Still on the barn today.

Traveled to Parkdale today looking for a house that I saw on MLS.  Never did find it an my GPS said it didn't exist.  Interesting.  Put in another address for another place in Lyle, WA and it couldn't find it either.  Put in a number closest to the one for the listing and the GPS asked me if I wanted to use toll roads?  I said 'no' and it ran me down into Portland.  Know I should have crossed the bridge in Hood River and pay the toll. $0.75!  Only realized that I wasn't going to get across the Columbia River.  Decided to make the most of it even though it was raining hard.  Took the scenic bypass and stopped at a couple water falls.

This was Horsetail Falls.  Hard to take pictures when it is raining especially with my IPhone.









Going further on the road I came to Multnomah Falls.  Really pretty and very tall.  Now I am trying new ways to use my camera.

Raining a lot.  Some people hiked to the bridge.

Can you tell how tall it is?

Hydrant installation

Forgot to show the finished Hydrant installation.

Warmer today so we were able to keep working on the barn.  Bolted in the rest of the outside frame called girds.  We went and got more wood to build the truss carrier by nailing two boards together and then mounted them on the sides to support the roof structure.

Eric is drilling the holes to put the bolts through the post and the truss we built.

I'm hanging off the ladder at the other end.

Angel's big day

Today Angel went to the groomer.  She was excited to get in the car to go.  When we arrived at the place they were not there.  Went to the Vet next door and they said that they didn't call to get the place warmed up.  Gave me a phone number for them in the Dalles and called them.  They didn't realize that I was in Hood River.  Since we were going to go to The Dalles we continued to make the appointment.  Went back to the house and picked up the Defender since we were pulling a trailer for more wood.   Angel got to ride in the back seat and panted the whole way there.  Seat is a little short for her.  Got there and they were real nice and very apologetic.

Eric needed to drop something off at the hospital there and then we went to his base to pick up a package to be UPS'd.  We then went to Home Depot to get some sheeting for the floor of the barn and some lag bolts to secure it better.

No rain and we worked on the barn some more.  Went at 3:45 to get Angel.  She come running into the house and drank both her water and Tuckers water!

Boy am I tired.  It was a long day. 

Look how beautiful I am with all my clean white fur.

 What do you mean I have to leave the kitchen floor!  YES you do!

Great diner of pork steak that Liesl made for us.  Off to the cooled off hot tub to relax for a good nights sleep.

The New Barn

Yesterday Eric and I put up one board on the new barn, leveled it and precisely nailed it up. We admired our work and called it quits.  Pretty cold yesterday.  

Today we got back out there on the new barn and got the upstairs platform and sides put up.  Well the sides were the 2X8's on the outside of the frame for the platform.  Check out the great Defender 110!  In some circles called the "Beast".

Good Job Eric!  

The Chicken were all interested in our work on the barn until it got boring for them.

Over night the outside freeze proof yard hydrant wouldn't shut off so we decided that had to be fixed because we are expecting some snow/rain tomorrow.  Looked like it could be done easily but coming off was very difficult.  Had to use some super liquid wrench on the pipes and then extensions on the pipes before we were able to get the inside out to try our repair. 

Nice ice structure from the dripping water!

We worked at using a repair kit to just rebuild it but it just didn't work out.  Decided we would need to get a new one so we started digging up around it to get to the base area.  Boy the ground was frozen and the rocks needed a sleigh hammer to get them lose.  We had to go pick up Taylor from swimming and get a new hydrant.  Of course it was dark now and we couldn't see very well into the hole we dug to get this 5' hydrant out!  Finally got it done and water was again flowing into the house and all the toilets!  (get my drift)  It was another great day just being around doing small things.  Everything was working by the time Liesl got home except for some of the smell remaining from the super liquid wrench product we had used to try and loosen the bolts etc.  Happy days, Dinner!

OMSI visit with Taylor and his friend Will

Left this morning with Taylor and his very talkative friend Will.  Asked Taylor to bring a DVD to play in the car and he took AVATAR.  What a lucky movie to bring Will hadn't seen it yet.  Traveling 60 miles into Portland could be a long trip.  I listened to my music and the boys sat in silence watching with only a few comments.

Reached OMSI (http://www.omsi.edu) and went in following the boys up two stories of stairs.  When I got to the top they had decided they wanted to go to some of the new exhibits back on the first floor.  Down the two stories back to the entrance and off in a new direction.  The kids were great talking and talking and talking.  I just followed them around and finally asked if they were hungry.  No not now.   I said I was hungry so I went to the cafe and had a nice lunch.  Found the boys trying to put eight wooden blocks together into a square. Never did succeeded in the puzzle  Now they were hungry and we went back to the cafe.  They both had a pizza and Taylor had fruit smoothie which was real good.  Watched them make it with lots of fresh fruit.

Taylor being told exactly how to put the sail on the sailboat but Will.  They had a wind generator at the other end of this water tank.

Taylor do it this way!  No I can do it without your help!  

They had a ball with this rubber band power boat especially with extra rubber bands and the added paddle wheel.  

Making a earthquake structure.  Where should I put this piece?  

Can't see it but both of the boys have water all over the front of them from the boats.

Left OMSI 30 minutes before they were closing.  Boys had a great time.  I did too.  The 60 miles back home was also very peaceful with Avatar running and it finished in Will's driveway (after we sat there for about 3 minutes).  What great planning and back to the house at 6:15PM

Roamin' around with the chickens

Catch me if you can!  Love those feet!  I wonder if they are laying in the pig house?

Happy New Year!

The New Year in Hood River is beautiful.  Sun is shining and it is 23 degrees.  Water froze in the water trough for the goats and Hunter had to take an ax to it to get it broken up.  Taylor went out and tried to smash the water feeder for the rabbit on the tree before I caught him and had him bring it in to defrost.  It was frozen all the way through!