Cabin Crafted

Tag: scaffolding

  • Peeps, Rain and a Mess

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    Today’s mail brought a box of 15 Rainbow Ranger chicks to be raised til late fall.  One of the little yellowish peeps has strange markings that from the top makes the little one look like a chipmunk.  They are safely ensconced in the brooder with food, water and a heat lamp.  It would sure be easy if I could just give them to Broody Girl and let her raise them.

    We woke to rain with the task of moving the remainder of the scaffolding from the barn to the house.  We decided that unloading the trailer and reloading it was more trouble than just folding the seats down in the Xterra and loading it down to the house in the back of the SUV which is what we had decided to do.  When we returned from our vacation, we noticed a puddle near one garage door and had seen on the weather reports while we were gone that we had rain, so we didn’t think much of it.  We have had rain blow under the door in the past.  As we were preparing to go down to the Post Office to retrieve the chicks, I noticed that the puddle was larger, much larger and grabbed the garage broom to push it out only to discover that instead of water, it was oil based house stain.  One of the 5 gallon buckets had a small vertical slit in the side and it had slowly been leaking.  Fortunately I had an empty 5 gallon bucket, but no lid and we were out of Oil Dry granules so our adventure out had to include a stop at Lowes for a lid and the Oil Dry.

    Once the chicks were in their new abode, the clean up commenced.  Oil Dry absorbs the oil and there was enough oil that it had to be applied, shoveled up and reapplied.  It will sit for a few days and again be shoveled up and possibly reapplied until the corner is cleaned.

    It looks like our weekend with our son here will involve only erecting scaffolding in the rain, we won’t get any caulking done with it so wet.  I will begin staining the garage doors, the ceiling of the front porch and front porch logs once the rain ends.

    Life is always an adventure on our mountain farm.

  • Maintenance

    When our house was under construction and due to having a heavy timber roof, thus cathedral ceilings, we knew we were going to need scaffolding.  The contractor that did the log erection and rough carpentry used a Skidsteer with a platform that his crew stood on, but our eldest son was doing the finish carpentry, stone mason work, floors, doors and cabinets with his partner and whatever other crew they could pull together. He priced renting scaffolding, but realizing how long this would take, it made economic sense to purchase our own.

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    The 12 sections are stored in our barn when not being loaned out or used by us.  We have had to haul sections down to repair a ceiling fan and a few other repairs.  One of our Farmers Market friends used it to build a washing shed on his farm, but mostly it just leans up against a wall.  We are going to need it for re-caulking the logs and re-staining, so today while hubby and grandson went to a movie, I started hauling it down to the house.  First wrestling with the utility trailer that occupies the same barn bay to get it on my car.  The car won’t fit under the top edge of the bay and the floor slopes downhill slightly and is littered with decades old dried manure chunks.  Somehow I managed to wrestle it to the hitch and pull it out of the bay.

    Then the fun began.  The 24 sides, as many of the cross tie bars, the feet and pins were loaded in the trailer and hauled down to the house.  Unfortunately, there is another load of walk boards and more cross tie bars waiting in the barn, but I am too tired to unload the trailer, much less go refill it, so it will sit until help arrives home.

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    Fortunately, we purchased all the remaining necessary supplies, including a 2″ x 12″ x 16′ board to use as a connector walkboard today, so tomorrow we can unload and reload the trailer.

    Oh, broody hen is still sitting on an empty nest regardless of my efforts.  I wonder if she would sit on and raise the 15 meat chicks due tomorrow?