Summer Starting to End on the Farm

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It has been good spending time on the farm. I really had forgotten how quiet and dark it is here. It can actually be a bit unnerving. The leaf doodle bug was put to work in the forest. However, it looks like the car will be going back on the road. We can say it failed field trials,but that would only be partially true. The better utility value at this point is more suited to getting a teenager back and forth from high school. The mycological aspects of the farm did not disappoint. The pics of these shrooms are not photoshopped. The coal stove (very heavy) is loaded on the truck. It will be rebuilt in Georgia if I can save it. Coal stoves are increasingly out of production. When they are gone they are gone. The small wood stove is now in its place. The pic of the red sky in morning was indeed a warning of weather. We had strong storms and tornados in Upstate NY. Although I was travelling much that day in the area, I missed the worst of it.
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Do It Yourself: House Exterior

The roof is done. That makes two big jobs this summer on the house. First I did the electric service entrance for the barn and the house and later the roof. Luckily, no sheathing had to be replaced. I thought there would need to be some replaced, but I lucked out. I used 56 bundles of 25 yr shingles, with new drip and rake edges, one course of snow and ice guard and rigid ridge vent. I am glad the two big jobs for this year are over.

Next year I am replacing the load beams in the barn with steel I beam. I will need to buy about 80 more feet of 8 inch beam. I get a great price on steel through work.

The other big job is probably going to be the deck. I can't start on that until we have a comprehensive design plan for the house done. We still have lots of ideas, but no definitive plan. Hopefully, I will be sponsoring a design competition at the school of architecture at SU shortly. I am waiting to hear back about the "ins and outs" of how to do such a thing. But all that work is all next year.

The small jobs I have left for this year are 1.)llamahouse improvements, 2.)south barn wall masonry tuck pointing, window/door trim and painting. 3.) Clean the chimney 4.) Work on the drainage, landscaping and seeding, 5.) Outside hose spigot and softener drain system. 6.)Generator transfer system wiring. I should mow some more, but I may not get to it.





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