Before the rain

 Day 16 - floor joists are going up, more backfilling is happening, and the excavating contractor has started building the retaining wall with those massive boulders he dug up.  

The forecast calls for rain on and off for most of the upcoming week, so I'm not sure how much will get done.  We've been extremely lucky to have had mild weather this late into the season, and I hope it continues for a little while longer.  Just until the garage floor is poured, at least!

My Own Private Island

 So I made the happy mistake of checking the local Habitat ReStore Facebook page, and of course I saw something I couldn't resist.  

What's a Habitat ReStore?  It's a home thrifter's dream come true, that's what it is!  When people renovate their homes, they donate usable materials, furniture, appliances, decor, and whatnot to Habitat for Humanity.  HFH then sells these items at an amazing discount to the public, and they in turn use the proceeds to fund their projects.  It's a win-win deal!  ReStores are all over the place, so if you love bargain hunting, I highly recommend checking one out.

The treasure I found was this kitchen island:

I want butcher block countertops in my kitchen, so this will fit in perfectly.  I'll paint the base white, of course, and there are a few other details I need to address.  It seems this was a display counter in a retail store originally, and it's not even attached anywhere.  The legs are actually a fraction of an inch short and the countertop doesn't even touch them.  One side of the base was meant to attach to a wall, so it's not finished.  The top is actually upside down in this photo; the other side has a company name and logo carved into it.  I plan to put a small section of beadboard on the unfinished side of the base, and I'll need to give the bottom of the countertop a light sanding then hit it with a few coats of polyurethane so I can use it as the top.  One of the edges also needs to be slightly beveled to match the rest.  Having it in 3 pieces is actually going to make refinishing it that much easier, and it's a perfect size, so I'm incredibly happy to have stumbled across it. 

As far as the house goes, Day 15 was more framing and driveway work.  Apparently there's a discrepancy in the septic plans with the leach field, so they're waiting for the septic designer to come out and go over it before they actually start installing that part.  

Another materials delivery...

I also have an update on the solar light I put in the barn.  It came on automatically at 4:51pm last night.  I think the solar panel has a sensor that kicks on at a certain level of darkness, because it doesn't have a timer and it's dark inside the stall all day, but the light didn't come on at any other time.  Unfortunately when it comes on, it doesn't remember the level of brightness it was set to previously - it just goes straight to the brightest setting.  So long as I'm in the barn to adjust it, that isn't a huge deal.

Here it is from the alley looking into the stalls.

That's a pretty bright light for something so small!  

Here it is on the brightest setting, then the most dim setting.

I'm really pleased with it.  I think I'll move it to the other side of the stall, though, so it shines more into the first stall to give me a little extra light in there.  It didn't look like the mules spent any more time or actually bed down in that back stall with the light on, but they did walk around in it during the night.  That's encouraging.  

Framing

 Hard to believe it's only been two weeks of activity - Day 14 is the day framing has begun!  The backfilling isn't finished, but he's been picking away at it.  It was a little bit of a shock to walk into the dining room and see this out the window:

I was very excited to see this happening; the contractor setting up for a little framing work.

And at the end of the day, the wall was framed.  You can see (barely; it was late!) the garage door, the "man door", and the window.  

I was late taking photos today because I was occupied with setting up a solar night light in Flea's stall.  I've put up the barrier wall between the stall and the run in for the winter, and closed up the little front window.  This makes that a very dark area, and I think the mules are hesitant to go in there because they don't have a good sight line in case of danger.  The stall has been open for nearly 3 weeks now and they hardly ever go in it.  I'm hoping adding a little light might encourage them to use this stall, as it's the most closed in, insulated part of the barn.  

I purchased a hanging solar light from Amazon.  I'm really impressed with how bright it was after only charging for about 6 hours on a cloudy day.  It has a dimming option, which is perfect.  When I'm done inside, I can turn down the brightness with the included remote so it's a softer light.  The mules don't need full on bright light, and this feature was the key reason I chose this setup.  I put the solar panel on the outside and ran the cord through the window, then hung the lamp part from the ceiling.  There's also an option for how long you want it to stay on, and I chose the longest duration.  It should shut off automatically in the early hours after midnight and re-charge during the day.  I'm so impressed with this lamp that I may buy a few more to have on hand for the back yard.  For now, it's a help to have it inside until I have my power back.

