Two Silos Farm

Yesterday I got started on siding the north side of the 1 story section of the house. When we first put on the addition, we planned on having a transition strip in the siding because they wall of the old section was not quite level. Then we replaced the wall so the transition strip is no longer needed. I don’t want a straight “seam” in the siding, so started off by removing several strips from the addition.

I had already marked off a level line with the laser level Thursday evening. I measured down from that mark to where the starter strip needed to go. Then I cut the extra house wrap and removed the staples. We had installed stained green treated plywood on the lower section when we rebuilt the wall.

Then I taped down the edge of the house wrap and installed the starter strip. The siding is one row lower on the old section than it is on the addition.

Then I did a bit of work on the soffit in the corner so I could put up the siding inside corner.

I did not do much with the soffit because I needed to get some F channel first. But this was enough to get the corner installed

This is going to be a bear dealing with the area between the window and the corner, but I’ll figure something out.

I did get two rows of siding up before my hubby got home and we headed up to Menards. Forgot to take another picture, and it’s raining out now. . .

The two newest kitties (G2 and Willy) were enjoying the day.

Angel was sitting right in front of me, waiting for me to do something interesting . . .

She was an “escape artist” yesterday. I had taken her for a short walk that morning, and put her back in the kennel. She’s been real good being locked in the barn all week, since the wall of the lean to fell out last weekend. But she knew I was home, and managed to get the trap door open (we had wedged it shut). I looked out the patio door while doing dishes, and there she was.

I left her out, and joined her shortly to work on the siding. Later in the afternoon, I put her back in the kennel. I brought the hammer and nails with, and nailed the trap door shut. Feeling she was now secure, I closed the barn door and started toward the house. I had not made if very far when Angel came running up to me. I knew she had not got the trap open, so when back in the kennel and discovered she had managed to get the back door unstuck enough to be able to squeeze through. It was a tight squeeze!!

I went around to the back of the barn, pounded the door back in place and nailed it shut too (It had been nailed shut by the previous owner long ago). I put her back in the kennel and could here her digging and whining, trying to get that door open again. She wasn’t happy, but she’s stayed where she belongs since.

Today I got up early and filled out the tax forms. Hubby got up a bit later and loaded the truck with junk. It already had quite a bit, but when we make a dump run, it’s nice to have the truck full. After hauling to the dump, we stopped at TSC to pick up horse feed. Looked at the chicks, but decided they had “Easter Pricing” and it would be much cheaper to order them. Don’t really want them for a few more weeks anyway. Then we looked at carpet. Found something we really liked, but decided it would be best to wait until we had the railing installed before getting carpet. Then we stopped at the post office and went home.

I had wanted to go clothes shopping, so we changed vehicles and headed into Sioux Falls. Left home around 11 am, thinking we’d be back around 2:30 pm – 3:00pm. Was really disappointed at what Kohls had, either they got a new buyer, or they are going after a different market. They had very little in the way of professional work clothing.

So we headed to Godfathers for pizza. We used to really like that place, but they were not near as good today. I think they changed the recipe for their crust, and hubby had an asthma attack from something he at there. That has never happened before, so I don’t know what could have triggered that. We went to the Ace Hardware next door, and hubby picked up an SKS while we were there. I found a Marlin 1895 45/70 octagon barrel, but I really don’t have a use for something like that . . . it sure was pretty though!

Then we went to JC Penney’s, and I found some work clothes. Next stop was Home Depot, to look at welders. Didn’t have what Hubby wants, which we sort of expected, but since we were driving right past, it didn’t hurt to stop.

We would have been home around 3pm, but hubby wanted to stop at Cabalas. That would not have been a big deal, but they did not have what he wanted (cartridges for his SKS). But one of the employees had some at home he was willing to give him. My hubby is such a regular there, they know him pretty well. But we had to wait until he got back from his “lunch break” and that would be around 5pm. We still had to stop at Menards and Wal-Mart (right in the same area) so decided that would be ok. We got a new wheel for my tile cutter, and looked around (using up time) and then headed to Wal-Mart. It’s not good to wander around Wal-Mart just to waste time LOL!!

Hubby needed motor oil. He didn’t need the DVD player and I didn’t need the hall rug. But we did decide the TV would wait until we moved stuff into the living room. Found a nice Sanyo for about $450 that we both liked. That will be the most we’ve ever spent on a TV, but it is a nice one. Then son can have the old one if he wants. We only have a TV in the living room.

