Wood Shed Project

When we moved into the house, there was an existing wood shed just off the porch, between the house and the girl's pasture.  It was also directly in front of the window facing that direction from the family room.  So, while relaxing on the couch I had a lovely view of... the leaning, sinking, warped wood shed.  It annoyed me because it blocked my view and was ugly.  It annoyed Brett because it was falling down and because he kept hitting his head while stooping to retrieve or stack wood.

About a month ago, I had a simultaneous burst of energy and a surge of "hate wood shed" feelings.  I went outside and started pulling it apart -- which wasn't hard, given its rotten wood and rusty nails.  Brett drove his tractor over and knocked over the pieces I didn't pull off.

Since then, Brett's been trying to decide where to build a new wood shed.  It needed to be accessible, and level, and not block our view.  He decided to build it against the side of the garage.  Brett's friend, Richard, came up last week and stayed through the weekend, helping to pour the concrete base and then to construct the shed.

Consistent with everything Brett does, this is a massive and sturdy wood shed.

It looks like a room addition, not a wood shed.  Richard and I teased Brett about what Brett's "real" plans were for the structure.  I wondered if he and Kersey were going to move in together.

Brett still needs to put up the sides, add shingles, build pallets, and paint.  He can do all of that stuff on his own.  Well, maybe not the shingles.  Notice that Richard is on the roof in all the photos.  Brett does not like heights.  At all.

While they worked on Saturday, I was busy with my own projects.  I also picked wild blackberries and made cobbler for dinner.  I knew the menu would be popular with the boys: ribs, baked potatoes, fresh bread, and cobbler.  Yes, I know the menu is missing a real vegetable but they didn't want one.  Boys.

The Bridge

There are a number of small streams running through our property.  We live at the bottom of a small valley, that opens out to a larger valley (Pleasant Valley), that is connected to a series of valleys marching down the Sierra Nevada mountains to the Sacramento valley.  We are situated at the very back-end of our valley, with steep hillside on both sides and the back.  All of our streams meet at the front of our property, where they merge, flow under our road and continue on to join the Cosumnes River.  Which is impossible to pronounce.  (I tell myself that it rhymes with "go sum this")

The largest of the streams runs the whole length of our property, entering at the back of the Back 40 pasture, running alongside the dressage court, down past the chicken pen, my garden, the house and the next to the girls' pasture fence before going under the front fence, making a hard left, flowing under our driveway (or over it) and merging with the other streams.  Just before the stream reaches the chicken pen, it passes under a bridge that crosses over to the girls' pasture and the compost piles.  When we moved in, it was in decent shape; wide enough to drive the tractor across and sturdy.

Since then, its been steadily eroding.  Ground squirrels have been excavating the top and sides.  And, we had a bit of flooding action going on this past February.

The bridge had never been quite wide enough to drive a truck across comfortably.  After this winter, driving anything but the tractor across was flat out impossible.  And to make matters worse, there were huge holes in the top, initially dug by squirrels, but enlarged by the exceptional amount of rain we have had this winter.  It made me nervous, walking Lucy and Pistol across.  It felt like crossing a mine field.  It needed to be replaced.

Brett doesn't do a half-way job with anything.  He builds beautiful and sturdy structures.  After countless sleepless nights, where he tormented himself with different designs and calculations, he got to work.

I think its pretty dang impressive myself.

When the Sun Shines

We've had a brief respite from the rain.  Clouds are moving back in, and the wet stuff will return tomorrow afternoon.  But, we had a wonderful weekend of sunshine.  All of the animals were doing this:

Brett and I did the morning chores in our heavy coats and warm hats, ate our breakfast, and then headed back outside.  By 10 am we didn't need jackets or hats anymore.  I worked in the garden and groomed the horses in a sweatshirt.  Brett finished up the chicken run reinforcement.

I think we hit 53F.

Brett's next project is rebuilding the bridge that crosses our largest stream, giving us access to the girls' pasture and the compost piles.  Brett needs to be able to get his tractor and truck over there to work on cutting up the tree that fell into the girls' pasture.  So, the bridge has become priority one.  Yesterday, he was busy buying supplies. He was telling me about his bridge plans last night -- as is typical, the bridge will be strong, sturdy and plenty large.  I'm thinking a semi will be able to rumble across when he's done.