JUNE 17 UPDATE: Farewell, Walt

Well, a month and a half after he came to help us, Walt drove off south toward Iowa today to wade through the floods (well, not literally, and I don't think any highways are closed between here and there, but it's still pretty soggy down there, I've heard) to visit his parents before venturing back to his home, wife and cats in New York. He leaves us with a building that's much more like a house than a granary, with such fine features as a second-floor floor, a shingled roof, windows, a door and skylights. Walt and Karen, you are welcome anytime for a country getaway!

After having a work crew for so long, Dave will have to adjust to working alone again for a while. The style of putting house wrap on, for example, had to change -- long horizontal strips just aren't manageable for one guy on a ladder. So the rest of the house wrapping won't be a thing of beauty, but it will get done, which is the key thing at this point.


Dave (at the top of the ladder) and Dad (holding the ladder steady) were working on putting on housewrap until dark tonight. Notice the three finished skylights on the front (if you can -- the picture's a little dark).


Sofia wanted to pose in front of "her house." She had found a rock she liked; that's what's in her hand. Not sure what was so great about it, but she set it aside so she could play with it tomorrow, too.

... I found out today that the windows we ordered should arrive in three weeks or so.

... I didn't mention in yesterday's post that on Sunday, while standing in line for our free lunch at the event at the Granary Rural Cultural Center, we struck up a conversation with a woman my mom knows. Mom mentioned our project, and the woman asked if we were having to hunt for salvage wood to complete the project. I said we're not being quite so purist about it -- we'll reuse and salvage as much as we have and can, but we've bought a lot of new lumber and materials, too. It would be nice if we could go hunting in old barns and houses for other wood, but that would take time we don't have at this point. Dave is still working full-time, and we'd like to move in before it snows again.

We have been able to reuse most of the beams and boards that made up the bin walls; the second-floor floor is apparently quite nice. Here's a look at the floor in the midst of its construction:

It will look somewhat different once we sand it down. The underside of the boards was sanded as the crew laid them, but they figured they'd wait to sand the top until the whole floor was in place.

The posts on the first floor are made from wood from the bin walls, though they were made for structural integrity, not beauty, and we're planning on covering them with a prettier veneer at some point.

We'll start looking for some other salvaged materials once we get to the interior -- shelving, doors, etc. We won't be feeling such time pressure then.

Well, except for the baby.

Ah, well, we wouldn't want a life without demands and responsibilities. How dull would that be?