Pole Barn action....

(Please note, these photos are all out of order - blogger and I are disagreeing about things this morning)



Because we just don't have enough to do inside on our house, we thought we'd build a pole barn. Well, DH actually wanted to build it, and last year.


In order to build a pole barn, you need several things: a shovel, level, a chainsaw, a tractor, logs that you cut the year before, gigantic bolts, adoring fans, ready help, a good head for problem solving, and a lot of brute strength.


Optional things to have include:
a chair, a stack of wood to build the barn around, a drawknife and a beer.


We've been having the most amazing loads of firewood delivered. It's salvaged from an area that I wrote about here. The logs are huge, some a little burned, and all 2 years seasoned.


What you cannot see from the photos here are all the times spent, with DH and I sitting, looking at this - trying to figure out how to get the big*** tractor between the two buildings in a way that would not damage anything, that would be reasonably easy to navigate, that we'd be able to get it out again (I say 'we' but the tractor is driven by 'he'. I've not learned that particular trick yet).

DH built the front side with a bit of help (I emphasize 'BIT') from me on Sunday, then half of the back on his own on Monday. Apparently we started at the toughest corner to negotiate...a good thing, I guess, as everything after that is more straightforward.

DH dug the holes by hand, and we placed each of the poles in their posthole by hand... sounds easy, right? DH had the herculean job of lifting the log, and I had the job of guiding the end into the posthole (without allowing the hole to be filled by bumping the log against the sides too much). I felt VERY left-footed about the whole thing. I know there are places in my life where I have strengths, but this is not one of them!

Funny - although the photos didn't come out in the order I wanted, one thing did work. The photo I wanted to end with is here at the end:



:)
Lisa