nails

Martin has been on pulling up flooring from the barn. The person(s) who built it used  exceptionally long nails, which have rusted and become difficult to pull out.

These nails are similar in style to the nails used to fasten the shingles to the house, except they are a bit longer (and they aren't the longest nails used in the barn).

From what little research (see link below) that I have done, I am assuming that these are original nails used when the house and barn were built in the early 1920s.

history of nails

deer flies

deer fly

more deer fly information

Maine has several seasons. We have the standard summer, fall, winter, and spring, but along with these we add in mud (between winter and spring), black fly (Mother's Day to the Fourth of July), and deer fly season (early to mid summer).

It has been a hot deer fly season this year.  As usual, biting insects don't tend to bother Martin, but they zero in on me like I am the only living thing on the planet that they could possibly feed on. While I am an tigin mowing, digging out stumps, fetching tools for Martin, or just waiting for the next job I need to do, I am tormented by deer flies. They love to circle around my head just waiting until my hands are occupied before they land to take a chunk out of me. I don't know how they do it, but as soon as I pick up two handfuls of roots, the deer flies light and start feeding. Instinctively I swat at them with my hands full of sandy roots. By the end of the day, I am bitten, hot, sweaty, and covered with grime from having flung it on myself while trying to defend myself from the pests.

emptying the barn

Since we started renovating an tigin, we have used the barn as storage space. Now that we need to work on the barn, it needs to be emptied.

 We think that the original barn floor was simply built on a few boards that were laid directly onto the ground. The boards have been soaked in oil. We assume that it was done intentionally as a way to slow down the boards from rotting.

Once the original floor became rotten enough to need to be replaced, the owners simply built a new floor on the old floor.  This left the old floor in place.

humming bird garden ideas

I have been pestering Martin to help me take measurements of the yards (front and back) at an tigin so I can post dimensions, along with amount of sunlight, and my favorite plants and ask for gardening ideas from anyone who is willing to give me their suggestions. However, today at home in New Gloucester, I had the opportunity to take a couple of pictures of the humming birds that visit my flower beds. Martin and I have had a chat and we would love to have a humming bird garden at an tigin.

So I am asking for some ideas of flowers that will attract humming birds, besides bee balm. Cornish is zone 4 and I would love to have a variety of flowers that blossom as early as possible in the spring to as late as possible in the fall, so that I have a flowerbed that is continuously in bloom. Specifically flowers that will attract humming birds.

The area where we are hoping to put the flower bed gets full sun.

In New Gloucester I have a few perennials that I can transplant to an tigin. One is Bergenia cordifolia 'Purpurea'

Bergenia cordifolica 'Purpurea'

These blossom early enough in the spring to offer the humming birds food when they first arrive and there is little available to them. I have seen humming birds feeding from these flowers.

The other is coral bells.

coral bells

My mother gave me these and the humming birds visit them at her house. I haven't seen the humming birds at the coral bells in my garden, but that may be because while they are in bloom, I am visiting my mom or not paying close attention to my flower gardens.

Needless to say, I would be thrilled to get suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

temporary storage

The next step is working on the barn since the barn roof needs to tie into the house roof.  Martin wants to add a foundation to the barn (it was simply built on the ground). Then he can replace rotten walls and roof. Once the barn has a new roof, we will be able to order metal roofing and roof both the house and the barn.

In the mean time, we need to empty the barn. There isn't enough room in the house to store everything. We have brought some stuff back home and moved the new lumber to the house. The salvaged old lumber that will be used in replacing rotten parts of the barn will be stored in this temporary shed (which took us almost two days to put up).

stump updated

We started to work on removing the last large stump on the property.

Martin volunteered me to dig out the sod from around the stump. He figured the job would keep me busy while he worked on taking up the floor in the barn.

The plan is to dig out about a 5 foot radius from the stump and then to dig down 2 and 1/2 feet removing soil, sand, and roots as we went.

I started the preliminary digging. When I hit a root to large for me to deal with, Martin would come and use an ax to remove it.

 The first big root! Lots more to come.

 The soil at an tigin is very poor. Most of it is just pure sand, but there is a small layer of sandy topsoil that we are hoping to use when we regrade. The freshly added soil to this pile has come from the area around the stump.

 The sand that has been newly added to this pile has come from digging out the stump.

Down to the last root to cut. 

first floor walls

Except for framing in walls for a pantry, the first floor interior walls are done.

Below is the downstairs full bathroom.

 The basement stairs are framed in also.

daylight into the basement

Martin has put in two windows in the basement.   We were in such a rush to get the foundation in last fall before freezing weather arrived. Therefore we didn't get any basement windows in. Without electricity, the basement is very dark and we need to finish digging it out. The more natural light we can get, the better.

wrapped tight

Yeah! We finally have the house completely sheathed and wrapped. No more tarps and no more leaks.

collar ties and bracing

The collar ties are in to strengthen the rafters. Martin put in wind bracing in each of the corners.  He also put in braces from each rafter to a center board that ran along the collar ties.

keeping me busy and out of the way

We have three piles of sand and top soil. They have begun to grow weeds and Martin doesn't like that. He obviously can't mow them.  To keep me busy when I can't help with construction, he volunteered me to pull the weeds.  I wouldn't mind the work so much, if the weather wasn't so hot and humid.

 The day that I cleared the piles, we stopped by our car mechanics to pick up my daughter's car. I walked into the shop and the first comment was "Has he been making you crawl under the house?"  I was filthy head to toe!

 The other job to fill in down time is to start digging out the last stump.  I've started to remove the sod from around it. Then I get dig and expose the roots so Martin can hack them off with an ax.  Last, our neighbor with the backhoe has offered to come back to finish the job of pulling it out.  Lots of people have suggested we just burn it out.  The problem with that idea is that we are there only during the day and don't have running water to douse it before we leave. 

interior walls on the second floor

Martin and I spent a sweltering day framing the interior walls on the second floor. Well..., when I say Martin and I, I really mean Martin. He did all of the real carpentry work. I had the pleasure of being a gopher; turning the generator on and off, fetching the framing square, the drill, more nails or screws, sweeping the floor before the walls were set, etc. etc. I did get to use mark the top and bottom wall plates and use the nail gun.

 The walls above delineate the front bedroom. Below is the bathroom. It will have a shower, sink, toilet, and in the back where the roof slopes down steeply we will put in the washer and dryer.

 The room below is the "back" or second bedroom on the second floor.

 The closet for the back bedroom will be under the eaves where the roof slopes down. Access to storage will be through the closet in this bedroom.

gable ends

Soon the tarps will be gone. Martin just needs to fill in, sheath, and wrap the small triangular areas between the roof and the second floor and between the roof on the north side of the house and the first floor.

roof on the north side

The roof on the north side is on, sheathed, and wrapped.

 Martin left a gap in the roof sheathing to be able to access the roof from the second floor. That saved moving and climbing up and down ladders.

Roof on the south side

Yeah, the roof on the south side of the house is on, sheathed, wrapped.  

rafters ready to go up

Working alone, Martin needed to be able to haul the rafters into place. To prep for that, he leaned them up against the back side of the house, so he had access to them from the second floor