Winter's Here

I had yesterday off due to the snow. We didn't really get a lot but it always drifts out here in the country. I spent about an hour and a half outside shoveling and plowing. Walked the almost 1/4 mile down to the mailbox later in the day and found out that the only mail in the pile that belonged to me was the newspaper it was wrapped in. So I took another walk to give the neighbors their mail - they had a piece of mine by the way - and all of this was after the mail lady dropped off a package at the house. If she comes up the driveway to deliver a package, the mail still goes in the box. So I got almost a mile in of quality walking in the cold and blowing snow. Spent the rest of the day screwing off. However the day before I got some stuff done, by golly.

The photos show the artsy-fartsy piece I made and the beginning of the trolley beam. I made the iron work around the outside of the "art work" piece a couple of years ago at the blacksmith shop. I found the raccoon skull along the railroad tracks a few years back. Figured the two of them should go together so I cut a piece of copper left over from another job and fastened it on with some 8-32 screws. I need to shine up the iron just a little more and then put some linseed oil on it to keep it from rusting. I'm not sure where I'm going to hang it yet, but it's one I can put in the finished column. To the right of the artwork is the clip for my bib overalls. The piece on the bottom broke so I soldered it back together. Now I can wear my flannel lined bibs. We got another desk into the shop but didn't get to it due to the snow. I did fix the popcorn machine, though. It's a curse, I'm telling you.

The trolley beam won't take long to finish up. I'm planning on taking the circular stair into school this week and fixing it. When I get them both done I'll paint them both at the same time. The building inspector came by last week to check out the barn - told me if I didn't here anything from him, all's well. So far I haven't heard anything. I was a little concerned about the couple of sheets in the back that I just stuck back up where the stair hit it. I'm planning on getting those swapped out as soon as weather permits anyway. We'll see if the phone rings next week. I did get my flashing for the peak bent up today. I'm planning on installing that tomorrow and then taking down the scaffolding. My cheapie cordless drill came yesterday when the mail lady came up the lane. While I was outside doing my walkies, I drove a few screws into the OSB for the upstairs wall. It didn't do much but I'm hoping it just needed a charging. I'm planning on hanging a few more sheets up tomorrow after finishing the flashing. I'll pick up some 2x4's and make a railing around the top of the 4' high wall and that'll be good. I'm planning on cutting one edge of the 2x4's at a 45 degree angle so I won't be able to set anything on the railing or hang something from the edge of the sheet. After that, I'd say I'm about 99% done on the barn. I'm ready to move on.