Boise! - Part 1

 A couple weeks ago Noni, Mama, Peanut, Peaches, Lou, and I took a little road trip to Boise to see the cousins! 

We got to meet their new dog George...he is a funny guy!

Little J was so sweet and gave us all hugs!

 

 

We arrived at bedtime but the kids were full of energy and happy to be together again!

 

 

The next morning the kids got up bright and early and started playing right away!

 

 

I love how well they play together! 

 

 

They spent hours up here playing with all the toys.

 

 

Uncle A made homemade cinnamon rolls! Yum!

 

 

 

Love these faces!

 We got to go to little J's swim lesson...he was so cute!!

 

 

The kids played a card game while we waited.

 

 

More pictures tomorrow! 

Funny Friday

 

 

 

I told Bug I found her spirit animal...she puts ranch on everything! Like even spaghetti and lasagna. :P

 

 

 

Happy Friday! :) 

Shop Update! - Part 3

 As we went we started working out better ways to do things. Bug came and helped us on Sunday and she and T went in the lift to be able to get around faster. We borrowed the lift from some church friends and it has been SO helpful!

 

 

Grandma got this picture...I'm on the scaffolding, T and Bug on the lift, and Grandpa driving. 

 

 

It looks like a maze of wood from the ground.

 

 

It was so nice to see this big job getting done!

 

 

Setting trusses is one of the hardest and most dangerous things on a building.

 

 

When we got to the bottom of the pile I found an old quail's nest! They sure found a safe spot tucked down in the trusses! It looks like they had seven babies.

 

 

The lift goes really high which was perfect since our trusses were so tall!

 

 

All but the gable end...

 

 

Noni kept the little girls on the full day we were setting trusses which was super nice not to have to worry about them coming out since it's pretty dangerous, and Grandma kept them from getting close the next day. They were allowed to come out a few times when it was safe. We went ahead and did the sheeting and paper on the other end as well.

 

 

There it goes!

 

 

Ta da! We kept the telehandler one more day and used it to help set the beams on the south side of the lean-tos.

 

 

So nice to have that done! We won't be renting it again so we'll have to figure out how to do the North side by ourselves. 

 

 

Monkey on the scaffolding!

 

 

 We did figure out how to set the lean-to trusses with just T's tractor. They are a lot smaller (20 feet across as opposed to the 40 foot ones for the main  part of the building) but it only lifts them 14 feet in the air so T devised a clever pulley system on a "fishing pole" as he called it, and we were able to hoist them and maneuver them into place.

 

 

That's as far as we've gotten for now. I'll update more later!

Shop Update! - Part 2

 The girls have been really good about helping us on the weekends when we have jobs for them to do. This particular day we had all three out there for a while.

 

 

I've been trying to keep up with taking pictures as we go. 

 

 

This weekend we were pouring concrete pillars for the lean-tos. There were 8 of them so Grandpa brought us his concrete mixer and we were able to get the job done in just a few hours instead of the several days it would have taken by hand.

We had to use the hose so of course Jax thought we were there to play with him. :P

 

 

We let each of the girls put their hand in a pillar and sign their name, and T and I did as well. Since we had one leftover we put Jax's paw in it. I think he was pleased. :)

 

 

 

We rented a telehandler to put the trusses up. It was quite the process. The first one was really hard! We decided to go ahead and sheet and paper the end trusses before we put them up which was great in theory but also made the truss SUPER heavy! The telehandler was able to lift it after some extra bracing and we slowly walked it around the property and into the neighbor's field (we had permission and it was already cut). 

 

 

It was super stressful but we finally had it in place and started to set the screws.

 

 

Once that first one was set it went so much easier. Grandpa would pick it up and drive it over. T and I would be on scaffolding on either end and get it in place and screw it down.

 

 

Here was my view.

 

 

The first four trusses are the hardest because you have to get them all set and well braced or they could all just blow over. It took the rest of the day to get them done, but thankfully the next day went a lot faster and we were able to finish them. Pictures from that tomorrow!

Shop Update!

 Months ago T told me he hoped to get the shop dried-in before winter and I had no idea how that was going to happen, but we have been chugging right along and now that goal doesn't seem so far fetched!

 It seemed like we waited forever to get the concrete poured, but once that happened we took off. 

We had three concrete trucks and a crew of guys. I think there were 8 of them. 

 

 

 It was quite the process. T took the day off and the crew ended up staying for about ten hours!

 

 

But when they were done we had a beautiful floor as smooth as glass!

 

 

We had told the girls the red tubes were for in floor heating so when they went out there after a hot summer day they said, "You turned it on already!" when really it had just been warmed by the sun all day. :P

 

 

T started framing one evening when we didn't have anything else going. The walls are 14 feet; much taller than we are used to working with. It took him all evening to get this one built and set, using the help of the tractor. 

 

 

But thankfully Grandma and Grandpa were able to come over for a couple weekends and it went much faster with all of us working. Boo helped us get a bunch of walls built and then we all stood them up together. 

 

 

 

The little ones like to sit outside with Grandma and play or watch us work. 

 

 

Once we got them all stood up and anchored it was time for top plates and bracing.

 

 

  Framing is fun because you get to see lots of progress quickly! We got the main part of the building done that night.

 

 

Since the walls are 14 feet it was hard to reach the top plates in the lean-tos. T pulled some shenanigans and stood on a ladder which was placed on a pallet which was on the forks of the tractor. I had to keep raising the pallet since the tractor hydraulics can't hold a lot of weight and sink down a bit every few seconds. Grandpa had to use a 2x4 to pull the wall in or out so T could nail it. Thankfully no one fell off anything and we got the job done. :P 

 

 

I breathed a sigh of relief when all the walls were up! It's hard to work with 14 foot walls! They are really heavy. :P

 

 

More tomorrow!