Barn Spruce Up Part 4 plus Other Stuff

First off.....the other stuff.

We had a storm blow through on Friday evening.  The temperature dropped from 89 degrees to 68 degrees in about 20 minutes.  R and I had just decided to call it quits at about 6PM.  It was hot and we had just made a mistake in ripping down a board because we were tired and hot.  It really pisses me off when I make a mistake like that because when I do my lumber list I do not add any extras and I hate running to the store for 1 board.  But luckily we can use that board on another corner so nothing was wasted.

Our yard has a lot of trees and we were unaware of the storm that was coming.  It was sunny until the storm was on top of us.  We were just about done picking up and rounding up the cats for the evening when the wind started to pick up.  Then the wind got cold.  It was so odd.  I looked up and saw that the storm was coming from the northwest which is weird because normally our storms come from the southeast.

Just as we got inside it started to really blow, like trees sideways blowing.  R forgot his phone in the truck and ran back outside.  When he came back in he said he could hardly open the door of the truck. Unfortunately, I reminded him that he was parked under the large silver maple that has several large broken limbs in the top of it from the winter ice storm of 2013.  So back outside he went to move the truck.

He no sooner got back inside when we lost power.  I swear the last two times we lost power were when we had been outside all day and needed showers badly.  Power was restored at 1AM and it was a mad dash to see who could get to the shower first......I won!!!!

Today I picked up and burned branches while R delivered our last kitten.....yes, we had another stray who had 7 of the cutest little kittens.  She will go to the vet on Monday for shots and then 7 days later she will get fixed.  Hopefully we will be able to rehome her without too much problem.  She's friendly.  Our kitty tally is 36 kittens and cats rehomed in 2 years.  I am hoping for 2016 to be kitten free.

Update...Grandma Cat is living large at my mother's condo.  She's been renamed Pumpkin. That cat has been a godsend for my mother since my father died.   This is my mother's first pet EVER.  In 80 years she had never even touched an animal so it is beyond amazing how she has bonded with Pumpkin.

The barn spruce up is moving along.  The drip cap is ordered and should be her on the 25th.  We have one corner complete and the bottom boards installed.  The plan is to finish another corner tomorrow. It takes a while to install the boards because the clapboards are not perfect and the new boards are not always as straight as one would hope for when buying new. So sometimes we have to use a bottle jack to press the board up against the bottom of the clapboard and then we nail it in place.  We have to keep telling ourselves that it can't be perfect.  The barn is almost 100 years old and as a result of age and being moved the barn is no longer exactly square and plumb.  Our goal is to make it possible to get another 100 years service out of the barn.

There is a lot of rain in the forecast for the coming week so I need to concentrate on using the heat gun to remove paint.  When it is damp or sprinkling we can do clapboard repairs etc but I cannot use the heat gun.

I think we need another ladder on the job site.

Garden update......tomatoes are doing great, cauliflower is small but growing, red cabbage is hanging in there.  Green beans....nothing.  Between the deer and the black walnuts they really didn't have a chance.