Our goal is to get nine priorities done on our 40 Idaho acres before the snow flies.
Do you think we make it? Let us know down below in the comments.
To recap, the outhouse was brought on September 11th. The road is still a work in progress, but it's mostly complete.
Number 3--the well. No,
we don't have the well done and don't know when it's going to be done. Number 4--
the containers are here. Number 5, the goat pen is mostly complete and
it won't be finished until the barn is actually done.
My husband doesn't believe in making a lightweight fence post driver for metal posts.
If you want to build muscles, just come to our place and use his fence post driver.
We have clay soil here and it's almost like concrete at the end of the summer.
Let me tell you at the end of those days. I was plumb tuckered out
We're almost ready to start the goat barn and Video #5 explains why we went with electric instead of solar. Our
No. 1 reason to do this project was, of course, to save money. There was also a lack of local help.
Everyone's busy as there's a boom in Idaho and for me personally
it was to learn new skills. Rob was very patient with me and I was excited about everything I was learning.
We staked out the goat barn on October 23rd, but of course, we're still moving so we have to stop and finish unloading the trailers
We're using the little Fergi tractor to dig the post holes with and
we get about two quarters of the first hole done and Rob shuts it off and then it won't start. I have to pull
him out of the enclosure area with the backhoe and down the hill until it starts again.
Rob worked on Fergie in the morning while I did chores and then we tried to dig some more post holes.
Even with both of us leaning on the digger
we just couldn't get through that clay very well, and it was taking forever and we don't have forever.
Rob rigged it up to the middle bar at the top of Fergie and he brought the backhoe over and used the backhoe to push down
on the post hole digger and that went much better.
We managed to get three big posts and holes dug and
then we weren't square. That was going to take some doing so Rob worked with that while I came in and paid bills.
We had a blizzard today which
momentarily put a brake on things, and then after it was over we went back outside and worked although we could see our breath
It's October
26th and Rob works his magic with the shop truck and sets the three big posts in the holes and we quit after dark.
We traded an old pickup that we liked but didn't ever use for Fergie and Rob says that Fergie's already paid for himself.
By the end of October 27th, we have seven of the nine posts bedded in the ground.
Rob goes to obtain more supplies and then he has to work on the shop truck because the white Ford has stopped working and we've
got to go to pick up another load of stuff
from Halfway.
11 degrees yesterday morning and eight degrees this morning--getting a little nippy out there. By November 4th
we have the purlins on the goat side or west side of the barn completed.
We had a few days of interruptions
so we don't actually get the purlins on the east side of the barn until November 7th.
November 8th our goal was to get the tin on the barn. After a late lunch we went back outside and
noticed that it was gently raining--enough to make the tin really slick. Very carefully
we finished putting the tin on although we didn't get all the screws in.
On the 10th of November even though the weatherman said it wasn't going to rain it poured all day,
so we didn't do anything on the barn. On the 11th it was chilly, but there was no rain
so we managed to get all of the tin except one narrow piece
across the west side where the goat entrances made it slow. On
November 12th, we managed to get tin on all of the other sides of the barn.
We got rained out at a late lunch time--3:00.
On November 14th, Rob worked on the goats stalls while I tamped and filled up the post holes. I'm
bushed at the end of the day.
On November 17th
we are completely done with the barn and putting things away and then Rob worked on the storage up above the goat pens.
Rob is hardly ever depressed, but he seems pretty sad because he doesn't think he's gonna get a shop built this fall.
Today, which is November 20th, our
contractor who lives just down the road stopped by and said he thought they could start the shop in just a week or so.
Rob is all smiles again
Because we were able to use some of what we already had we figured things out and we only spent a little over
$2,000 on the barn which makes us really happy.
Even though Rob and our two friends built the shop in Halfway in the middle of the winter
we don't think it's a good idea for a 70 year old man to be doing that again, especially with this very tall shop.
So, even though it's hard to find labor in Idaho at this time
we're grateful that we do have a contractor and that the shop will be built soon.
We have three priorities left to complete: the well, the shop, and the septic system.
Join us to see if we get them completed before snow flies
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