We did make it back and got the ammo, and made it home a bit before 6pm. It’s very windy and raining out. I got the chores done and hope to put up the wall paper border later tonight.

Tomorrow we’ll take it easy (or at least hubby will, as I have lots of baking/cooking to do).

That’s my day in South Dakota.

It sure is a beautiful morning here in my spot of South Dakota.

I let the chickens out, they love running around outside.

I also wanted to see what I had stored in the boat shed in the way of siding materials. Didn’t find and F trim, so still need that. I’ll need some more fascia too, but still have plenty of soffit panels. I should have enough siding and trim, I seem to have bought way more than I needed last spring. But it will still get used, I know I don’t have enough to get the whole house done.

Oh, and there really is a boat stored in the “boat shed”

Maybe this year we’ll get it out on the water, or finally give up on that and sell it . . . The building use to be a pig shed. We cleaned it all out and pressure washed it. Then we cut out the middle roof supports, and moved them so there would be a wide area open in the middle. You can tell where they use to be, the boards going from the roof to the joist right above the boat. Then we painted it (my electric sprayer works real nice on buildings like this) and it looks pretty nice.

Since it was so nice out, Angel and I headed out to the pond. This is a shallow stock pond, and it will dry up quickly – unless we get a lot more rain this spring. I’d sure like to get it dug out about 6’ deeper. I love ponds . . .

And of course, what would a walk on “Two Silos Farm” be without a picture of the silos!

We got out to the pond. As expected, there was a pair of ducks. These ones aren’t mallards, but I could not get close enough to identify what they were. You can just make them out in the water in the middle of this picture.

Angel can’t resist the water, so she took off, and so did the ducks.

Now that Angel had the water to herself, she was one happy Lab.

Here are a few more shots of the pond. The ducks kept circling overhead, waiting for us to leave, so we obliged them.

Once we got back up to the house, I looked over my only garden area. Not much survived – not the winter, but the chickens last fall. Still not sure what to do about that . . Its depressing to know most of the plants I have hauled starts from through two states got done in by chickens.

And here is the side of the house that needs siding put on.

Sure hope to have that done by Monday evening (along with putting up wallpaper and laying tiles in the dining room).

You all have a nice day – I’ve got dishes to wash and work to do.

Cathy

I started this before I painted the walls, but finished it afterwards. Just so you know why the walls are a different color in the final pictures.

First thing is take the stuff out of the box and make sure it is all ok and nothing is missing.

This fan has a lot of pieces, and is one heavy item. We had the fan picked out before we sheet rocked the ceiling, so my hubby made sure to mount the box so that it would support the weight. The fan has a 5’ wing span, and can move a lot of air!

First I had to lock the upper bracket into the “open” position. It came folded up.

Then I had to feed the wires through the hanging rod and the upper cover. Had to do it twice because I missed the locking ring the first time. It secures the cover to the mounting bracket.

Then I secured the bracket to the fan motor.

Since Hubby was home that night (they got rained out and he decided to drive home instead of spend the day sitting in the hotel room – or at the bar watching the rest of the crew get stupid), I had him mount the ceiling bracket to the outlet box. He had the outlet box screwed to a 2x4 that was nailed in place between two trusses. He promised me it was very secure. (Personally, I think he was getting a bit annoyed by my repeated questions as to the security of the box). But this is one heavy fan!!!

The fan also comes with a safety cable. Only problem is that if hubby lifted it into the bracket, he could not fit the screwdriver in to secure the cable. So I had to hold the fan up in place while he secured the cable, then he lifted the fan and fit the down rod into the mounting bracket.

While hubby connected the wires, I started assembling the fan blades.

Once the electrical connections were made, I secured the cover to the mounting bracket.

The next step was to attach the upper light cover.

And then I mounted the blades.

After getting all the blades mounted, we turned it on to see how it worked. It had a slight wobble at high speed, and since it was getting late, I decided to leave it as it was and deal with it later.

Later turned out to be several days later, after I had painted the walls.

I did trade two blades around, and it helped but there is still a bit of a wobble. But we don’t think we’ll run the fan at high speed anyway, it creates quite a draft.

The last step was to install the bottom light holder and the bottom light cover.

This fan has a remote control. The upper and lower lights can be turned on separately. I really like the way it looks – now I just have to get the wall paper border up.

I was able to borrow a wet saw from a co-worker. Nice when you work with another remodeling nut. The blade wasn't cheap, but now I won't have to worry about getting something back to the rental place by a certain time.

