The hazards of living in a shed!

So we started the week off with an extra day off... more on that later, but following that he finished up the final roof rafters which butt up against the plywood..

Next job he worked on the brackets to go on the 2 end walls, these will hold one more rafter at the end for the over hangs on the roof.  Some fancy carpentry by Mr M....

He also added some straps to the gable wall that will house the big windows, this apparently will tie the beam into the walls.....

And that was about it for this last week....

As I said we had an extra day off this week for the 2017 eclipse, we didn't have 100% over our house, but 95% was close enough to keep us at home and in the garden.  We got all the gear "no idea"... and it was eclipsical....

It was pretty amazing, it didn't go completely dark but it was very dusk and went cold and quiet... I took this photo through the telescope, its crap but it does at least record what we got :)....

The last couple of weeks we have been battling with the hazards of living in a shed.... ANTS..... "oh they'll only stick around for a day or two" ha ha ha ha ha *manic laughing*

Around 1pm every day they appear, at first coming up from under the floor behind the TV... so out comes the vacuum and I was constantly hoovering them up, after a week I decided that there was no point in having a raised floor if I can't take it up and see where they were coming from....

Basically over the last 2 weeks I have been taking up the floor and giving the vacuum a good work out and putting down lots of ant powder and putting the floor back down! They kept coming back argggggggggggg.... finally today I think we got the final part of the nest (YES there was a nest *shudder*)....

Mostly I have been tasked with this challenge but I know that as soon as I whip out a power tool Mr M is uncomfortable, he hates watching me as he thinks I am so incompetent based on how long it takes me to remove the screws LOL.......

1. Me taking the drill in hand to remove the screws from the floor... begin drilling...
2. Two minutes later in strolls Mr M... "what you doing?"
3. "Just taking up this piece of floor to do the ant thing"
4. Mr M then stands behind me for a couple of minutes watching. "Do you want me to do that for you?"
5. Me... "no it's fine, I can manage"
6. Mr M stands behind me for a few minutes more then leaves....
7. Skip to 3 minutes later and in he strolls drill in hand, "I thought that you could do with a hand, it will be much quicker if we both do it and then you can get out into the garden" (blackmail).

His and her drills, plus the crowbar for lifting the floor panels... it's all you need for your ant removal project......

I know, I know you are the most experienced at handling power tools....

I could build a house no problem.....

The girls have been somewhat displaced during the floor removal project, but today was the limit.. they ended up with their own "touching the void" moment on the dog beds....

So I really feel like we have won the ant war, and the ants have ended up in the compost pile via the chickens, no one loves ants, eggs and nests more than chickens....

They couldn't make yummy eggs without all that protein.....

Short but sweet!!

Quick update for the week, it's kind of a rinse and repeat thing as the final doghouse dormer has been put in place... here it is just started.....

 

 Getting up high to get that dormer in...

 

 

These dormers are going to be up in the vaulted ceiling and will look so cool from the downstairs...

 

Nice fascias Mr M.....

All the dormers are done - tick v.g.!

What else is going on, garden is continuing to be amazing and provide us with fresh veggies....

And to go with these fresh veggies we went to the dock and brought some fresh line caught Tuna!!! The boat only goes out for tuna once or twice a year as they have to go out abut 90 miles to catch it, so when we saw the "fresh tuna at the dock" sign we headed down.  We only got 1 fish for $3/lb and for an extra $5 this lovely young lady filleted it for us - what a deal.... enough for about 5 meals....

This weekend we enjoyed some of it with new potatoes and other veggies from the garden and the local farmers market... "eat local" you won't regret it around here..... I really don't "get" the fad with sharing food photos, but as its the done thing here you go.....

Today we went down to the dock and were happy to see the whales back in town....





 

But looking south all we could see was the smoke from the Chetco Bar wildfire which is currently surrounding Brookings, its shocking how quickly it is spreading, looks like clouds but is all smoke :(  Lots of people are being evacuated and seeing the smoke reminds us that all the rain we had in the winter just feeds the fuel for the summer!

Vlogging is the new blogging....

It's been a busy week on the build.... first job was to crack on with the roof rafters, oh he's been working hard this week....

It's no mean feat getting them up there, they look heavy and apparently they are.... BUT Mr M being such a smart cookie has created a pulley system.

Once they are in place he hooks up his harness gets up on top of the scaffolding and nails everything in place.

He has also finished the second dormer on the back of the house, it's going to fit into this gap...

To get to the top and fit the ridge beam and rafter he needed to get his scaffolding out, this is going to be in the vaulted ceiling so he had to add some temporary flooring....

Voila.. two dormers...

This week he will be finishing off the rafters above and below the dormer and then building the dormer on the front side and  finishing off the rest of the roof rafters - I heard mutterings that the roof could be finished this week, but I am not one to listen to rumors!!!

Now just incase some of you are confused about how the house sits in our property, I put together this little gem for you, it does contain previously unseen footage and commentary the BBC would be proud of...

 

That's all folks, in the meantime, where's Wally....

Bit of this, Bit of that, Bit of the t'other.......

Bit of this.....

First job of the week was the cut out the window in the dog house dormer...

Then he cracked on and put all the blocking in between the roof rafters......

 

Top......



And bottom.....



 

This stops the rafters from moving around.. apparently....

 

Then he started working on the rafters that are over the high side with no upper floor, got as far as he could before he had to come up with an ingenious idea.. so he has built a temporary bridge that will allow him to get up to the top of the roof ridge beam. This will stay in place pretty much until the house is finished, it will make putting in the insulation, the wall boarding, the ceiling  etc.. so much easier....

 

It is wide enough for his scaffolding....

 

He can also get to the bottom of the rafters with his spare scaffolding planks..



 

Access all Areas!!!!

He has also cut all the remaining rafters and is ready for the off first thing tomorrow morning....

Dormers and all.......

Bit of that.....

 

This weekend we took the opportunity to go fishing... and not in a boat *spew* no puking on my fishing trip.  We went to the mouth of the Elk river and we were catching Red Tailed Surf Perch - I ended up googling this after much confusion with some friends of mine over English Perch and American Perch....

 

Here we go then, cast away....

Wait for the bite, catch one....

Catch two.....

Then stand back and let the experts at it, I look quite professional...

Almost like I know what I am doing...

In fact, I do, looky loo, dinner for two....

Bit of the 'tother....

This bit of 'tother is just for my Dad, I know he will want to see the what's been going on....  Every year the dredger and crew arrive in town to dredge the dock.... quick recap, Port Orford is a dry dock -  you all remember that right... anyway every year it needs to be dredged to clear out the sand that has built up over the winter storms and ensure the water level is low enough to launch the boats during low tide....

So here we go, dredger in action...

Once the barge is full they take it out to sea... well actually just a little bit south of the dock, and empty all the sand out... now we just wait for the first storm of the winter and back it will all come ready for next year!

Job security - gotta love it!