Progress on panelling the arch

We are making progress on the inside of the arch at the front door and the soffit along the front of the house.   The outside round of aluminum soffit is all done, but the other three sides of inside/long sections of soffit remain to be done.   We need to pull wire for the lighting as we go, which will make the later electrical hook up much easier.   Next we need to remove some of the pole scaffolding to the west so that we can set up to do the short TIG pine panel installation for the outside edge of the arch.   Also we have to drill holes in the arch log for the eye bolt to support the Angara log sign, every step has a few catches....

Tiger lilies

The tiger lilies are in bloom, bringing tidings of the end of the "dog days" of summer.  

Flag is up

Although we are trying to stay focused on necessary and structural work, we made a diversion to install a flagpole.    We love having the Canadian flag flying and could argue that it is valuable for showing wind direction...... so not entirely a cosmetic diversion.   In any case Bob has drilled four lengths of rebar into the bedrock and poured a concrete base, all properly parged.   This should make it a firm foundation for many years of enjoyment.

A house and a house

Catherine's dear chum and her husband came for a visit in their RV, pictured in front of Angara.   They plugged into our trailer hook up and so were here but in their own independent "camping" facilities.   For each of us there is a time for being gypsy and mobile, and a time for being stationary and rooted.   This was a chance to share those two paths!

Finally photographed a Sandhill Crane

We just love these gorgeous and huge birds that come to feed in the field next to the house.   They seem to nest in the wetlands below the ridge at the lake and mouth of the river (which we leave undisturbed).    What is most haunting about them is the prehistoric sounding call that they make when taking flight, landing and if they become alarmed.  If you half close your eyes, listen and watch them fly over, it seems that you are transported back to the time of the raptors and other long extinct creatures.

Suspended animation - water hydrant for the barn

Here is the hydrant in mid installation.   The hydrant itself was assembled by Mickey's Plumbing, we installed a concrete block under it as shown, for stability.  We then backfilled a reservoir around the bottom of the hydrant with good clean gravel, covered it with landscaping cloth and then backfilled the hole.   There is a 1/8" weep hole at the bottom of the hydrant, which allows the water to drain back down out of the assembly when the hydrant handle/valve is closed.  This provides freeze protection because after backfilling, the weep hole will be buried below the frost line (and will also be sheltered inside the barn structure).    It looks a bit odd sitting all alone out in the field for now.

Trenching for the water line to the barn

Our friend John is very talented with heavy machinery and masterful with a backhoe, here he works with Bob to first dig and here bury back in the water line to the barn.   We went with 1-1/2" poly line, the same as the main line.   We curved the trench around one section of bedrock, only to encounter another!   This one was a little deeper so we went to its surface at 32" below grade and enveloped it in 2"rigid styrofoam (top and bottom), before filling it in.   We marked this spot and will mound over it as well for extra depth.    We then connected at line at the "T" rough in that Mickey's Plumbing left for us.

Transformation - lovely to food

Lovely but rather too much percentage alfalfa (legume) in this particular patch for what is best for the "Angara" horses.   The rest of the field was more timothy grass type hay and preferable.  Nonetheless, it was baled and the end of July meant that we had 270 small bales in as a backup supply.  We will be using large bales in free choice feeders for the majority of the feeding.   

Mago prefers to play

Mago is shown at his temporary home, but he would rather play than hear that we are working on his permanent home.  That said, now that he has "natural horsekeeping", he does not use the barn much.   He and the three "girls" have a combination of 24/7 outdoor living with pea gravel loafing areas, barefoot hoof trimming methods and mixed pasture, rock and trees for a paddock along with a run-in shelter.   They rarely use the shelter in winter, preferring snow and blizzard outside..... however they do use it often in the summer to get out of the sun, plus to escape driving rain and sleet.  Since he was "rescue", I had a horse chiropractor look at him a couple of days ago to be sure he is ready to go under saddle.  He does not mind it being put on or me riding him for short periods, but I wanted to be sure he did not have any muscular/skeletal pain issues.  He has a clean bill of health (with a few preferred massage spots)... so is ready to GO!  Will make more time for him but keep at the log house project.