nailed off, we began the installation of the shingles.  We decided to get the hard side done first.

By the end of the second day the north side was done and we had a good start on the south side.

The third and final day of Brad's visit.  The forecast was for high winds in the afternoon and rain for the following day. 

Brad nailing shingles like a banshee.

The wind is beginning to blow, but we are close.  Janna arrived to fertilize and water trees and take a few pics.

We made it. "Bring On The Rain"

Barn Rafters

The weather forecast looked good for the next three days.  I refreshed Janna on how to feed the goats, the horse and the cows.  I loaded up some rafter materials and the rest of the cedar fence posts that have been piled up next to the driveway for the last couple of months, and I loaded up a little camping gear.  I thought I could get away, get some work done on the Kanosh barn, camp out and just enjoy the farm.

After a long day of loading up, driving, unloading and getting started on the roof framing, I was rewarded with about 60 seconds of a beautiful wave of golden light.  The afternoon had become a little cloudy, which was good, I was boiling. Then as the sun was going down it descended below the clouds and washed the landscape with horizontal rays of golden sunlight.  The picture does not capture the serenity of the moment.

The end of the first day, the ridge is up, the main rafters are figured out and I am dead.

Due to over exertion the previous day, I was moving rather slowly the morning of the second day of my relaxing / working trip to Kanosh.  I decided to do something a little less physical than hefting 2x10 rafters up the 10 foot ladder to the catwalk which will eventually be the loft floor.  So I got on the Yanmar and rototilled the future corn patch.

I found lots of ancient artifacts.

After tilling the garden area, I set a few gopher traps, sprayed some of the weeds around the new trees and then I got back to the barn.  Janna had called and said that Kevin was thinking  he may be able to come down again for the day on Saturday.  So I got the rafters over the room side of the barn figured out and cut most all of the rafters, getting them all ready to be lifted up and installed.  I was hoping Kevin would come and save my life.

Luckily Kevin showed up bright and early Saturday morning.

By Saturday afternoon it is looking less like a green wooden post version of Stonehenge and more like a barn.

The barn, the garden and some little blossoms on the apricot tree.  I am sure the blossoms are much too early to survive.

Overall, not too relaxing, but I was able to get rid of some itchiness to get more done at the RNR.

Back to R-N-R

After a few months off for the winter, we finally got back to do a little work at the farm. We brought the little Yanmar to the farm to help with driveway preparations.

But, it works best for giving rides.

We got some nice cinder gravel from the local area to use as our driveway. We tried using both tractors for spreading the cinder gravel, but a good old rake seem to work the best.

Kevin came down from SLC to give us a hand.  We were able to get a little work done on the barn. We quit a little early though, the 40 mph wind wore us out. If you look close, you can see a heavy 2 inch wide nylon strap blowing sideways from the wind.

Boer Herd

The beginning of the R-N-R purebred Boer goat herd.
Left to Right:
Jet (Our registered but very young buck) - Traditional color.
Frenchie - Brown
498 / Blaze - Traditional
296  / Star - Traditional
497 / Brownie - Brown
PJ06 / Zelma  - Paint
Patch - Traditional

Starting the Barn or Cabarn (Cabin/Barn)

The day before Thanksgiving we were at the farm cleaning and buttoning things up for the winter.  Before we left we laid out for the barn, just in case the weather held out.

I guess we got bored during Thanksgiving. The Saturday following we got up early and hustled back to the farm to get started.

We worked untill after dark to get the first four (12 foot) posts set.

The next weekend we did not work due to bad weather.  I made a few trips during the two weeks and got the next eight holes dug.  I also changed my strategy and poured the concrete in the holes prior to setting the posts.  They were just too heavy to work with, as shown above.  On one of my hole digging trips I took some nice snow pics, I will post some of those soon.

Saturday Dec. 10th we returned to set 8 more (16 foot) posts.

It takes a lot of tamping when trying to backfill and compact 8 four foot deep holes.

I came back on Monday (12/12/11) to finish backfilling and compacting around the post, plum and line and brace everything off for the winter.

Misc. Pics.

It didn't come out very good in the photo but the fall colors on the mountains were beautiful.  The clouds are nice though.  The picture is from the back of the city lot looking south over what we call the front 8 acre pasture.  The 1000 lb. bails are from the 4 feet tall rye grass that was there.

A little Horn Toad

This could be Grandma Joan

It seems like every evening is a beautiful sunset.

More pretty clouds.

I need to get one of these.