The Rains Came Down as the Walls Came Up

The title is the hardest part about writing a blog! I got a week behind and Noel has been crazy busy, but the walls were a big part both negative and positive – and the rain the most discouraging.

Around 25 loads of gravel and rock have been transported down our gravel road over the last few weeks. It was fill for the shop floor, a driveway, and fill outside the shop.

More than 50 trees have given their lives for the building of 2H Homestead. Some are small but most were good sized. Noel has a lot of work when that sawmill gets to its final home. I’ll have to take a picture of the logs that he will need to saw; most of it is oak. We will be using a wood-fired boiler to heat the house and the shop, so our heat as well as our hot water will be free thanks to those 50 trees and those in our future. My job has been to use my anniversary present – my tractor – to load all the firewood that he has cut from the parts of the tree he won’t put through his sawmill. We have piles of wood, and I have no doubt my back muscles are stronger than they were last month. I still have some larger logs waiting for me.

The Floor

Radiant heat was assembled with the help of a couple friends and over 2000 zip ties. Thank you Tim & Damon! Radiant heat will be in 2/3 of the building, not under the sawmill.

Then came the floor. Crazy rain slowed the pours down, but 4 pours later, we had a floor. While Noel did the prep work, he did hire his friend, Sean, a local concrete guy, to do the pours.

The WALL

About here, exhaustion set in. You know that proverbial wall you hit sometimes? Noel found his. The guy who we had planned to help with the trusses couldn’t. It wasn’t something Noel has done and cannot be done with just one person. It just kept raining. We have small ponds from the craters where Noel dug out trees because the rain doesn’t absorb into the clay. He was working in the rain most days. But he didn’t stop, and he didn’t slow down. He worked through the wall, and now it has tumbled down. Not good to be talking about tumbling walls in a build!

Then came electricity.

By June 6, we will have trusses and a blue steel roof; and yes, we did find a contractor. Our sons and their wives weighed in on colors, and we went with their choice because we were too tired to decide – and they have good taste obviously.

Walls

We now have framed walls as of today. Every wall is framed except the end where the sky track will need to travel through when they do the trusses. The dogs are sitting in our temporary bedroom. Behind them is the bathroom.

The Boys

And as a side note, if you are thinking the boys are looking angelic, be thankful that your screen doesn’t have virtual scent. They had just found something to roll in somewhere in our woods so got a complimentary bath with the water hose – so did I, unfortunately. They love being there. They run and run. They have friends in the neighborhood. They chase through the woods, and then they get a little too free, and we have to sound the buzzer on their collars so they come running back. And then they come home, and they do not move for the rest of the night; puppy exhaustion. They do not have food dishes out there yet, so they are temporarily stump-eaters.

Watch What You Pray For

So today, we got the last wall framework up and sat down to eat lunch. Noel made a worrisome comment. So let me say first of all, don’t pray for something unless you really want an answer! Noel’s comment went something like this – “We need to pray that somehow we can’t close at the beginning of June.” Oh please, don’t say things like this. Tonight the realtor calls but we have company so we don’t answer. She texts – our deal had fallen through – our buyers were backing out. Watch how you pray!

But then she said – I’m sending you another offer in just a few minutes. What? How is that even possible?

This evening we accepted a cash offer with closing July 13! It gives us an extra 6 weeks, is a better offer, and is a cash offer. We shouldn’t be shocked I know, but that was an exciting answer to a scary prayer. He hasn’t even seen the house.

And now we are going to drive down our beautiful country road and leave you all until next time.