May Improvements- Floor

Since April we have accomplished many big and small improvements.
One of the big ones is the wood floor on the ground floor.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will let pictures to the lion's share of the talking.

Several FFA Slaves help with this project and learn a little about
floor joists, sub flooring and using a hammer.

This is our 1x4 tongue and groove salvaged from an elevator in Helix

Daniel and Preston installing the floor. Thank goodness for a nail gun.

It would have been an all summer job without it.

We were thankful for this floor on June 6th.
Our first paying event, a wedding, used this area.
The day was blustery, thunderstorms were predicted and building.
The caterer moved inside because it was level and out of the wind.

The dancing was moved inside to avoid the wind and rain.

Barn Floor

I can't believe it is the middle of April and I have yet to post anything here for 2009. I will be giving every effort to blogging more often for the remainder of the year. However, I wouldn't advise holding your breath in anticipation. Life just seems to take time.

Last fall Preston found some 1"x4" Tongue and Grove flooring that had been taken out of an old grain elevator in Helix. He came home very excited about its potential for the floor of the horse side of the barn.

About that time we received some very discouraging information regarding the State and County Building Codes. Something about ceiling clearance, soil to wood distance, jacking up the barn to put in pressure treated lumber on top of the concrete walls ... which caused us to turn our focus to cleaning the upstairs and remodeling it for use.

Once again Building Codes, regarding the required number of toilets (6) for a building the size of our barn brought those plans to a stand still. We are currently contemplating and praying about how to proceed with those plans. We would welcome your prayer for wisdom in these matters.

Preston turned his attention to using the flooring to put a "new" look in the "Sleeping House" which we will be calling the Groom's Cabin. (See September 2008 blog for pictures)


But... Hope Springs Eternal. With the occasional warming of outside temperatures and intermittent sighting of flowers bravely pushing through the late snows Preston began again to dream of his barn floor. He went back to forming up the footings and purchasing sacks of pre-mixed concrete. He started out mixing the concrete in my new PVC wheelbarrow. I was dismayed, but then figured if he ruined it I would get a new one. Preston and Daniel discovered just how hard that kind of work is. They came in exhausted, sore and wondering just how long it will take to get that floor in there.

Preston then decided to hire a RATT. (Rent A Team of Teens) from Daniel's youth group to help with the mixing and pouring of the footings. Their leader, Dave Conlee, knew where there was an electric cement mixer. With the young and strong teens and the mixer the work load was much lighter, and the footing were poured and curing!
The next project was the floor joists. Preston and Daniel along with another RATT and some FFA slaves that stage was well under way. They even got some of the subflooring in.

Of course you have to feed hard working teens to keep them going!

This is the last project our dog Mannie was able to participate in. He really enjoyed all the activity and being able to be in the middle of it.

A White Christmas!!! Really?

We have been blessed with a week of winter weather, with more winter weather predicted for this next week. We have begun to hope for a White Christmas. The only white Christmas I can recall in recent years was created by fog. Definitely not snow.

small spruce tree by the road

We were delighted (Daniel , Preston & I) to have the first storm (Saturday) to be snow falling straight down. The trees and landscape were beautiful... a sight we don't often get here because in Eastern Oregon the wind blows! But, alas, Wednesday the wind started blowing, we were disappointed, but found it interesting to watch the drifts being created. The swirling and sinking snowflakes give the ususally unseen wind clear visibity. I thought you might enjoy seeing our drifts.

North end of the our house

The East side

South Side

West Side

The culvert drift in front of the barn in which Daniel built a snow cave.

What a wonderful, beautiful, new world we have outside!

old Douglas Fir

Old Locust

Cleaning UP

The upper level (which we call upstairs, but is really upladder because there are no stairs) was designed to store hay for the animals fed on the ground level. Lately we have been focusing our attention on cleaning up the upper level of the barn. It is a rewarding task because I can always see where I have been. It can also be very discouraging because there is soooo much more to do. I will let pictures tell the story.

BEFORE

Daniel is helping Preston rig up a tarp to control the "sweepings" we send "down the chute".

We then loaded up the straw, chaff, dust, pigeon poo and the like, in a wheelbarrow and carried it away.

Notice the wood wall from the floor up about 4'-5'. This was not original in 1916, but added in the 40's when the Winns were storing dry peas in this side of the upper level.
We decided to go back to orginal 1916.

