patch job

Just in time

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, it took the three of us a couple of hours, but we finally did it. We got the tarp over the hole in the shed roof.

One thing I can say about that shed, now that we’re done.

It’s not going to last much longer!

Anyhow.

The first thing to do, of course, was to open up the tarp.

This is what 20′ x 30′ looks like. It’s being held up at the back by tall grass.

The kittens really, really loved this tarp!

Now, I’ll say right from the start, this tarp should have been oriented the other way. We could have covered the entire roof with it. That, however, was not an option for us. There was simply no way we could do that, reach the edges and be able to fasten it down, safely.

The trick was, how to get one end of the tarp over the roof. I decided to make use of the remaining PEX pipe I bought to use as netting support in the garden, so make one end more or less rigid. There was just over 20′ of it left, too, so that worked out.

I was going to Zip tie the pipe to one end, but I couldn’t find my package of smaller sizes, and I wasn’t about to waste the long ones I had on this. I did, however, find an unopened roll of garden twist ties. I’d bought 2 of them a couple of years ago, and never used the second one.

The PEX was in a roll, so it took some doing to straighten it out as much as I could. With the temperature barely above freezing, I was trying to warm it with my hands and much as I could, to make it more flexible.

It still wanted to roll up again, especially at the ends, but it worked well enough.

Then next step was to tie twine to grommets near the corners. I’m glad I got those rolls of bale twine! Very handy. I used my arms to roughly measure out about 35 feet of twine, then tied them on.

Next, I needed weights. Something that I could tie to the twine and throw over the roof – keeping in mind that I’m not very good at throwing things! I poked around in the barn for a while and found these.

Perfect!

By this time, one of my daughters joined me. It took a few tries, but we got them over the roof.

Mostly.

With one of them, I was able to grab it with a garden tool, but the other one had to be pulled back and thrown again. 😁

Before we could haul the tarp over, though, we also had to prune some trees away. They need to be cut away from the shed completely, because of the damage they’re causing. I didn’t cut the dogwood, though. Unlike the maples, its not going to develop a large trunk or branches that will tear the shed apart.

By this time, my other daughter was able to join us. It took a LOT to wrestle the tarp over. There were so many things it could get caught on. On the side with the shingles, there were plenty of nail heads sticking out, and not just from where the shingles had blown away. It was even catching on the metal cap at the top. We had to use the extended pole pruner, at maximum length, to get under the tarp and lift it over whatever it was getting caught on – while also trying not to tear holes in the tarp! Of course, the PEX kept trying to roll up again, too, which certainly didn’t help any.

By the time we got it over, it was shifted so far to one side, the hole was completely uncovered, so we then had to fight with it some more, maneuvering it to where it needed to be using twine tied to the grommets. Then, once it was where it needed to be to cover the hole, the hole thing needed to be adjusted so that the roof was covered, the tarp could be tied down, and the door could still be opened.

At this end, it’s tied down at only two places, and I made sure to test to see if the door could still be opened. At some point, we’ll have to pick up some Bungee cords and hooks so that we can fasten it down better, while also being able to unhook them any time we need to open the door.

Also, that old children’s swing? You can just see a line from one of the legs to a fence post at the corner of the shed. For some reason, the swing is tied to that post with barbed wire.

Fastening the tarp in that corner was particularly dangerous, and not just because of that barbed wire. There is all sorts of stuff buried under there, hidden in the tall grass, and even sunk into the ground. Oh, and rolls of more barbed wire, rusting away.

Still not as dangerous as the other side.

Pulling enough of the tarp over so that the door could be opened, meant we could easily reach to fasten it to the wall.

AFTER turning under the sharp corners of some of the metal roof pieces, so they wouldn’t cut the tarp! We ended up rolling an old tire over for my daughter to stand on, so she could reach the edges with pliers.

Aside from the junk snowmobiles and the antique boiler/steamer thing (now that’s something that we should cover, too!) in the way, this area had bits and pieces of snowmobiles the cows scattered, my daughter found glass from the window that broke a few years back – I thought I’d found all the pieces when I fixed that! – rotten pieces of wood hidden in the tall grass, and boulders sticking out of the ground.

