Catching up part 3

After the basement floor was poured I started setting the floor trusses. I went with trusses because I wanted a clear span so I wouldn't have any post in the basement to work around. My next door neighbor where I live volunteered a day to help set the trusses. We used the excavator to set the them see it went pretty fast, thank goodness because it was hot and humid that day.

Started installing the sub floor.

After the sub floor was completed it was time for the walls to start going up. It had to be the hottest week I can remember in a long time, it was still in the 80's at 6 in the morning and reaching mid 90's by lunch. This really slowed down the productivity due to all the fluids we had to stop and drink.

Until next time,

Tim

Catching up part 2

When I was digging the basement I hit sandstone about 12' down, so after hammering out the rock it was time for the footers to be poured.

After the footers were poured it was time for the walls to be poured.

Added the gravel, leveled it out then waited on the concrete trucks to show up.

Poured the floor, next step floor trusses.

Until next time,

Tim

Catching up

As I stated in a post last week it has been awhile since I last posted so I wanted post what all has been going on the past year. After I finished the barn last spring/summer I had a concrete floor put in it and decided that I needed more room. I have always wanted to remodel/modernize the little cabin on the farm, currently it has electricity but no insulation and no indoor plumbing etc. Since I needed more space I decided to add a 30' X 40' building with basement onto the side of the existing barn. I will use the basement for storage (small equipment) and the upstairs will temporarily be used as the "Man Cabin" until I get the little cabin remodeled. After that the "Man Cabin" will become my woodworking shop. So here is a pictorial of the last year.

Installing concrete floor in barn

starting excavation for the basement

Since I had a lot of work to do around the farm I purchased an Excavator

At this point we were ready for the footers.

Until next time

Tim

Dad

It has been a rough year, my dad/best friend passed away Feb. 10th, I was glad to be at his side with both of my sisters and mom as he passed. He was a great man and lived his life with Christ by his side, it is comforting to know that he is with his Heavenly Father and someday I will join him again.

Until next time

Tim

Welcome back Ron

It's good to see Ron at Homesteading Hickory Hills is back. I started blogging after following him for a while and quit when he did. Glad to see he's back and hopefully ok, he had a great blog.

Tim

Been a while

First post in a long time. I plan on getting back to blogging, since its been a while I have quit a bit to share mostly good but some bad as well.

Nest Boxes

Well I finally got around to building the nest boxes for the chickens. I was going to make conventional wooden nest boxes, but then I was watching a video on YouTube when Becky (from Becky's Homestead) showed building some out of 5 gal buckets. Since my time is short right now I thought this would be a quick way to go. I have a ton of 5 gal buckets that I bring home from work but they have have cutting, hydraulic fluid etc. in them, so I just went to Tractor Supply and purchased 5 new ones at $2.99 a piece. I had plenty of scrap lumber setting around and two 2X6 "L" sections 8' long as well. I cut the two "L" sections into 5' sections to set the buckets into and mount them to. When I had the house restained I replaced a couple of 5/4 X 6" steps so I used these for the sides and then used a sapling for the roost pole on the front. It only took me about an hour to put this together and so far the chickens like it just fine. I took turns putting each chicken in the boxes to get them familiar with them, some were a little reluctant to enter, but with a little persuasion the all eventually settled in.

Below are a few pictures of the nest boxes..

Doodlebugs added another critter to mix a couple of weeks ago, meet BooRoo.

I have raised rabbits on and off for the last 40 years, so it wasn't to hard for her to convince me into getting her one. My mom and dad's neighbor was kind enough to give her one of his. When I was little and we lived in Louisville I started raising them, we lived on a busy road so they were always easy to sell. I remember we always stocked up for Easter because you could sell all you had plus some, the best part, about three weeks after Easter most of parents would bring them back to us and then we would resale them.

Until next time....

Tim