(Above: The plywood painting station within the hay-barn.)
8/27/19
Preface: It’s getting quite late here, so I apologize for grammatical errors and discrepancies in quality.
Building Summary: Today’s tasks started with my fetching yesterday’s plywood to the haybarn for priming. I selected the haybarn as a painting location for two primary reasons: to keep the pieces out of the rain and to allow for extra-swift drying beneath the heat of the tin roof. Transporting the wood, however, was accompanied by a dismaying discovery. Nearly a quarter of the herd of ‘new neighbors’ from the adjoining pasture had decided to take up residence in Jacobhouse’s law. Thus, after my delivering the plywood, I went on to attempt fixing the electric fence. The result of this was frustration, no change in voltage, and a discovery described in the TIL below.
I next commenced to apply wood-filler to the rougher pieces of plywood, waited for it to dry for 15 minutes, sanded it, and then filled up any remaining pockets that I did not fill before. While I waited for the second round of filler to dry, I Segway’ed out to the beef pasture and helped Padre and Wag tag/vaccinate a few newborn calves. On my return, I sanded the filled boards once again, blew them off with pressurized air, wiped them down with damp shop-cloths (recommended to me by Padre), and then finished off the morning with priming the plywood.
(7:51 Update): This afternoon, I tended to the manure stand*. The activities included filling up 7 bags, placing them on their pedestal, and fabricating a smaller opening for the collection tube. There has been a recent issue with folks reaching in and snagging any money that was far enough up in the tube. Now, the slat is not large enough for fingers, so I’m hoping this will prevent further mischief.
TIL: The postern storm doors (original doors) of Jacobhouse work against all different types of weather/weathering, including: high speed winds, hail… and cows. I used it for the lattermost today because invading bovines were licking on the glass and chewing on the edge of the sliding screen door. After I closed the storm doors, the little heifers were unable to perform their bovine shenanigans and instead went to grazing Jacobhouse’s overgrown lawn (that’s what I call a win/win solution). It should also be noted that the storm doors will also likely be utilized if the tropical storm / hurricane down south ends up heading this way. It’s that time of year again.
Commentary: Over the past few weeks, there has been a regrettable shift in my thought processes, and it is a shift that must be rectified. With the goal of living in my own personal dwelling drawing so near, the completion of Jacobhouse is at the forefront of mind – not the building of Jacobhouse. There are two ways in which I plan to remedy this. Firstly, now that I’ve realized my error, I will make a conscious effort to enjoy the remainder of the construction journey. Secondly (because I know the first portion will be difficult to maintain), I aim to bring Jacobhouse to a point of easy livability and then tend to the aesthetics. It is my hope that when I’m living in Jacobhouse – even if the house is not completely finished – it will assuage my growing frustration at a goal-almost-reached.
Final Note: Tomorrow I plan on painting over the primer I applied today. In reference to the boards above, I will be painting the left side black** and I will painting the right side turquoise. As the first coat of both paints dries, I will go fasten in the frame for the sub-subcounter shelving.
*The Jacobhouse fund-provider.
** I may choose one of the boards to paint aquamarine as an accent.