November 2013

 November brought continued work on the 6000' long irrigation pipeline.  Here, the contractor is burying the pipe that he previously fused and dragged up the ditch.  One day, the pipe suddenly made it's way to the end of the ditch, right past our cabin and down the driveway.

 Meanwhile, with the cabin liveable again, Jeanne's focus was to build a goat milking parlor shed, so that she could give the goats more room in the barn by getting the milk stand and equipment out.  So, she learned how to operate a circular saw.

 Then she learned how to frame a deck and walls.

The two of us put the walls up and fastened them together.

 When it got to the roof, she made the trusses, Linc installed them, and a friend dropped by just in time to put on the roof sheathing so we could get it weathertight before the next storm.

 After the storm, we started in on siding the shed, using leftover lumber and boards that folks had offered.

 And finally, the test!  Eggplant, our black Nubian goat, was quite uncomfortable on the stand at first, without the support that a back fence in the barn had provided (above), but Jeanne extended the stand and added carpet to give them better traction, and now the goats are jumping right up for the their milking snacks.

 While Jeanne focused on the milking shed, Linc worried his way through getting holes made for the greenhouse support rail foundation.  This involved attempting to bore 18 holes exactly 30" deep in clay and kaliche, and pouring the support posts in level, plumb, and the correct distance apart.

He borrowed a friend's tractor and post hole auger, and found that, even sitting on a 6' pry bar to give some weight to the auger, it still couldn't get through the rock-like subsoil in places.  In the end, he had to dig out several with the backhoe, lightly backfill, redig them with the tractor and hand-operated post hole digger, and set the posts.   Whew!

 Here's a view (above) of what those fold down canning jar cabinets look like when open.  And, a view (below) of what Jeanne's reaction looks like when you forget and leave them open!

With the greenhouse foundation done, we took Thanksgiving Day off and went for a several hour-long, exploratory run/hike up the stream that feeds water to our ditch, and back along an older, higher, abandoned ditch to a friend's home for a visit, and then over to another couple's home for dinner.  While hiking, we realized again how lucky we all are to be here, surrounded by all of this beauty, wild nature so close by that it's within a short walk, run or bike ride.  I have a feeling that connecting with nature is going to gain a lot more importance over the next few years, as we all realize how disconnected we are from a world that is much more alive and enspirited than we'd been led to believe.  I'm looking forward to it.