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No matter where you are in Vermont, there are barns.
.
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And if you’re traveling with my husband, there is envy.
.
.
Because no matter how much he improves his own Barn Mahal/ man cave, somewhere someone has done more.
.
.
This barn had an apartment.
.
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This barn was haunted. It’s hard to top that.
.
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The white barn didn’t really look like a barn, but it was.
.
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Barns with cows…
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And barns without cows. He loves them all.
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Baby barn work commences…. again.
And I have to ask – are we the only ones who take a year to remodel what is in essence a small shed?
On second thought, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.
So we’ve moved around to the back half to finish our utterly favorite part…..and by that I mean the hellish nightmare that is angled trim work. I believe we’ve established we suck at this and not wanting to break tradition, we still do.
How badly do we suck?
I’m glad you asked.
Badly enough to require shaving corners with less than modern tools if you’re my other half.
What….
You mean 1940’s saws aren’t still viable members of the tool arsenal?
Yes, that’s always my reaction as well….
But the husband says it still has life left in it.
Corners were turned…
Though not all of them where they should be…
As the poppa barn ( who’s still screaming for paint and agrees with River how wonderful he would look in a nice rusty red with white trim ) looked on in horror.
To be continued.
Next up? Permanent walls for the third side.
As opposed to the numerous sets of temporary walls we’ve installed, uninstalled and installed again.
And it’s finally starting to take enough shape for the husband to hang up a few tools.
Of course…. a chain, a pick ax and a shovel might not bode well for me and my oh so helpful ideas.
The floor is still 2 different levels of dirt thanks to the woodchucks and chipmunks….
But we haven’t had time to deal with it between rain storms.
The husband has also discovered that when I’m busy taking pictures… he can use his head for a brace. It works quite well.
So, walls and roof section on…
The tape was applied.
If you’ve never used the Zip wall and roofing system? Let me tell you… this stuff is golden. I don’t know what the hell they treat it with but once you tape up the seams it stays waterproof for a long time. I think they say 3 months open to the weather, but on our big barn we left it for over a year… through a Maine winter.. and it was fine.
You’re only supposed to use the tape with the Zip pieces, but baby barn has so many gaps and holes we taped everything we could find in preparation for a big upcoming storm.
Did the husband get a little happy with the tar paper caps? Probably, but we get some hellacious wind blowing across the fields.
So, three and half sides are done and it’s battened down for rain and wind.
Maybe it’s just me, but I swear it’s big brother is looking down in disgust.
Sadly, we may not have time or appropriate weather to finish it this year. I seriously wanted shingles on before the snow flies but my husband says the siding and trim have to go on first… something to do with flashing.
Although what that has to do with anything….
I’m sure I don’t know.
So, fingers crossed we can at least remove that last rotted section soon.
It’s a little too split personality for my taste.
Next step in the baby barn remodel was the removal of the addition the previous homeowner added.
This was easier said than done….
And at times required multiple beatings with a crowbar.
Slowly but surely it came down.
And the temporary walls and roof were removed.
Which is when we noticed a wee bit of sag.
A little lifting…
A little of me saying WTH?
A whole lot of digging….
And propping up later, it was level.
On that side…. which usually throws all the other sides off.
I swear this entire project has been so much work than it needed to be. We could have torn it all down and rebuilt an entire new one in half the time it’s taken us to get this far. Which I believe was my original idea.
Cold weather is fast approaching, and we’re no where near done.
News flash – yours truly will not be out there working in sub zero temps.
Baby barns.
Totally not worth the trouble.
When last we left our intrepid deconstructor, he had finished the back side of the main building and was moving around to the side.
Please note that his loyal wife and help mate was not thrilled to see a large pile of dirt growing ever larger on her lawn.
Problem #1 this past weekend? The husband had so much junk, crap, useless rusted nonsense treasure stored in that section, he had no room to work.
Of course, he assured me it was all wonderful stuff.
I assured him it was not.
What? Why? How much….
I didn’t even want to know.
