Front porch decking finished

 Jay and Debbie were here for a vacation this past week. We visited some distilleries and built the front porch for the girls' place. The railings aren't up yet, but all the stairs and decking are fitted and screwed in. It's very solid. It took a bit longer to build than we figured on. The weather didn't co-operate at all. And we are STILL waiting on the power company to hook it up.

some progress

Earlier this week, we had the electrical inspector out, everything passed and we got the needed sticker for the power company to be able to energize the place. Now we just need to get them to come out and do it.

We also had the fire marshall inspection done, also passing with no issues.

In between time, I got insulation put in the new wall around the window.

And finished fitting the drywall around it and sealing the gaps with some foam sealer. We needed it to match with what was already on the wall for thickness. It's ready to put the paneling up. We found one that matches over in Richmond at Menards.
 

Siding installed

As posted a few days ago, this is what I started with after the wall section was put in place and had some house wrap covering the openings in the studs.

I got it up to this point yesterday, with only the top piece left to do. That piece required a lot more cutting and fitting.

Before the rain started this morning, I got it all put into place and fastened in. The siding needs washing, but it has been just hanging around here for several years waiting to be useful.

Once that was finished, the rear gutter had to be cleaned out. It had filled up and composted all the way up to the roof and was growing things. I did get started adding shut-off valves to all the sinks and toilets, but only got about half of them done today.

Back wall rebuilt

After I got the transit patch pulled off, I took the recliners over while I had a big hole to work with. It's much easier to move furniture that way. 

Then I finished up the window frame part of the wall and set it to the side while I swapped the furniture around. The recliners are going in the girls place while the sofa was headed here. It turns out that it won't fit through the dooway going into the living room, so we'll have to do something different for our living room. 

The new wall fit nicely in the hole and is well secured. 

 So I added the window and some house wrap to seal it up (sort of). After voting tomorrow, I am going to get the siding up and seal it in for real.

The girls' place has arrived

Friday afternoon about 2:30, the mover arrived with the girls' place. It is a very tight fit on our small road.

They did block traffic for a few minutes getting it ready to turn it in to the lot.

Starting in, while watching all the clearances underneath.

The did have to pause several times dropping down off the road to adjust the height and the offset of the hitch on the truck.

He pulled it into place over the top of the foundation and they unloaded the blocks and ground cover before stopping for the day.

They were back early this morning to finish it up. It is leveled, anchored and the moisture barrier is in place.

 We still have to get everything hooked up and the fence for the dog yard put back up, but it's here and the project is moving along.

car is running again

On our way back from West Liberty last week, we got hit with some debris from the storm coming in. A branch went right through the grill and took out the radiator and the A/C condenser.

 I ordered a new radiator, but the first one they sent had a leak. The second one is now in the car and doesn't seem to be leaking any. I started it up and idled it up to operating temperature and it seems to be OK. A road test is still in order.

A couple more minor updates

I picked a bucket full of pears from Lisa & Jim's tree today and started processing them. I canned 8 jars and the rest are currently cooking down for pear sauce and pear butter.

 Harry was down a couple days ago and we buried the rest of the electric trench and smoothed it all out. Everything is ready to have the trailer delivered as soon as I can get that done. We had a hauler look at it today and I'm hopeful we will get it here soon.

Electric conduit is all in place

When I found out that my plan to run the electric service on the surface was no longer allowed by the power company, I had to run all of it underground. After pulling everything I had already done back out, I started by drilling a line of holes with my power auger.

Then all the middle walls of the holes got dug out.

Once that was all done, the new, longer piece of conduit was slid into the trench and through the tunnel under the foundation. Heather helped out with this part. It was a two person job to get it to get it through the tunnel and pull the extra wire through it.

Then I had to feed it all through the elbow and settle it in to the bottom of the new trench. I started to bury the trench at the tunnel and packed some of the dirt into the tunnel to help keep it from settling too much. I forgot that the power company supplies the wire up to the meter. I have more wire than I need now.
 

More small bits

It took several days to get the hole under the foundation dug through. The holes looked like they were going right into each other, but they weren't connecting. I did finally get them to join.

 The meter box ands outside main breaker boxes are both mounted and conduit is run. You can see a short gap at the bottom of the trench, but I have the piece cut and it's laying beside the trench. Now if I can just get someone to transport the trailer... I never dreamed THAT would be the biggest challenge. 

more

After the concrete cured, I got the pedistal put together.

And got the meter box and main disconnect box mounted.

 First thing this morning, I lit the brush pile. It was still small, so it didn't take too long to burn down. It was mostly finished by lunchtime.

Some progress

More canning got done yesterday. The beans are slowing down, but there is still more of them out in the garden. We are well over 100 jars for this year now.

The tomatoes are not doing as well, but they still produce enough to help fill jars. I think I will try different varieties next year. This looks like a lot, but I only got about 2 quarts of sauce out of it.

Harry was down yesterday and buried the water line trench. I had the inspector here the day before and he OK'd this part. He still has to come back when we run the sewer line, but we need the trailer here for that. That is proving to be the hardest part - finding someone to do it.

I got the first section of conduit put in for the electric service this morning. 

And I planted the posts for the pedistal and got them concreted in. I needed the section of conduit in to get the placement of the pedistal right. 
 

Water line installed

 I started with a phone call to the inspector to find out if my coupler fittings were OK. They weren't, so I went out and got a different one, then cleared the silt that had settled into the trench, deepening it a few inches before unrolling the new water line into it. Digging under the foundation proved to be quite difficult, but it is all run. I'll call in the morning to set up the inspection.

And still more canning

These were kind of dropped in our lap on Friday. Natalie's mom wanted some peaches and bought a 25lb box and gave the rest of them to us.

So we canned them. I had gotten some tips from our neighbor about doing it, because her stuff looked a lot better than mine had looked in the past. I was following book direction and she has been canning most of her life. Her tips were very helpful.

She also sent us home with a bushel of sweet corn from her garden. Heather helped us shuck it and get it ready.

She told us how to can it (I have not done any corn before). We got 16 pint jars and 6 more quart bags that we put in the freezer.

The pantry is looking good. Natalie had to re-arrange some stuff to get the unplanned additions on the shelf and we will have to do it again. We still have more beans and tomatoes coming in, as well as pears (from Lisa's tree) that are still ripening.
 

More canning

 Last night's canning efforts put another 19 pints of green beans and 3 quarts of pasta sauce into the pantry. The pantry is looking well stocked now, and there is still more coming in.

Busy night

Yesterday's haul out the garden was a bit larger than I anticipated. 

 The time involved was also more than normal. It turned into a late night, but I got 28 more pints of beans put up. There is still more growing, so we will have more coming in. The next tomato session will be coming up shortly.

A couple updates

I have the trench locations marked for digging for the hook-ups. This one is for the power line.

And this one is for the water line. I will have to tunnel under the foundation for both lines.

This is a smoked brisket from today. I put it on last night and it was delicious.

One of last week's canning results. We have 6 quarts of soup and a dozen jars of green beans. There have been 2 more canning sessions since then. We're up to almost 30 jars of beans, about half of last year's total.