[bradthebard]

Beginnings again...

Ambition is a funny thing. It is easy to have. Plans are made, schemes hatched and bulletproof notions inscribed on paper. They always sound so great. They have all the trappings of wild and inspiring success and on paper they speak to the very soul.
Then you wake up staring at a puddle of smelly, solidifying gastro-intestinal offal with your mouth tasting like an outhouse at a chili cookoff.

[bradthebard]

Dormer framing


Inside the gable end. Future sleeping room



front porch


Pier. It goes down four feet to a four foot square, 6 inch thick reinforced pad.


random framing

[bradthebard]

A few of the inside work in progress









Key point. All these pictures are of construction that went about without electric power. It was all hand sawn and hammered the old fashioned way. The lights you see in the last few pictures were ran off the little free generator that crapped out

[bradthebard]

mud plaster, dug from twenty feet behind where I was standing to take the picture.





And the beast who gave his life for the project...

[bradthebard]

More and more...

The Cairn

Three strangers they were. Walking down the narrow road, eating the grass, and closing in behind them was a county sheriff patrol car. They came to be known as Nicodemus, Gandalf and Henney. We stopped the car in surprise; it isn’t every day the two mules and a donkey come strolling down the drive with a police escort. They were shaggy and rough, the poor condition of their hooves apparent even from a hundred yards away.

[spife7980]

yet again i must tell you to please write this all out in a book. i know for a fact that you will have at least one buyer in myself. this is the type of stuff that people need to have access to these days. raw life, no frills and fluff, the meat and bones of what it means to be alive.

[mgramann]

This story is turning out awesome. I figured I bump it back to the top...

[JPete]

Awesome stuff Brad.

X2 on this making a great book idea, kinda like The Last American Man.

[bradthebard]

You fellas may have convinced me. I've had a number of people make the suggestion and I am probably going to go back and write it all out again with more detail and better chronology. I may frame it in more of a narrative/novel format, as I find that a more palatable read for most. There are a good deal more journal entries from early on that could incorporate pretty well into it.
On a related note, I have begun the demolition work out there to remodel, fix a few mistakes and add a better kitchen. I plan on selling the house and being back out there by Summer.
I did discover a family of Raccoons moved into the bathroom ceiling in my absence and left about 37 metric tons of raccoon crap in there. I'll be heading out there this weekend to finish the demolition with a half-mask and chemo gloves.

[JPete]

Just make sure that you include a section with pictures. The images that you have posted so far really help to bring it all together.

[Louie4]

Poor Roxy

[mgramann]

Bump for an update, and also to post something the followers of this thread may also appreciate. I caught this on PBS late last night...







I definitely plan on buying this guys book. It will go in the outdoor section(my section) of the family library, next to Bard's book when he writes it...

[spife7980]

i want more.

[bradthebard]

Alright...

The time with my equine friends was a good one, though short, in retrospect. The three of them started off in a little 30’ corral made of saplings. It was a simple fence, made from trees fresh cut and hammered together with 60 penny spikes. It looked right out of the pages of “Little House on the Prairie”, and I liked that. The three of them were not terribly fond of the tight quarters but they got along for the most part. On occasion

the mules

[mgramann]

Originally Posted by bradthebard

Alright...



the mules

Thanks for posting. I was in need of this-even if it was sad.