Chapter 8...Sliding Doors, Curlex and Cows

Off Grid...Chapter 8 Thursday- As you know Mike was not happy with some of the seams on our roof. So today we wanted to fix some of them. When we got to the house the roof was too damp from the morning dew to start working on it. So we changed gears and went down to the front of the house to add another piece of siding. Mike also cut out the sill plate in preparation for installing our 2nd patio door. By the time we finished with that the roof was dry enough to work on. We both got on the roof, unscrewed some of the panels, fixed the seams and screwed them back in. We did this so some of the seams would be less noticeable. You have to remember our roof is at eye level so you can see the whole thing. The roof looks good and Mike is happy. Now, all is well. The entire roof has almost 1000 screws. It didn't really take us too long because we were both using screw guns at the same time. Of course I had to cheat a little because I had a hard time screwing through the metal- the drill kept slipping. Rather than hurt myself I used a hammer to get my screw started in the metal and then I was able to screw them in the rest of the way. When we were almost done with the roof Howard stopped by with his wife and granddaughter. His wife, Ivalee, was amazed at the changes we have made in such a short time. She has been coming to this property for 25 years and didn't even realize the kinds of views we have from the home. Ivalee promised she would help me with my first garden next year. I am so excited about that. It's too late and we are too busy to have a garden this year. They all went to check on the cows. This is Howard giving the cows some feed. Mike finished working on the roof while I went down and started digging a trench for one of our drainage pipes. We have 2 pipes that come out in front of the house that have to be buried underground. After I felt like I was digging to China I told Mike I was done. Mike helped me finish what I started and we will finish the rest another day. This is the pipe that has to be buried This is what we got done It's been a really hard week and Mike and I need a break. Friday- We didn't go to the property. We had a lot of work and catching up to do at our other property. We also needed a day off. Saturday- O.K. we have been completely sorry and didn't do anything today and it was nice. It was a rainy day so it was sort of a forced day off. Sunday- After 2 days off it's a little hard getting back into work mode. We got to the property and started to work on the front wall and the patio doors. We wanted to use up all the lumber we have on site. We had to finsh installing the siding so we could get the 2nd patio door in. Once that piece was up I started to paint @ 1 foot around each door as a primer. While I was painting Mike was measuring and cutting our top pieces of the siding. After the paint dried we got ready to install the patio door. Mike put silicone around the perimeter where the door would be installed. Then we put the door in place and Mike screwed it in. We took the other door out because we had to put the silicone in and we re-installed it. After we were done with the doors I helped Mike install the upper part of the siding. Today we used all the wood we had. Tomorrow we will have to stop and pick up some more before we get to the property. Mike also installed our locks on our doors. Now we have keys to our new house. Yeah! We are almost done with the shell of the house. We have to put in a few more pieces of the top siding, cover the front of the trusses, do the eaves, and add the trim. Then we will be completely closed in. Our curious cow came to visit today If the weather holds out we should have another good week. I hope you enjoyed the story and I will post again mid-week. Lisa and Mike [+] Rate this post positively