Shed progress.

It's a misty moisty morning and cloudy is the weather.  In fact we are working in a cloud that sometimes drizzles  on us and other times just covers us in mist.

Work proceeds on ceiling joists.  Trip is working out logistics for a central support and

Matt is cutting more saddle notches. 

We finally got rained out this day.  Nobody wanted to start the generator and run the electric drill.

However, the ladies thought it was a fine day to build a fire and burn more debris.

Next day the weather is much better and we really get a lot done.

Inserting the queen post to hold up the ridge beam.

Some rafters in place bracing off the queen post and defining the roofline

It good to get the worst of the high work out of the way.

Ella steadies the ladder for Ashlee

I'm thinking we could stop right here, plant a few shrubs and flowers and charge people to have their wedding ceremonies in our little outdoor chapel.

More on the shed

Wood prospectors home from the kill.

Here is Matt cutting a notch in the end of this poplar log.  He is truly skilled at this.  The notches fit

their respective seats very nicely.

His momma is going to kill him when she sees this picture and notices the ear protectors.

Perimeter logs in place.  Here endeth the days labors.  It is surprising how long it takes to find the wood,

carry it to the work site, trial fit the logs, carve out the mating surfaces and bolt everything in place. PLUS, its 94 degrees in the shade and we are not working in the shade.   Miller time has been coming pretty early of late.

A few observations on the way out.  I liked this wild flower that one of us planted (not sure who) in

a rather barren scraped over area.  Very brave show.

Another statement regarding life's tenacity.

Wildflowers that Trip planted.  I had serious doubts that anything would grow on this clay.

Another, not so welcome, neighbor.  This is what is left of a copperhead that Matt found

trapped in the matting.  (the matting is good for grass but probably not so good for small animals)  Matt killed the snake after playing with it to see how the fangs worked.  In about one weeks time the

carrion beetles and other wiggling things have reduced the carcass to a shell of scales.  The shell is still moving  with whatever is now inside.

Storm runoff details and the shed

This may not look like a retention pond, but that's what it is.

We were told by the good folks at Buncomb County that we needed a retention pond to handle

storm water runoff.  But, since we didn't have room for such a pond, our

engineer in charge (my son Trip) designed a substitute pond to hold runoff and release it gradually.

Very clever idea.

The pipe is 30 inches in diameter, and sufficiently long to have enough volume to do the trick.

It will be capped eventually (you can see the part of the cap in the lower left corner) to make

it a true water holder.  The cap has a hole to allow the held water to dribble safely away.

The top of the pipe has an emergency overflow cutout.

Here is the entrance to the storm water reservoir.

The trick is to slowly discharge water without getting sediment in the pipe. 
Trip has already shoveled out sediment once from this pipe and to prevent a revisit of that

he designed this sediment/kid/assorted animal barrier.  This was hard going in hot weather.

Its good to have our own engineer on the project.

8:30 A.M. and we are on the road again.
This shows the new ditch that Justin (our very own road builder) recently dug.
The Rock Pile is on the right in the background, Matt is down the line.
We are getting ready to rake this ditch smooth.

We got it raked.  Matt is yet again unrolling more mat.
Seed is already down.

Homo habilis pounding wire pins with tool of choice.

Showing proper technique using Neolithic mans favorite (and only) tool

(we forgot to bring the hammers again)

By noon we're done.

Literally and figuratively.  Since we have been working contrary to all heat advisorys, like

a couple of illegal aliens we decided lunch should be Mexican.

Along about 3 oclock our prayers are answered.  It is starting to rain (storm?)

sending us mercifully home.

Hope the improvements can pass the test.

Barbara, Matt, and Ashlee are adding rock to the check dams on the last stretch of road to the top of the property.  In the foreground is a roll of straw matting, used to hold the grass seed in place.
 These banks on the right are going to need some care...later.

A lot of mat has been set out.  You can see the good coverage we have on the lower fill side of the road.

Matt with yet more mat

.The project seems unending.

Electrical conduit tubes are in the background

A couple of supervisors.

a couple of workers.

Gathering up tools, dogs, and soon Barbara and me.

It is starting to rain and we are going.

Hopefully it will be a good steady drizzle to pop that seed, sans wash.

Working the land

We had a flash flood and some erosion on the sides of our new road   We have been working to fix the problems.  The hillside banks are raw so they are getting grass seed and matting.  It has been raining with some regularity and we are hoping that the seed will sprout and the grass will live through the rest of the summer.It's a bad tome to be planting grass.

Hauling rock in the Kabota.  This will be used for checkdams on the side of the road to slow down the water.  The road is steep and the water flows fast.

Everything is hot.  The weather, the rocks, the worker. 

Respit from the heat.  This pipe, which was put in to help control storm water runoff, has at the other end a spring.   The water has been flowing for over a month now, ever since the pipe was set, and the water is cool and tasty.

Sunset View

After my soccer game last Sunday, Tiff and I took the kids up to the property to watch the sun go down. We were glad we did, it was so beautiful!