Saturday, August 28, 2010

and the floor comes in




So I haven't been able to post lately on the building project, not because I have been really busy with the project, but because Nate has discovered how pointless I am out there. For some reason me napping under the pine tree doesn't encourage him to build faster... I'll never understand. Instead I have been relegated to babysitting duty so that capable people can be out there with Nate. But I am not offended, I consider it research. Through this babysitting I have learned that one year olds are not as bad as I thought. I just might be able to do that, though their poop does stink.
But back at the house a lot has been done. The concrete slab has been laid. Of course we couldn't just hire it out to someone else to do, Nate had to have his hands in this pot. So out came a truck on a Saturday morning, and Nate and a knowledgeable crew helped spread and smooth that slab. I must say, it looks absolutely beautiful. Then the cement blocks had to be gathered and laid around the edge of the house. This provides a moisture barrier between the bales and the cement slab. The laying of the cement blocks took a couple evenings, one extending well past darkness. What I imagine are spot lights, trowels, and the twins game blaring in the background. They finally finished up around 11 pm.
The next morning Nate was up at 7 30, heading out to pick up straw bales. With the help of Miles and John (our fathers), we now have 207 bales stacked in the interior of our house. We still need to gather about 120 more.
If you are concerned about the garden- don't be. It is doing wonders out there. My tomatoes are amazing, and I am planning on canning some salsa, and perhaps tomato sauce this week. Sounds like a great adventure for me while Nate does some manual labor.

Monday, August 9, 2010

a little shade

After taking a lovely weekend of, which was filled with Uncle Shurley gigs, we headed back to the property to go back to work. Or perhaps a better explanation is Nate headed back to the property to get back to work. I, perhaps, just wandered around. But this past week my dear fellow got a great crew out there to put some sheeting up on the roof, so now our I-beams have plywood on them. Then Nate started focusing on the floor, making the concrete form, leveling the dirt, and putting in the re-bar...or whatever it's called. Finally a job was created for me, I get to put buffalo board around the bottom of each pole where it will touch the concrete. I was told this is necessary so that the pole and concrete can contract and expand at their own rates and not bust up each other. Sounds like a pretty important job to me! I believe this job would take Nate a solid hour to do, but when you are inept like me, and 35 weeks along in your pregnancy, nothing moves very quickly. Especially when it involves me getting up and down. But at least my help is offering Nate some humor when he looks over. I have to be very creative with my hammering because I have this obtrusion from my tummy that prevents my usual swing, therefore I do my hammering under my legs, or upside down, or any way that is physically possible. Then to stand up, I must wrap my arms around the pole and brace my legs, and pull myself up. This is much easier then rising the normal way, but does take sometime and looks absolutely ridiculous.
Other than that, the swimming hole is visited often, the garden is doing its thing, and I am ever becoming larger and slower. Shall be an interesting next month for poor Nate and the house, but we both have a positive attitude about it.