Friday, August 29, 2008

A Couple New Doggie Pics

All three of the dogs were sleeping quietly, so what else would I do but disturb them by taking pics? I couldn't just let sleeping dogs lie, could I? :)

Monday, August 18, 2008

More New Pics

I got some more pics up today... the completed shed and also a variety of goats and dogs, as usual. :)

Over the weekend we rented a sod cutter and cut and removed the sod in preparation of starting the second shed. That was brutally hard work... the sod cutter was easy and did a nice job... the hard part was removing the strips of sod and hauling them away. We used the lawn tractor and cart, but some of the pieces were big and all were heavy.

Next we'll put down an inch or two of stone dust and then the bottom floor framing will go up. Then we'll fill in the framing with stone dust, about an inch or so from the top of the floor framing boards (4x4 pressure treat). Likely we'll rent a compactor to get it nice and tight and try to level it as best we can. We'll pull in the rubber matting that I already have to cover the stone dust. Then the walls will get built and put up and so on.

I imagine it'll take most of the fall to get the shed done... things always take much longer than expected around here.

We also got a bunch of finish work done on the metal hay storage shed. We put some spray foam insulation between the bottom of the shed and the top of the floor in the couple places it wasn't quite as level as it could've been. (In all fairness, we did NO excavation or site prep for this shed, so having a half inch gap here and that was not bad at all!)

We also put some silicone caulking in some of the roof gaps. The kit came with duct tape {CHEAP!} (they called it weather stripping tape or something like that!) to cover the ridge gaps and stuff... we put it on, against my better judgment, but I'm happier now that I've caulked the inside too. I can't imagine the tape will hold forever and there is metal over the tape, but it doesn't sit tight to it, so I figured it wouldn't take long before we'd have roof leaks.

All that's really left to do on the hay storage shed is a bit more spray foam insulation along the top ridge gap where I can't fit the caulking gun and I want to add another sheet of plywood or OSB to the center of the floor inside. We counted our rubber mats and I've got enough to mat this shed also (Ok I'm ONE mat short!) so I think I'm going to go ahead and mat it as well. It'll make cleanup nicer, add some traction and improve the seal along the bottom edge so snow won't be able to blow in or anything. Then I just need to get my hay guy to bring me a load of hay.... move the stuff I already have from the other building over and I'll be done and ready to use it.

Ollie and I went to the vet the other day to pick up some more dewormer and he weighed 41.something lbs. We've been behind on weighing him because our scale needs new batteries... and they are some funny kind that I'll have to go search for and will likely cost a friggen fortune. That irritates me.

Anyhow, I think that's all for now.
-- L

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Hay Storage Shed Pics

Shawn was off work Friday, so we started putting together our ultra cheap hay storage building. I took a few pics during the process and now they are up!
It went together reasonably well and was straightforward enough. We still have to assemble and install doors and put on the finish pieces as well as finish leveling off the building itself and then securing it down with cable and ground stakes.
Its super NOT fancy, but will be an upgrade to what I currently have and will be a lot handier. The door is ultra low, but inside its easy to stand upright, even for Shawn. We've all hit our heads through the doorway a few times, but no serious injuries ;)
That's it for now!
--L

Monday, August 4, 2008

Not Quite 40...

Oliver is now 39.6 lbs. Not quite 40, but close enough... probably just a meal or two away from it!