Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[Callender Girl]

So, Annie's warming up to the ceiling tile idea, huh? Good deal.

No more rats in the trap yesterday, but I put it out last night anyway. Jim, you're giving me visions of the old '70s movie, "Ben." Not one of my favorites.

The first of the Work Crew arrived late yesterday afternoon, and we made a Menards run to buy materials. Today, they will be putting up soffit and fascia on the garage addition. That's bad news for the squirrels who like to live there in the winter and chew up stuff. I will also appreciate not having snow inside the building..

Two of the guys announced yesterday that they spotted coyote scat out by the barn. Maybe that means my yelling and stomping scared the crap out of them?

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, maybe your yelling scared more than the coyotes. did you check your nearest neighbors yards?
I had great intentions of getting the wall covered yesterday. My pnuematic finish nailer, which never ever gave me any trouble, ,,, , gave me trouble.
I would get one shot, and then the magazine would pop open and drop all of the nails to the floor. then as a bonus, the nail that I shot would jam in the gun
three times !!!
that meant finding an alan wrench and taking the plunger guard apart.
the reason the magazine would fly open was because of the pin holding the spring loaded catch was loose. that fixed, I figured out that I had loaded 18ga nails instead of 16ga. all is well now.
(after over an hour of messing around)
there is more. in my running around, my glasses fell out of my shirt pocket. Annie helped me search. nothing. I gave up. about an hour later she handed me my glasses. found them under the lid of the tool box where I got the alan wrench from. so now the sun is behind the trees and it is getting cold. Annie saves the day.
"do you want to go for a fish fry?"
quitting time!!!
oh, I did manage to get one piece of tile installed.

 

[jvls1942]

today the wall went much better.
I got the top half finished.
I hope to finish it all tomorrow.
it looks OK, but I would do it a little differently if I had to do it again.
the nail gun worked perfectly.
I hope the soffits went well, Barb.
38F at 4AM.

 

[Callender Girl]

Glad Saturday went better for you! It went pretty well here, too.

The soffits and fascia are up, the goats' gate and posts got reworked so the gate closes easily (and ideally Greta and Tessa won't knock it wonky again -- at least for a while), some additions were made to two coops for better winter ventilation with less snow inside the coops, and a post was installed under the deck.

The last item is the first step in adding horizontal cedar boards to replace the worn out and really ugly old lattice. Today, we cut, stain and attach boards.

But, there's still plenty more left on the to-do list; it's endless, I think.

 

[jvls1942]

what kind of power do you have to get such good help ? i can't even buy help. but i do have Annie.
and bro Dave. I shouldn't complain.

 

[Callender Girl]

Honestly, I'm always surprised by this group. My Jim had a lousy childhood and these folks, all historical re-enactors, became his chosen family when he was still a teenager.

When he passed, I thought they might drift away, but they haven't and I am always grateful.

I needed to remember that gratitude this morning when I sat down in the dark at my computer and very quickly noticed that someone had removed the cushion from my extremely uncomfortable, wooden-seated chair. I may have said some unpleasant words as my bottom hit the chair seat.