The Addition is Underway!

The house addition is underway!  The contractors actually got the foundation done speedily, finishing up last Friday, and we started work this Thursday.  Caleb is going to take a couple of long weekends, and see how much he can get done.  So far, Thursday and Friday have seen the floor joists and decking laid, the walls framed, and half the rafters set in place.  He should definitely be able to get the roof decked today - we're expecting rain all weekend so the sooner the better on the roof!  

The initial construction should go fairly quickly, getting everything framed and windows set in place, putting in wiring, even filling the walls with the strawbales - it's after that that things will slow down.  The mud plaster will be the tedious part, taking time both to apply and then to cure before the next layer.  We're hoping to get some help from students interested in natural building methods - it speeds the process up considerably to get large sections done at once.  We really want to get this not just dried in by late fall, but livable on the interior since it is our winter intern housing.  We also want to first use it as space to move the rest of the house around in to refinish all the hardwood floors for the first time in 6 years!

This early part is moving quickly due in large part to our new intern!  She arrived Monday, and is still here, so we're pretty happy about that :)  She's planning to be here about a month, so we're happy about that as well.  I've have a flurry of WWOOFer interest - it often comes in batches, this time about 6 people within a week, some of them within minutes of each other.  If all goes well, we should have interns for most of now through February.  

About 30 minutes after the new WWOOFer arrived, our dogs finally came back from their wanderings off the farm, and we noticed that Kaylee, our mama dog, had a bit of blood on her face.  I figured she'd caught a thorn in her ear again, or something, and thought nothing of it. Then, Liam pointed out her armpit was bloody - she had an inch-long gash there, over that gappy space in the armpit.  I could have stuck my finger right in, it definitely needed stitches, so it was "welcome to the farm, I'll be back in a few hours" and off to the vet we went.  Kaylee needed sedation for the stitches, so I had to go back the next morning to pick her up - and swing by Lowe's and Tractor Supply for house-building supplies.  Then, that afternoon was the farmer's market as usual, so I'm particularly pleased that, in spite of me being gone from the farm more than I was present for the first two days, we still have a WWOOFer!  And Kaylee looks fine, in fact she never acted like anything was wrong at all - Blackmouth Curs are such tough dogs!