Wednesday, July 31, 2013

End of July

Front entry, roof shingled
 Thought I should do a little bit of catch up and post one last post before this month was over.  

  They have been busy this past month and waiting on different things throughout the month and we are still waiting for a front door. There should be a before and after photo today with the front door in the area of the place where the two wraps meet, but it is missing.

  We are waiting for an electrical inspection.  Probably the less said about that, the better.  And when that is complete, we will be ready for the insulation in the walls and the ceiling.  So everything is at a stand still until he shows up and puts his stamp of approval on everything.  

  The windows were put in about 10 days ago.  We have had some very large trucks in the yard during this project. I have seen some pretty good drivers as they maneuvered their rigs around in a small area.  

The "WALL" is down
 The "WALL" was officially taken down today and a beam was put in place to span that area.  When I saw the date of production on it, I thought it was a good omen as that is Jennifer's birthday.  It has always been a good day in my book.
And it is a very happy day and long awaited to see that wall out of there.

 I already mentioned that the front door didn't make an appearance today, hopefully next week on that.  

Dyeing room door
On the right was the view of the front door this morning, it is no longer there.  We put it in a little over 5 years and it is in good condition so we thought might as well use it for the dyeing room door.  Which everyone refers to as the "kitchen" when talking about that room.  I do brew some things up when dyeing, so I guess that will be okay for now.  The door was re-located to the dyeing room and will now be the door I go out when I want to hang things on the line or dye something outside.  And that was another thing that made my day today!! I finally have a door in the dyeing room.  

And last, but not least, the garlic has been curing over the last few weeks.  Once again I missed out digging it when I should have, so that will be something to improve upon next year.  I thought I had read one thing, but that was not correct.  I am slowly learning about this stuff.  I need to take notes on which ones I will not raise again.  I wanted to taste each after they had cured.  

  We did have a couple of ears of sweet corn for supper last night.  Hopefully we can eat it faster than the coyotes as it matures.  They are tearing the stalks over, ripping ears off, etc.  

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Catching Up

Thought it might be time to post again as there have been a few changes to the studio since last time, the garden is producing produce and we have most of the wheat cut.  

The wheat is less than fantastic this year, remarkable we had any to cut at all given the weather conditions it has suffered through. It has shown its resilience and toughness between the drought and the late freeze that killed some of it. 


The garden has finally managed to get ahead of the bugs, for the moment.  This photo was taken a week ago and things have really grown since.  I have enough tomatoes to can a pint or two, thought I might as well get started on that project. Picked the first green beans the other day, always a treat, the first batch.  I am sure they need picked again today.  
The cabbages are growing by leaps and bounds and have formed some very nice heads.  I am hoping the Stoneheads and the Caraflex produce some good sauerkraut later this summer.  I would say fall, but I have put up some of the best kraut in August.  I believe I am currently winning the battle with the aphids, but one never knows when those blasted little things can explode to uncontrollable levels.  

The progress seems slow when we are building something. Looking back on photos helps realize that progress is being made.  

This area is where the storage area will be eventually be built.  The open area is where the long arm will be located, the hallway between the old and new is in this area along with the furnace room, bathroom, and new bedroom.  
 The hallway wall has been put in place, along with the closet in the bedroom.  The window is our current office and that will be turned into the hallway, hopefully very soon.  The electricians were here and have most of the wiring done, the plumber was here the day before and has everything done that he can do for the time being.  

One of the big concerns we have had is lighting.  We have recessed lights in the ceiling and there will be track lighting on the beams above each work area.  I am a fan of track lighting in that it gets light where I need it when working on projects. Might not be aesthetically pleasing to some, but it is the best solution for my needs.  I have used Ott lights placed in track lighting above my long arm since I purchased it 14 years ago.

The track will hang on the bottom side of the beam/truss.  I think the type we chose will work well.  I didn't want the regular looking truss and found this online the other day, just in the neck of time as Dan was ready to build them.  They are difficult to see right now, but will show up better after they are wrapped with wood.   This photo also shows the storage area wall. It has a lot more work to be done on it.  More on that as it progresses.  The last photo is pretty boring to most, but I can't wait until the washer is hooked up.  That means I will be able to dye fabric again.  The A/C went the trip over at the old studio and I had to move all of the dyes out of there and store them in another location.  And I think I have mentioned that the water heater is less than safe and doesn't work part of the time.  I am ready to dye fabric again and looking forward to the washer sitting in front of the drain and hook up!!!