Roofing Finally Begins!

Hal and I got to start the roofing yesterday. The winds picked up for a while in the afternoon but we managed to get the first 2 pieces up though the second isn't screwed done everywhere. The sheets are 21'8" long and 39" wide. Getting them up there without kinking was an interesting exercise. We used rope to curl it in 3 places to prevent any chance of kinking then set one end on an old tire and pivoted it to the roof edge. Hal then pushed it up enough that I could stand under it and hold it over my head till he got on top of the roof to grab it and pull it up the rest of the way.

First he laid down a sheet of radiant barrier which will reflect heat away from the attic. That is the first piece of steel on his left ready to go on top.

After the barrier was stapled down we dragged the first piece of steel to butt up against the edge of the house and he screwed it in. I had already pre-drilled the holes while it was sitting on the trailer in the wooden jig he had made which had indicators for each line of screws.

First sheet finished!

Having done it once it was a little easier to get the 2nd sheet up, it overlaps the first by a couple inches.

There will be 4 sheets per section, so 24 on the garage, plus possibly 2 more partial ones at the end where it overhangs.

Today Hal is only going to finish putting in the screws on this sheet as the winds will be picking up again though the afternoon. We have hope that once we start again, Monday perhaps? We will be able to put up 4 sheets a day.

Ziggy Got to Play

I took Ziggy to my friend Tom's house today for a doggie play date with his spaniel Joe Cocker. Another small dog named Maggie showed up shortly after with her owner. I thought Ziggy needed a little puppy therapy to get his out of his funk. They tired him out in less than the 90 minutes we were there. It was fun to see. Photos are pitiful because of all the mayhem, here are the 3 best ones.

Maggie, Ziggy, Joe

Ziggy, Maggie, Joe

Ziggy and Maggie

Ziggy did a little growling at first as he had never met Maggie before but once hierarchy was established everyone got along fine. We will do it again soon I hope.

Luna

The good day on Thursday, when she ate, and walked, rolled on the grass, laid in her swamp, and greeted people who came by was followed on Friday by limp tail, not eating anything for 36 plus hours, not caring when I drove her over to see Judy. The light was literally gone from her eyes. This morning she coughed up a vile yellow liquid shortly after fighting her to force down pills which was never a problem before. So Hal and I took her back to see Dr King at 11 am. Her lungs sounded worse to him, I made the decision, Dr King agreed it was for the best.

So my best yellow furry friend in all the world was gone by noon. I feel like maybe I jumped the gun, maybe another day would have made a difference, but probably not.  Watching her slowly fade away, in obvious respiratory distress, but not acting like it really hurt.... Dogs are so damn stoic.

We took her to our new home. We took Ziggy. He knows, he watched us bury her. I always thought I'd bury her next to Rocket but we're moving. We can't take Rocket with us but I can take a few of the mass of daffodils planted over his grave with us and plant them over hers. I'll be able to see the hill where she lays by the lilac and white oak tree from the new house.

This hurts so much.

I miss you so much my sweet little Luna.

Goodbye.

Luna  9-11-2005 to 6-23-2018

Hopeful Luna Update

She ate a little supper and she ate a little breakfast. She spent a lot time in the garage (which isn't unusual in summer anyway) and then the basement and I found her sound asleep on the floor of the small bedroom next to ours this morning.

Hoping it's not wishful thinking but she seems a bit peppier today, more alert, too. When a neighbor wandered over from Judy's old house next door Ziggy and I walked back with her and Luna followed. We walked very slowly for her. She even went into her usual swamp hole for a drink and a mud bath. Maybe the meds are working, I hope so, even if it gives her just another good month, or even a week, she is worth it.

Luna and duckworth

Luna is Not Well

In fact she may not have much time left at all.

For about 10 days she's been choking/coughing randomly but nothing comes up. She's been skipping meals, She no longer walks far and in the last few days she pretty much doesn't walk at all. And in the last 36 hours her abdomen swelled as if full of fluid. So we went to the vet today and my suspicions were confirmed. Luna has congestive heart failure. As well as some tachycardia.

So she's on furosemide, a diuretic to remove the fluid, digoxin for her heart and enalapril for something to do with her blood pressure. The doctor says it will either help her or not do anything. Apparently it depends on the dog. I'll know by Monday. Today is Wednesday.

For a very sick girl she certainly seems happy enough, her tail wags, she still eats biscuits. She is alert, she has been hanging out in the garage, the big door open so she can go in and out. That's where she is now. I check on her periodically and she always seems to be fine.

I knew this was coming, she turns 13 in September after all. I just don't want it to happen. You can never be ready for this.

Forgotten Sewing Photos

While looking for pictures of the baby quilts and other sewing projects I've made previously I discovered I never posted them here. The only photos were also taken with my old cheapo cell phone so the quality isn't very good. But here they are from 2016.

Apron for a sister

for first great nephew

placemats for bridal shower

the backs of the baby quilts

for my second grand niece

I wish I could find a photo of the one I made for a neighbor. I simply can't believe I did not take one!

Still Some Tedious Things to do Before the Roofing Starts

Last week I cut a bunch of 12 and 17 inch 2 x 4's for Hal to stick between all the purlins at the overhangs. I'm not sure what the blocking is for as those purlins are held in place with hurricane anchors, but I'm sure it's important.

Today he is busy putting up the varge rafters on the ends of the garage.

Varge (aka barge) rafters are the ones stuck to the ends of all the purlin overhangs, others might call them fascia. Ours will eventually be clad in white metal trim He's got to straighten the ends of all those purlins and nail them in place possibly by hanging over the edge of the roof. Hal informed me he'll be using a tree stand harness to ensure he doesn't fall off. I hope he really does that because I'm not there to watch him.. He started the other day but yesterday was too windy to be up there, and though the winds aren't as mild as we'd like at least they've dropped below the 20-30 mph winds that came with the morning thunderstorm.

The blocking is above his head

Hansen Pole Buildings

While looking through my old posts I realized I never mentioned where we got the detailed plans and materials for the house we are building. As you can see from the title, Hal contacted Hansen Pole Buildings last spring and contracted with them to take the floor plan we had and make it into an engineered building approved for building here in Michigan. It took a few weeks as everything was done via phone and email but after we approved the plans they then shopped out the materials list for the shell (minus the windows as they only sold single hung and we wanted double hung) and when those materials arrived last summer we started building.

Mostly the materials were okay to use, but as we recently emptied the stacks of 2 x 6's while finishing the purlins (rafters) there was an awful lot of lower grade lumber, rounded on both edges (from the outer edges of the logs). We used it, as we paid for it, though it wasn't ideal. Hopefully there is enough wood at the edges to screw the metal roof onto. And Hal is going to buy a few more 2 x 6 x 14's to finish up the varge rafters this week. But that isn't Hansen's fault, it's the lumberyard they sourced it from.

Now if we were younger with more stamina, we would have unstacked those large piles within 48 hours of arrival and sent photos to Hansen and probably been able to pick up replacements at the local lumber yard. That happened when we discovered a few boards were too short for their intended purpose for something else. But we rolled the dice and came up short. Oh well. But we will work it out.

The "kit" came with 2 sets of plans, one given to the county inspector, who was extremely impressed with the quality. Apparently he's not used to seeing decent sets of plans for building homes very often. There is also a huge set of instructions detailing how to do things. That is cool because it's been at least a decade since Hal built his first and last pole barn and it wasn't anywhere near as complicated as this.

So t