There are SO many large rocks sticking out of the ground out here.

With the pipe running along the back of the tarp at the grommets, we could get away with hammering only a few nails in, instead of one at every grommet. Which is good, because the wood of this wall is getting so rotted, it was hard to find spots where we actually could hammer nails in.

Yeah. This shed has definitely not got a lot of years left.

I suspect the nails won’t hold long. I’ll have find other ways to secure it and go back. The main thing, though, is that it’s now in place, and just in time. Ice pellets were starting to fall while I was still setting up the tarp. By the time we were done, it was a mixture of snow and rain. It seems to be snowing right now – at least, I can see some snow accumulated on the ground and the driveway, on the security camera live feed, but we’re also still supposed to be getting rain.

I’m glad we managed to get it done. How long it’ll last, with the winds we get, who knows, but there’s not much we can do about that right now. 😕

The Re-Farmer

Window Down

/ Re-Farmer / 7 Comments

When doing my morning rounds, I make a habit of checking various things, looking for fallen branches, weather damage, etc.

This morning, I found this.

This is the back window to the “basement” of the storage house. The cats – and skunks! – use it to get in and out, so we put an old bench we found in the spruce grove under the window to make it easier for them to do so, without knocking more of the glass out. The board was there to keep some of the weather out.

My guess: there was another cat fight that made its way under here, and a cat went through the window with more force than usual. The only thing holding the window frame in place are those hinges in the frame above, and a bent nail on the side.

Since the window was out anyhow, I took advantage of the open space to take another look under the storage house. I’ve taken pictures under there before, but that had been by sticking my hand through the window frame, where the pane is missing.

This is looking straight in from the window.

That massive root is looking bigger than I remember it. It looks like the cats have been rolling around in the dirt beside it, as it seems more uncovered than before.

I do wonder about that metal tub, with all those holes in the bottom.

What I could see – and reach – this time, was the glass from the broken pane that you can just see a corner of, in front of the tub. I got that out, so no critters will get cut on them.

This is looking to the north side. There are three windows there. Once is completely covered, the one with light showing through is protected by a lattice on the outside, and there is a third window near it, where you can just see a bit of light. I can’t tell wasn’t on the inside, but on the outside, there is a bench sheet of what I think it aluminum in front of it. One corner at the bottom is bent outwards, and that is the usual way the critters get under here. What usually happens is, when they get started away from the kibble house, the dash in through that opening in the corner, then come out through the window I’m looking through to take this photo.

In the opposite direction, there is another boarded up window on the south side.

Here, you can see the concrete blocks the house is sitting on. It’s on a double row of blocks, with the outer row lined up with the outside of the building, so there is nothing sticking out. The weight of the house has caused all these bricks to sink into the soil. Because the inner row of bricks are not completely under the house, they are all tipping towards the middle.

There are SO many of these concrete blocks! There’s the double rows holding the house itself up, the pillars supporting the floor, and even loose ones scattered about.

I admit, I’m pining for those bricks. I’m seriously considering crawling under here, just to get those loose bricks! They are incredibly useful. I used to play under here with my late bother, but I’m not quite as small and agile as I used to be! :-D We would go under there, using the remains of the basement steps that are still attached. There is a remarkable amount of space under here. I should be able to move around all right. Plus, I admit to being curious about what else I would find.

My parents intended this house to be moved to a permanent location onto the quarter section the younger of my brothers lives on now, but obviously, that never happened. I guess it never occurred to them that their sons would want to have newly built homes, rather than an old one that’s been moved a couple of times. Now it just sits, filled with old junk and stuff we don’t know where else to put!

As for the fallen window, I just put it back as best I could. I don’t want to board up the window, as the space under here is one of the safe places critters can use to get out of the weather. The cats use it a lot. They go in and out through that small hole in the wood. When we first moved there, there was an old metal pipe running through it for some reason. I think it was there to brace the window or something. The board leaning on the bench will keep the worst of the weather out of where the window pane is missing, but should still give the cats enough space to get in and out easily.

I can’t see this building being moved again, which means at some point, we’re going to have to go in there and start clearing it out and cleaning it up.

I am not looking forward to it.

The Re-Farmer