Yes…. that’s a filthy old door with a mail slot that weighs roughly 5,000 pounds.
No… I have no idea why he has it.
But if you need 2 rusted iron frames for your wooden wagon wheels? He’s your man.
Although on second thought, he never parts with anything… ever. So I guess you’re out of luck.
You might have noticed this jewel in the previous photo…
I think it’s an ancient torture device from the early 14th century.
I know it damn near broke my back dragging it across the lawn to the big barn where it will now gather more cobwebs.
It’s days like these that I have to keep telling myself…
I really do.
Because otherwise? I’d kill him…
And I don’t think they’d let me blog from prison.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my husband during our long and happy marriage, it’s that he doesn’t like to rush things.
Projects that should take a day, take a week. Projects that should take a week, take a month. Projects that should take a month, well… you get the idea. He’s been working on our big barn for what seems like forever and it’s still not finished.
So our baby barn/shed needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Husband decided the frame of the building and the existing wood on the roof were sound, and is attempting to tear down the rotten parts and rebuild around them.
First off is the old shingles.
There’s no real reason for this picture other than the fact I love to see a man sweeping.
It’s porn for women.
But I digress…..
Shingles off the front side, tar paper off the lower half.
Section of roof off… so he can remove the section of wall below.
It was at this point he decided to level the building.
And that involved stomping all my flowers into the dirt, which made me….
And run for a trowel.
Flowers dug up…
Potted and moved to the relative safety of the big barn porch.
Of course by the time I’d turned around, he’d stolen bricks and edgers from my garden beds to raise the building.
Which made me….
And run to gather them up before I was left borderless.
One new section of wall in place, old section of roof replaced.
If you’re wondering how long this operation took?
An entire 4 day holiday weekend.
Yes, 4 friggin’ days!
Reason being, my husband is the least organized man on earth and had none of the materials he needed when he started this project and kept having to run to the store… a half an hour away. He can also never find any of his tools and spends 20 minutes cursing and kicking things over looking for them until he gives up and asks me.
Of course he also had to get a haircut, have breakfast with the boys, hit a yard sale, drive an hour to complain to the man who painted his truck last year because it’s already starting to chip, visit his brother, sharpen the lawn mower blades, stop at the pub for a beer and wash his car. Did he have to do all that while trying to rebuild the baby barn?
No. He did not.
But now you see why weekend projects take months.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon. We lay out and cut tar paper…
While a storm moves in.
Have you ever tried to lay tar paper on a roof in the wind and rain?
It’s not fun. Yours truly was on the other ladder and had to put her phone inside so there aren’t any pictures of me soaking wet and wind blown…. laying across the paper as it was ripping off the roof in a deluge.
Good times.
At this rate, I think the project will be done by the time Elon Musk reaches Mars….
Or Richard Simmons stages a comeback.
Stay tuned.
Yes, we’ve reached the end of yet another vacation series.
We checked out of our Vermont mountain resort and walked by the required giant Adirondack chair….
Which had a non required tiny snowman.
With horns.
As we were leaving I noticed this sign…
And thought, damn.
The only reason I left mine at home was the lack of decent parking.
My husband had serious barn envy on our drive home…
Which is easy to do in Vermont.
And farther down the road, I saw another interesting sign.
Clearly Hula Hooping is a road hazard in the Northern Kingdom.
The mountains loomed in the distance….
And made for quite a scenic ride.
Sadly, the Water Wheel…
One of our favorite lunch spots…. was closed, and we had to make do with a local watering hole.
(For Martin, who constantly gripes there aren’t enough food photos.)
A decent clam chowder for me.
A mediocre French onion for the husband.
A really good turkey club for me.
And some nice homemade chicken fingers for the husband.
(Happy now Martin?)
We ate our meal under this watchful eye…
And elected to pass on the specialty cocktail.
I love bacon (and bourbon!) as much as the next girl, but bacon bourbon?
No.
Yes.
Yes we are.
The Vermont vacation is officially over.
River's world..... 