This is what we discovered behind the wall.
Bird nest

Layers of chaff and straw accumulated over 50 years
We shared our fun with a friend.
Pam Long (aka Curley, Curlew.... Swan) came for a visit and cheerfully donned insulated coverall (it was 23 degrees that morning) and dust mask to join us at our "play".
You are always welcome to come play with us!
We believe in the old adage "Families that work together stay together."
Isn't that the way it goes?


This is what we are working with now. Just hours (day, weeks, months, who knows?) of vacuuming, scraping and digging up dust and dirt from the corners and crevices.

"The Sleeping House", the small building George Robert Winn (aka PA & my father-in-law) slept in as a boy, with his brother Peyton. PA recently reminisced about this place: He carved the name he wanted to be called into the wood- "Bob", there were screens all around...lots of fresh air, he woke up to snow or frost on his bed covers & there was a small woodstove to take the chill off those cold winter nights.

As Daniel and I made our way painting this old, and somewhat tired, farm building this summer we discovered carvings in the siding PW+JA, BAJ+JC & EFW and a big blockish R. Wouldn't it be fun to see back in time when those were so fervently carved. I can surmise that the R is Robert, and PW is Peyton Winn, and EFW must be Ellen, Bob and Peyton's sister, but who are JA, BAJ & JC? This little building isn't standing exactly straight, and the floor is not level, but....oh.....the stories it could tell!

This summer Preston found some used fir 1x4 tongue and groove lumber (salvaged from an old elevator near Helix) and determined it would be great flooring material. When progress on the floor in the barn came to a standstill, because of potential building code hurdles, Preston decided that The Sleeping House would be a great place to use this wood. He put it on the floor and walls. When he was done the cabin looks pretty darn good. We will leave the rafters as they are (including the big ol' nails that, I suspect, were used to hang clothes on). I like how it looks old.Preston is going to add trim to the corners and few other "finishing" details, we will give it all a light sanding and maybe some sealant finish.... oh... and I need to vacuum the cobwebs & dust.

I am going to plant some old fashioned iris and daylilies around it to perk it up a bit on the outside.

I think this little building is standing a little taller today, what do you think?

We are hoping that it will have many more stories to tell as a Grooms Cabin.

Meeting County Code: Parking

One of the stipulations for our Barn Project is parking areas. The county code says we must have one parking space for every 200 sq.ft. in the barn(that would be about 24 spaces), and it must be graveled . Overflow parking must be non-flammable and not bare dirt. We talk to our local excavator C & D Thacker about bidding for this job. We are counting on strong wheat prices to pay for it all.

We now have a beautiful, graveled parking area south of the barn. Gravel parking

The overflow parking is north of the Barn Yard
When we asked what was nonflammable and not bare dirt the county suggested grass... irrigated grass. We already have 2 acres of irrigated grass we have to irrigate and mow. We didn't want more of that. We opted to use bare rock (not flammable, and not bare DIRT). We think it makes a nice parking area.
Looking East
Looking west
Thacker is "walking" the rock in to smooth it out a bit.



This is where the rock came from.
The Winn Rock Pit now has a really deep hole.

Family Weddings

August hasn't been good for progress at The Barn. We have had the fun of spending time with the Perisho family at three family weddings! The amazing part is that all 6 of "us kids" (now, we all like to think that we are kids, sometimes act like we are kids, but our bodies keep telling us differently... pictures do too!) have been able to be at all the weddings.

Priscilla, Me, Lesta Cyndi, Lura, Bert

This is what we looked like about 40 years ago.









The first wedding was Priscilla's son Erick. 2:00 P.M. on August 2nd at Caldwell Friends Church.

Erick & Karen Smith



The 2nd was Lura's son Jacob. 6:00 P.M August 2nd at Boise's Capitol City Christian Church. His bride, Samantha was shy... I couldn't get her to come out from behind the cake :)

Maybe it was because Jacob's aunts were so crazy and unruly at the rehearsal dinner. We got to sing a fun old song "Sweet Violets" together. We had the best time working together on the rehearsal dinner.

Work, Singing & Good Food... always a great combination for memories.











Then August 14th Lesta's son Forrest married Elizabeth at Old Laurelhurst Church in Portland, OR. That had to be the hottest day of the year. But that didn't hamper all the fun of being with family and friends