It’s been a big firewood day. Helene toppled a large oak tree up near the swing and we finally got around to bucking and splitting it. As our little crew began stacking, it became clear that we were going to come close to enclosing the Garden Level porch with a firewood wall, so we hastily hammered together a couple window boxes. I really like how the space feels down there, so the next time we need to drop a big tree, maybe we’ll add some door boxes on either side, and fill everything to the ceiling. And I’ll probably make the window boxes a little taller. As is, they’re kinda squat, but we had to make do with what we had handy.
In other news, I’ve been up here for a couple days meeting with contractors. Our barn footings are poured and we’re forming up the retaining wall that will become the uphill-side-ground-floor wall of the structure.
The forecasted low for tomorrow morning is 12°F and we have six inches of snow scheduled for Friday. This should be exciting for the folks who will be here this weekend—they’ve got plenty of firewood, two excellent sleds, and the greatest ever sledding hill right outside the door. However, it may introduce a(nother)* delay in our construction schedule. We’re aiming to pour the wall next week, the slab the week after that, and then have our barn raising in the last week of January. The timbers are cut for the timber frame structure, the crane and the crew are ready, and all that awaits us is a completed slab. A big winter storm might push us back a couple weeks. We shall see!
* By “another delay”, I am referring to the BIG delay we had following the barn’s foundation excavation. We hit a ton of granite and had to pause and re-assess. Given that we were going to have to adjust things anyway, we went back to the drawing board. It will still have a two bedroom loft (as described here), but it will be a little larger, and built as a timber frame structure. We’ve also slid it back from the road about 25 feet, and will be added another driveway entrance on Big Ridge Road on the downhill corner of the property. It is taking us longer than planned, but it will be worth the wait!
Posted on January 8, 2025 by Geoff Graham