I messed around with laying out the tiles, and decided I'd like to put some green ones down on the floor for an accent where the wood stove will go. The rest of the floor will be the large tiles on a diagonal. The green tiles will go on the wall behind the wood stove too.



I'm looking forward to setting tiles. Hubby should be home early Friday afternoon, and I have Monday off (floating holiday) so I'll have lots of time. Does not mean I'll get lots done!!

Pretty soon I'll have to switch gears and start working on the outside of the house - got more siding to do on the replacement wall on the north side of the house. It will be nice to be working outside again.

Saturday I got done with the painting. After getting a bit more use to the color in the living room, I like it more. Did pick out a different border, and it goes very nice with the color. Hubby came home Saturday afternoon and said he really liked the color.

Here is the painted wall in the dining area. There will be wallpaper on the “white” wall and at the top edge of the painted wall. That is why there is no paint right up at the ceiling. Its called “Antique White” so it’s not that different from the white of the primer

The hallway leading into the dining room is the same color, which is also the same color we have in the kitchen. One big reason we choose to use the same color was I had lots of paint left (and I really like the color too LOL!)

Anyway, yesterday (Sunday) hubby and I put down the underlayment in the dining room where the tile will go. Hubby tried some new stuff, sure hope it works. It's 1/2" "Fiberock" and is very stiff. Looks pretty good, and I have a real nice flat surface to work with.

Got out the tile cutter and discovered the tiles won't snap. Guess I'll be learning how to use a wet saw this next weekend. Sure hope the Rent-All store has one available (will call after 9am this morning).

But I got a problem - this room area isn't square. It's the oldest part of the house, and not one of the four corners is quite 90 deg. If I lay the tiles straight, I'm concerned that it's going to look funny along the walls as the tiles won't be uniform - the grout lines won't line up with the walls.

Am considering running the tiles diagonally. That way there won't be any visual lines to match up. Another option would be to stagger the tiles (like brickwork) to break up the grout line in the "long" direction, which is one that will get viewed the most.

Part of me is ready to haul all the tiles back to Menards and get cheap berber carpet. Though I would still need to tile where the wood stove will go.

We already decided to take up the laminate in the kitchen. We will replace it with vinyl in the "kitchen" area and berber in the walk way area (where the patio door is). We'll run the same berber into the hallway to the dining room, and into the den. That will visually tie the area together better, and make the kitchen not seem so big (divide the room into to areas).

Since we used "click fit" laminate, we'll save it and use it upstairs. We've decided that with our livestyle, that laminate just is not going to work in that area. Because its click fit and not glued, moisture can seep into the joints and cause it to lift and curl. You have to clean up any spills ASAP and that includes snow/mud/water dragged in by residents who wear lace up boots and aren't willing to take the time to take them off just to walk into the kitchen when they plan on heading back out.

I think we should pull up the floor, and lay down some really cheap foam back berber. And then when we are done with the two story section, toss the carpet out and put done decent vinyl. Can't put down vinyl until we have the back wall done, as we will be moving part of it back to make an alcove for the fridge. Still have way too much work to get done!

Cathy

I set some chair chushions and a bigger chuck of wallpaper next to the wall, and decided it's the wallpaper that needs to be changed. I had wanted to use the same stuff in the dining area as a border in the living room, but I don't think that's going to work.

The wallpaper will look fine where I intend to put it, and it looks nice with the color of the walls in that area.

But I really want to put a border up in the living room. I need to go up town anyway, so I'll look at wall paper borders. Gotta let the paint dry before I put on the second coat anyway.

I think I don't like the color I picked out for the living room . . .

Yesterday we were trying to decide between to colors. Very similar, but one was just a bit more orange/yellow tint than the other (they are both light/medium brown).

Chose the one that had a bit more orange tint - thought it would make the room "warmer".

Color is called "Oat Cake" they should have called it "BandAid" - cause it looks just like the color of a bandaid brand strip. It went real well with the wallpaper under the lights there, but does not quite look right on the walls.

I'm not sure what to do . . . I may run into Menards and get a quart of dark brown paint and see what I can come up with. If that fails, I'll be back in SF this afternoon getting a different color. It's a drag, but it will be much better to deal with it now than hate it for several years until I get around to changing it. Besides, I don't have any trim up yet, so repainting now is the easiest.

Should have gone with my first choice LOL!!!

Oh well, stuff like that happens.