Construction is proceeding at a rapid pace. The rest of the windows and doors were installed today. The stairs were also roughed in, and we can easily get up and down to appreciate the views from the second floor. I definitely prefer going up the stairs in comparison to the ladder!
The siding’s been delivered, too, and a lot of it is already in place. We’re using concrete composite board siding with batts on top, so it’ll look like the old red barn, but with more fire resistance. We will have to wait until spring or summer to paint – it’s much too cold to do it now. Eventually, it will be red, just like the old restored barn, but for now it will stay grey.
The heating contractor was up to measure for the heater, and we’ll have a swamp cooler for summer cooling. While the actual furnace may not be installed for a while, we’ll need to size it and get the vent pipes installed before the metal roof goes on.
Electrical wires need to be run so all lighting can be installed. We haven’t even decided what we want yet! I know we’ll need a lot of electrical outlets. With each build we do, we add more outlets, but we still never seem to have enough of them.
Our weather has been so cold, we haven’t gone above freezing for the last ten days. This makes it really hard to work outside, so construction starts after the sun comes up and the wind dies down. It ends early, too, before the sun goes down and temperatures drop.
Our sheep are eating a lot of extra hay to keep warm, but they otherwise seem happy. We have some ongoing problems of keeping the water heaters plugged in so water tanks stay unfrozen. Bored sheep like to play with the heaters.
Our biggest excitement was coming home one morning after taking four sheep to butcher, only to find a coyote inside the new elk fence. We tried to shoot it, but missed, and it actually climbed up and out of the fence! Our guard dogs aren’t able to run the entire area because that is where the horses are. It was discouraging to know the coyotes can climb such a tall fence. I thought they only dug under or climbed short distances. It proves a point: predator protection must be multi-layered in our area. Even really good fences are not good enough alone to keep our stock safe.