The Barn Door!

Today we had a great day!!!

The first project was to get the "new" lawnmower up and running.  I figured out that the mower is actually 19 years old!  It looks great, but wow!  That's crazy!  I ended up settling on a $400 purchase price with my aunt which I think is fair.

The right rear tire had a leak, so I stopped at Discount Tire this morning to have that plugged.  They did it for free!  Woo hoo!

I headed to Menard's and picked up some parts for the barn door that I forgot last night, and then I headed to the farm after that!  Once at the farm, I mounted the tire on the rider.  Fairly easy.  I then changed out the oil filter (the oil was so black, and you never know what you are getting when you buy used) and added new oil.  Of course, I had to take it for a test mow!

The right rear tire had a hole!

The mower is quite interesting!  It's a "Spin-Steer" which is basically a zero-turn with a steering wheel.  I read about it last night while researching the oil capacities, and the trick is to SLOW DOWN at the end before the turn!  Once you do that, the mower just whips right around like a zero-turn!  If you go fast, it's just like a normal mower.  Once I tried that trick out, it's an awesome mower!

I love it.  It's quiet and cuts good, too.  Beautiful!

I eagerly (nervously?) checked out the waterer to see if it was holding water.  I had filled it up to 50 gallons yesterday.  As I walked closer, I was happy to see the line of water in the tank!  And after climbing over the fence, I was THRILLED to see that the tank still held 46 gallons!  It appears that our little float repair worked!  This tank is a huge plus for raising piggies.  I am just thrilled.

The tank still held water!  The pigs had drank a few gallons in the last 12 hours.

The pasture looks great, too!  We had another big rain a couple of days ago, and previously, the pasture just puddled.  The rain had nowhere to go.  It just sat on top of the old, wet, stagnated hay bales.  With the tilling done this week, the water went through the ground!  Seriously, what a difference.  I hope to see a great crop of grass coming up soon!!!  Maybe by Saturday?!

After a heavy rain!

A fairly simple project was to raise the chicken coop.  At my previous home, I had it mounted up higher in order to give the chickens protection from predators and just general shade.  So I used a carjack to lift up the coop enough to put one more row of concrete blocks in there.  So much better.  The chickens can now run to cover from a hawk.

The coop on top of two concrete blocks now.

The next big project was a big one indeed.  We wanted to replace the sliding barn door.  When I toured the property before I bought it, the door was connected.  However, a couple of days before closing, we had a wind storm move through with a peak wind of 61 MPH out at the airport.  It was a stiff wind all day.  Well, after the closing, when I arrived at the property, I noticed the barn door had been ripped right off (the wood split).  Super frustrating.

When I purchased the property, I found the barn door in pieces.  It was intact when I originally walked through the home.

But I bought the property as-is, so I took it in as-is condition.

Back in March, some of those north winter winds would just howl through that massive opening in the barn.  The winds could be downright brutal.  With the pigs inside, all we wanted to do was just close that door...but we couldn't!  So this project has been on the list for a month now.

Well, today was the day.  Dad and I essentially rebuilt the framework for the barn.  I had debated whether to replace the siding on the outside, but the new siding would not match.  So I just opted to use the old door (and basically get it back to what it was when I first toured the place).

We removed the two sliding wheel kits and then replaced the upper board that had broken.  The siding is in pretty awful shape, but I remounted what good wood I could to the new frame.  We loosened the pivots on one of the sliding wheels and then mounted both back on.  I opted to leave the walk-through door as it was.  We added a framing piece along the bottom and just strengthened the door from top to bottom.

The two rollers are removed, lubricated, and loosened to pivot freely.

The bottom pieces of all of the siding are shot, but that's just a part of the character of the barn.

Here is the barn door upside down in the garage during repairs.  It's full of character.

We then loaded the door onto the back of my truck and used all of our muscles to lift it off and hoist it up on the slide track.  Seriously, this door is HEAVY.  It's made out of oak framing.  I didn't know if the door would even slide on the track (or if the track would hold up the weight), but I was happy to see that the door slid.  It didn't slide overly easily, but it slid.

The barn door is up!  It really closes up the barn now...and raises the temperature!

And with the door fully shut, you instantly saw a difference in the temperature inside the barn!  It's so hot in there!  It was in the lower 70's today (albeit still windy), but wow, that barn is hot when it's all closed up!

Due to the difficulty in sliding the door in the track and with the condition of the door itself, I am opting to just leave the barn door shut most of the time.  It has a walk-through door built into it, and that will be the primary entrance for the barn.  I just think it's best to use this door as little as possible with the condition of the track and the siding.  The barn is structurally solid although the termite damage is apparent in so many locations.

We added a latch for the walk-through door.  This will be used quite a bit.

Hey, it's an old barn!

But it's also an old barn that is housing piggies and quite soon kittens!  And I think it will be perfect for that.

The pigs didn't seem to mind the temperature change.  They are fast asleep...and growing like crazy!

The bottom will still let in fresh air, kittens, chickens, and the like.

The barn finally closes!!!

With our day going well, I figured we might as well tackle another big project!  We had secured the pig pasture a few weeks ago before the pigs arrived, but one of the swinging gates was left unmounted as I waited for rains to lower the telephone pole we had put in the ground.  Well, with a couple of heavy rains, I figured the pole had sunk enough to mount the gate.

So we drilled a new hole for the hinge and officially mounted the swing gate on the north side of the pasture.  This will be used when I drive my truck in the pasture to deliver grain, so it's a pretty necessary item.  But now that is done!

The gate that needed mounted.  I used that hinge up there on top for the bottom.  Another success!

I decided to "relax" by mowing the rest of the middle lawn.  I wanted to break off early for the day.  Well, I ended up getting a late start on that, as a couple pulled up to ask about the property.  Apparently, they were interesting in buying it when it was listed for sale.  I mean, they were EAGER and full of questions.  So I gave them a tour of the whole place.  I showed them the pigs, gave them seven fresh eggs from the coop, and even gave them a tour of the home.

The woman was just enthralled with the place and was dreaming about what it could look like when it's finished.  The guy asked if he could come by every once in awhile to see the progress.

It was VERY clear that they both wanted the property.  It's so hard to find land, and that question came up from both of their mouths.  They were in love with the property.

"So how much land did you get here"?
"Are you going to live in it or flip it"?
"This is just beautiful."
"I love this property."
"I can't wait to see what you do with this house."
"I just love old country farmhouses."

It was a neat reminder that this project just might be worth doing!!!  Sometimes you don't feel like you are making progress, but you have to work with the end in sight!

And hopefully that involves a cozy house, a functioning barn, a great workshop, and gorgeous views of sunrises, sunsets, thunderstorms, pigs, chickens, and family!

I wrapped up the day with a 30-minute mowing.  The mower ran and mowed beautifully.

The first mowing of the season.

The magnolia tree is showing off her colors!

A beautiful day indeed.