30 Loooong Years Ago Today….

…..Mr. and Mrs. W officially became a pair. I had planned to have ‘then and now’ pictures to blog -- we intended to get anniversary pictures taken today. However,  it’s raining (and raining and raining) here today. I don’t know, the ‘now’ pictures might be too scary anyway?

Also, in case anyone was wondering… because of said torrential rain, there has been no barn progress today. 

So I will leave you with a picture of us on our wedding day. How young we look. Of course, we haven’t changed a bit (if only that were true!)

Barn Raising, Day 5

We still have equipment strewn around, so that says we’re still not finished… but closer… we are almost there :)

Enjoy the weekend!

Barn Raising, Day 4

Much accomplished today! What a great bunch of guys. Just can’t say it enough. And they’re all local, small-town, farm boys. Yay! Not a lot more left for them to do. Besides concrete floor for the building and porch, they have trim, roof vents, gutters, cupola and weathervane. I think that’s about it for them. Then our work really begins. Mr. W and I have been plotting, measuring out, planning the bathroom area today… and where the kitchen sink will be. There’s been a lot of manual shovel work going on last night and today!

Here’s our day 4 pic:

Couldn’t help but snap some lilac and butterfly shots this evening also---

Barn Raising, Day 3

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

The builders were very productive again today. Most of the metal is on the barn, except for the roof. All windows and the walk-in door are installed (but we will add a few more after completion, although this will be a major pain methinks).

The second picture is taken from the southwest corner. In thirty years of marriage we have never had the luxury of a garage, so rest assured… this will be greatly appreciated!

I went mushroom hunting tonight. Should have been prime morel hunting after our 70+ degree day. I found no mushrooms, but I did find a very old feeder top. I was so excited at first because I thought it said “Feed Donkeys”. However, upon closer examination it says “Feed Conkey’s”. What?! I think I will keep it anyway. It’s already flattened on the backside, so upside-down it could make a nice primitive planter hung on a fence post…. or something? If you have any ideas, please share.

More barn updates tomorrow I hope!

Barn Raising, Day 2

I meant to post an update earlier this evening, but the to-do list after work seemed a little longer tonight.

Here is our Day 2 photo. The builder dude crew decreased by about half today. The other half moved onto another location. The remaining builder dudes made a lot of progress, AND got treated to some homemade Amish friendship bread. These guys are fantastic in my opinion.

They finished installing the top-mounted purlins on top of the trusses, and also the purlins between the rafters on the porch so the birds would not have any place to roost. (I have to admit that Mr. W dictated that entire portion about purlins – I didn’t even know ‘those boards’ had a name. And, for the record, I love my birds but I do NOT love bird poop on my rocking chairs). Window and door openings were also roughed in.

Oops, I did mention “picture” about two paragraphs up, didn’t I? Almost forgot… it’s been one of those days. Here ya go…

Thank you again for going along on this barn-building trip with us. More updates to follow this week. Hope your week is going well!

Barn Raising – Day 1, Part III

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

I am totally amazed at what they accomplished today. We had to run off for awhile and vaccinate, clamp, and ear-tag our calves. When we returned a little bit later, this is what we found:

The donkeys were pretty excited about it too --

Thanks for sharing our excitement today!! More updates throughout the week… I hope! We don’t usually have this much excitement out here on the farm, so it’s quite a big deal :)

Barn Raising – Day 1, Part II – POSTS!!

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

Less than 3 hours after their arrival….

Posts, we have POSTS!!! Yay, Builder Dudes!!!

(Be prepared for more updates today and this week, and just be glad you’re not here to witness in person my crazy enthusiasm!)

Barn Raising!!

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

Ok, we finally have some activity here (maybe my whines somehow paid off yesterday?). Our back yard is just teeming with builder dudes. We have the beautiful sound of power tools in the background.

Ohhhh, sweet music to my ears♫

The crew, equipment and building supplies arrived at about 7:30-ish this morning. Fast forward two hours and everything has been unloaded and business is pickin’ up out there.

Here is a glimpse of what’s currently going on in our back yard–

Now excuse me ~ off to do a happy dance :-) Maybe more updates later today or tonight….