The barn

I've been holding off telling of the work we did on our barn, hoping to finish it completely first, but that is simply not in the cards this fall. It was mostly finished, though, in two October weekends with the help of family and friends. Perhaps next spring we'll invite them out again (hint, hint) for the last section.
Here it is before--a disintegrating shell of painted plywood. We patched up the worst spots with fresh plywood so there would be something to attach the new siding to.
We ordered rough-cut Douglas fir 12" wide boards and 3" wide battens from a local sawyer in many different lengths. I was curious how they'd deliver and unload so many and such long lengths of boards, so Ole and I were both delighted by the cool dump truck that arrived. It was a delicate operation to slide all the boards off in one piece, but they seemed to know what they were doing.


Dave, the lumber man, full of jokes and ready for payment.

The stack of bound lumber provided an evening's entertainment before the work began the next morning.

Work started slowly as we figured out a rhythm, but by the afternoon it was starting to look very promising.

David and Patrick on the rickety deck.

Josh and Dad adding battens to the upper level.

Dad and Alex rounding the corner of the wood shed.

Forcing a pose at the end of a long day.

By the end of day two it was a beautiful sight! The freshly cut boards glowed in the evening sun.

 My dad came down for another weekend of work (Thanks, Dad!) and with the help of the neighbor's scaffolding (Thanks, Dale!) we were able to finish the front up to the peak.

Ta da! The after...for now

We took advantage of a sunny November weekend to spray it with sealer, so now we just need to build and hang doors to close it up. Just don't tell our secret shame...the back side!