Well, it seems like we are finally leaving winter behind. It was supposedly 38 degrees outside this morning, but that nonsense looks to be finished. Wednesday is supposed to deliver a high of 85. Everything is really green and lovely now. The farm is looking great. I’m sure Monteagle is beautiful too, but unfortunately I have not been able to make it up there recently. Maybe in a couple of weeks. The rain is also allegedly coming to an end for the time being. Good construction weather!
Today was day three for the masons. They are supposed to finish up this afternoon, and had made good progress when I left around noon. It sure is nice to see those block walls going up. It is finally starting to look like a house. We should get an inspection later this week and have the framers come at the start of next week. I really like the way the house sits. I think it will look pretty good once it is finished. The porch and deck should both be fantastic. The garage is going to be a little bit of a challenge though. The platform connecting the doors is going to be higher than I thought, and it might be rather difficult to arrange the stairs.
It will be a huge relief once the house is framed and roofed. Then it will be time for me to take over and start really working. I am rather nervous about the framing though. I hope that my designs are accurately constructed. It would have been easier to use off the shelf plans, but I couldn’t find one that met our needs. An architect drawn plan would have been too expensive. So we are just sort of winging it.
Well, actually it wan’t a miscalculation, more like a failure to check things out. I decided to go downtown to photograph the full moon rise. The timing was going to be perfect, but unfortunately the moon didn’t rise where I was hoping it would. Rather than coming up over the downtown core like it did in January, it rose more to the southeast, in a rather boring location. Oh well, it was still a beautiful evening and it felt great to get out of the house.
I have seen tons of great sunsets from our little terrace here at the condo, but yesterday evening was the first time that I’ve bothered to photograph one with my real camera. Unfortunately I got started a few minutes later than I should have. It was still fun though. I didn’t use a tripod or anything, but snapped a few single frames and also some brackets for HDR images. The latter were a bit garish, but still fun.
Two truck loads of block got delivered yesterday, along with sand and mortar. They were able to position all of the block on the inside of the footings. Unfortunately the surveyor didn’t come as scheduled yesterday to mark the corners, so the masons couldn’t start today. Hopefully tomorrow. We are using split face block for the exposed areas and regular block for the parts that cover. That saves a little money, although we still used a lot of block – over 2000.
Yesterday as I was trying to figure out how to get water for the masons I discovered the main water line coming in from the street. I had been planning on replacing it since I assumed it was in rough shape, but it is actually one inch PVC pipe of a recent vintage. I found where it branched off to the house and outdoor spigot, and cut the line there. I installed a valve for a garden hose. It was a very easy and cost effective solution to a problem I was quite concerned about. I couldn’t have just used the existing spigot because there were too many leaks on the line that fed it. So now the masons will have water, a key ingredient for mortar. I am rather pleased with myself, but think that I will rework everything by putting a 90 degree elbow onto the line, then coming up a couple of feet off the ground and then attaching the spigot. Otherwise it would be a mess after it rains and the hole that the spigot is now in fills up with water.
This weather has been amazing, but will cool down again this evening for a couple of days. It was warm but quite breezy today. I hope the wind lasts through the summer. Things are getting nice and green. Unfortunately that means the grass needs cutting. I don’t yet have an implement for my tractor. I actually need to repair the three point attachment before I am ready for a cutter. Lots to do around the farm.