The beat goes on

 Today was all about the foundation.  The general contractor put a waterproofing sealant around the outside of the walls, worked on piping that will run under the connecting room, and the excavating contractor backfilled the front wall of the basement.  Once that was filled and compacted, stone was laid on top of it and leveled.  Eventually a cement floor will be poured, but the foundation needs to be capped before that can happen.  The first delivery of building materials arrived, too.  

Day 13

I'm finally starting to get a feel for the size of the overall house, especially the basement. The garage will be a little more than half the space, and the remaining space will be split into two small rooms.  Since I'll mostly be coming into the house from the basement, the first room I walk into from the garage will be a mudroom and it's a little smaller than I had imagined it.  I'm not disappointed, though; I think it will be more than large enough.  

I'm really looking forward to the driveway being finished, and I hope that happens next.  The electric wires for the new barn run underground near the house site, so they pulled them to ensure they didn't rip them up accidentally.  I've been without power in the barn for a few weeks now, and with the shorter days and colder temperatures, it's been a little inconvenient.  Last night temperatures dipped into the teens, so I had multiple extension cords running from the old shed to the new barn to run the heated water bucket for the mules.  Not the most safe option, but luckily the temperatures look to be heading up for the next week and I shouldn't have to run the heated bucket again for some time.  I have a solar light coming that I'm hoping should light up Flea's stall and work better than my little headlamp.  I'll have to affix the little solar panel to the barn exterior and run the power cord in through the window, then affix the light to the interior wall.  This little hiccup has me rethinking my original barn design, and I may ask my son-in-law if he can put in a larger window in that wall sometime in the future.  Hindsight, you know.

And like that *poof*, they were gone.

 Apparently the cement walls only needed to cure overnight, because the concrete crew was back in the morning on Day 12.  Within a few hours they had the forms down, the equipment loaded on the truck, and the site cleaned up.  They did a fantastic job!

photo courtesy Mom

While all of this was going on, my farrier came to trim Flea.  There were trucks and cranes and bangs and booms, but Flea was only his normal turd self, and didn't give Kaitlyn too much of a hard time.  Desensitizing at it's finest; there are people who would pay to put their horses through something like this, ha!

Now the excavating contractor can finish his part of the job.  He will backfill the foundation, put in the new leach field, and has already begun to level off the area for the new driveway.

Mom and I are both floored by the dirt he's digging up right now.  Nary a rock to be seen!  It's definitely better soil than what he dug up for the foundation hole, and what was dug up for the new barn.  I'm sure he'll use this nicer earth to backfill, which means I may actually have a shot at creating some gardens around the edge of the house.  Nice! 

Walls Up!

 Day 9 finds a hive of activity!  The concrete crew worked most of the day putting up the wall forms, and the general contractor used a jackhammer to punch through the surprise 3+ foot thick wall of old concrete that was discovered around the existing house foundation.  Apparently that was a result of "how they did things back then"; instead of pouring concrete into molds made of forms, contractors would sometimes frame the interior walls and pour the concrete directly against the dirt for the exterior of the wall.  (I think I explained that correctly, but maybe not.  Much of this goes right over my head!)  The hole between the foundations is needed to run a water pipe and electric wires from one house to the other.

The arrow is pointing at the jackhammer; I didn't want to bother him while he was working, so I kind of snuck around to get this photo.

The white pipe marks the hole where utilities and water will eventually come through the foundation.

Day 10 was the completion of the wall forms.  The concrete truck was supposed to be on the site that afternoon, but that didn't happen in time, so work was halted for the weekend.  

This was also the day we made it official, and I purchased the property from my mother.  Once again, I'm a homeowner!  It was a bittersweet day for Mom, but in the end we agreed this was the best way to move forward.  She'll retain her home, and I'll be right there to take care of her when she needs it.  She's the most spry and active 70something year-old that I know, so I think it will be a long time before that happens.  

A side note...Friday the 13th is becoming "my date", apparently.  My big mule, Fargo, was born on a Friday the 13th, and now I've purchased my childhood home on a Friday the 13th.  Who says it's an unlucky day?  

Day 11 the concrete trucks - yes, plural! - arrived and the walls were poured.  It was a lot different from the last pour, when it was a pleasantly unseasonal 70*F.  This day was bitter cold, windy, and damp from downpours the night before.  It definitely felt like winter!

Mother inspects the pour.

Since the temperatures have dipped so drastically, I'm not sure if they'll have to let the concrete cure longer before they remove the forms.  Today is going to be in the upper 30s, and tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 20s with a bitter wind. I'm wondering if they'll wait and come back toward the end of the week, when it's supposed to be up into the 50s.  We shall see!