Concrete, laser level and post caps

Now that the posts were braced upright and level it was time to fill the holes in with concrete. The mixer came and we thought we could get him squeezed in to use the chute but we could only do a few that way.

It was just too tight with all the bracing and hitting a post or bracing would have really slowed the process. Even with all the chute extenders on we couldn't make it happen.

Wheelbarrows were used and it was two hours of fast and furious hard labor but we got them all filled and the next day we took down the bracing.

Since the posts were not all level due to various hole and footer depths we had to cut them all to the correct size. We rented a laser level to help. This nifty tool sits on a tripod and spins out a level laser beam 360 degrees.

You hold the receiver at the post and when it sees the laser it lets you know. Then you can mark all your posts at the same level.

Since the ground is not level, this gives you a level starting point from which to measure your height. I went up and down a ladder measuring while Mike stood on the scaffold and used a circular saw to cut off the tops of the post.

Then he nailed the post caps on.

Every day it looks more and more like a building!

Next up...girts!

Going Postal

Being the DIYer's that we are, and having an aversion to spending money on labor we can do ourselves, it was decided we would rent a Bobcat and drill the holes for the posts as opposed to hiring someone. My husband was the designated driver and having never been in one before he practiced driving this incredibly useful machine for an half hour before tackling the auger.

I do not have a picture of the holes being drilled because I was too busy helping hoe the dirt away from the hole and making sure he was drilling straight over the mark! He did a great job and after two days of drilling and moving the dirt out we had 34 holes with concrete footers.

My husband dropped the posts in the holes as carefully as he could- a 14 foot 

6x 6 weighs an awful lot!  

A day and a half to level them and brace them; he did the leveling while I nailed the braces in place. It's starting to look like a structure 

(or a lot of tipi's without covers) !

A beautiful lenticular wave cloud setting over Posthenge...

The Big Red Barn Project

We have decided to build a new barn! After four years of discussion, with some heated arguments thrown in for good measure, we finally agreed on a location. I loved the old barns, they were a hodgepodge of additions, an old granary built in the 1920s. A chicken coop, that rumor has it was a bunkhouse for farm hands many years ago; and two car sheds that had more mice and holes in the roof than I could count.

I wanted to save all of it, as I am a sucker for old buildings, but my husband convinced me that was an unreasonable idea given our time and energy constraints. We saved some of the sturdy walls and hopefully we'll build a goat shed with them one day, but most of it was hauled away or used for firewood. So now we have an excavated pad ready for construction!

 We also saved the granary as it was in the best shape and had some good potential as a guest cabin or writing studio for yours truly. We moved her up the hill and she now sits under some trees with a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. 

Next time I'll show you how we moved her and I'll take you inside....!

Heat

What better topic on this frosty March morning?
We heat mostly with our living room wood stove. It's cozy and really takes the chill off, just looking at it warms me!

A friend of ours has 40 acres in the mountains not far from here and the pine beetles have gotten so out of hand that he has been more than happy for us to take truckloads of beetle kill trees off his property. However, last summer his acreage was mostly burned by the High Park fire and next Winter we may have to find a new source of firewood. My husband splits it all by hand, ( he says it warms him twice!) we use about 4-5 cords per season. Being the end of the heating season we are getting down to the end of the wood stack.

The 104 year old house we live in had electric baseboards installed in the 1960s, one in each room. Occasionally we turn some of those on low to keep the pipes from freezing while we are gone . In the mornings we turn the bathroom heater on for a bit. My husband made this wonderful clothes rack,  I hang my clothes there and pretend I'm staying in a five star hotel! There is nothing like putting on warm clothes in winter.

This house is rather small compared to your average single family home these days, there was a very good reason they built them small way back then-it's easier to heat! Our brick chimney runs up through the middle of the house and takes the chill off the upstairs.

Nowadays people spend an awful lot of money heating their whole house even though they rarely use their whole house all the time. I like the idea of heating the rooms you use, when you use them.  Give me a small cozy house on a cold winter's day anytime...

Snow plus Wind equals Wow

We finally got some snow! It came in horizontally on a sustained 30 mile per hour wind and it created the most beautiful waves of snow.

In some places the drifts are 4 feet high while in other spots the ground is bare. The trees seem to have something to do with it.

There was a rippling effect as well, and I believe it might be due to wind getting caught in a whirlwind and going round and round the trees eating away at a snowdrift.

I was glad for the drifts as it made paths for me to walk the dogs around the house!

What's in a Name?

I have a tendency to do my farm chores in my bathrobe. The reasons vary. Sometimes I"m cold and don't want to take it off. Then my long farm coat goes over it and slippers are replaced with snow boats. The farm coat does not close anymore, lost it's buttons on various fences. I think Clem, our old toothless goat, may have stolen one but I cannot prove it and of course she denies it. 
Sometimes I'm lazy, I don't take the bathrobe off nor do I remove my slippers. The chickens do not care what I wear to let them out of their house and feed them, only that I show up and do these things. 
My first bathrobe was baby blue, it stopped being that color soon after this habit began. Baby blue and Colorado plains farm dirt looks similar in color to dirty mop water. 
My wonderful daughter must have noticed. She gave me a luxurious candy apple red bathrobe for Christmas a couple years ago. I loved it, the chickens loved it. The ram thought it was an invitation to bull fight so I was careful to stay away from him. I tried not to wear it to do the farm chores but certain habits are very difficult to break and this apparently is one of those. The cuffs turned dark brown no matter how much I scrubbed and tried to stay clean out in the barnyard. Even my handsome son, who does not seem overly concerned with dirty clothes, said "Ma, your robe is looking kinda nasty" Sigh. 
Last Christmas my darling husband gave me a new bathrobe ( do I see a Christmas tradition in the works??). I opened the box "It's brown." and he said joyously, "Yes! It's PRE-brown!"
I smiled from ear to ear, it's BROWN! A beautiful, dark brown. 

Perhaps not a Christmas tradition every year....