A House - Update XVII - Main Roof - Update I

With the house internal walls framed, it was time to finish on the roof. I decided to go with metal roofing, for its longevity.


First, the tar paper (roof felt) was installed with a hammer stapler:

And we painted the face-plates:

Then it was time to put up the metal. First, we pre-drilled the holes where the grommeted screws were to be put. I chose to do them 2 feet apart up the metal pieces:

And here is the first piece installed:

Between each piece of metal, we laid down "tacky tape" where the next metal piece would overlap:

And we installed metal edging with the fitted foam on top underneath the roof metal. We found that putting the foam on first and placing the edging in place before laying down the metal piece worked best:

For these long pieces, we really needed two people to put up the roofing:

And here is the roof with all of the metal in place, including the ridge cap:

We put metal edging on the gabled end of the roof as well:

And here is a closer view of the end of the ridge cap. Mr. Gurau thought to stuff fitted foam in the ends, and with that and some caulking, that seemed to work pretty well without having to buy the typical metal roof trim and end caps. Hopefully what we did will be ok in the long-run:

Since we don't have air conditioning, air flow is everything, in trying to vent out the air that is heated in the attic space. Rather than buy the typical ridge vents, I decided to try a vented foam that simply is installed under the ridge cap: it's less expensive and is supposed to vent very well:

And finally, here is a look up at the ridge cap with it and the vented foam installed:

Once again, we are grateful to the Lord for allowing continued progress on the home, and thank Him for the resources to do so.

-- David

Providence's Perpetuation Provisions: First New Chicks of 2012

Last year, the Lord granted that some of our hens would be broody and sit on eggs -- something that hadn't really happened much until then. Well, God has continued to be gracious in that way, granted one of our hens to get broody; and by God's graces, she hatched out 13 new chicks out of 14 eggs!

We've since lost one, but here is a picture of them:




And a quick video:




Along with this hen, we suddenly had an avalanche of broody hens! We've had a hard time finding where to put them, but we put one in our chicken coup in the chicken pen, and turned our summer kitchen into a chicken nursery.

Here's one sitting in the piano room:



And another in the summer kitchen area:




And the pantry:




There are two (sometimes three in two nests) more in the main chicken tractor that we're not sure where to put, but hopefully we will figure that out before the chicks hatch (if the Lord wills).

We are very grateful to the Lord for granting this "problem," and we pray for continued healthy hatchlings, according to His will.

-- David

Spring Ranchfest 2012

Twice a year we gather as a community for a week to work on projects for our teacher, Mr. Bunker, and his family; and to provide an opportunity for guests to come by and help out and meet the folks here, etc.

And so, it was that time again for "Ranchfest" -- Spring 2012!

The men had two projects they were working on throughout the week: building a cabin for Mr. Contra and Miss Tracy, who are betrothed; and doing finishing work on the inside of Mr. Bunker's cottage.


The Cabin

For the Contra cabin, we started on Friday with a concrete slab pour. This was the group's first real concrete pour on the land, and the guys did a lot of study and prep work in getting things ready. Here is the area formed with the rebar:




And here begins the concrete pour:




And more of the pouring and after "screeding" (or spreading) it out with the long 2x4 that spanned the whole width:




Here the concrete is tamped lightly by what they call a "jitterbug", and a "bull float" is used to smooth out the concrete surface:




And then it was edged so the edges are rounded, to help keep them from chipping. One fellow also went around the sides with a hammer, lightly tapping the forms to help keep the concrete from "honeycombing":




Here's Mr. Contra and his improvised concrete texturizer:




And finally, the betrothed couple thought they'd mark a memory of the event:





Friday Night Sermon

On Friday evenings, Mr. Bunker is going through in an in-depth way the last chapters he included in his book "Modern Religious Idols," which was an article series he wrote called "What is the Gospel?":




Passover

Ranchfest times are often planned around the Passover time, which we observe as a teaching method for the children (and as a memorial for the adults) of the types and shadows used in the Passover feast representing Christ.

Here is the Passover "ceremony" time:




And the seder plate, with each food element representing some part of the event of the Passover time of the Hebrew people in and leaving Egypt:




We also sang Psalms 113-118 from our psalters, and here is a video of a few of those psalms being sung:




The Cottage

As I mentioned, the other project was working on the internals of Mr. Bunker's cottage, putting up insulation and siding.

And here is some of the completed work:





Here are the men cutting the siding:





And here is some staining work of the siding being done:




More Cabin

Once the concrete slab was completed, it was time to build and raise the walls. Here's the cabin with two of the walls raised:





And then with all four walls in place:




Apparently, the plan is to have a second story; and so, they are using a 10 inch I-beam spanning the width, which will be the support for the upper level floor:




More Cottage

Back at the cottage, after the siding was in place and stained or painted, the window sills and trim were cut, installed and painted with a clear wood protector:




And here are a couple of final pictures of the cottage work for the week:





Ladies Work

Besides all of the group meal preparations the ladies did for the week, they also had other projects, which this Ranchfest included sewing for the Bunkers and snapping mesquite pods, which they use for their mesquite coffee.

The main sewing project was for curtains for the cottage, although there was some clothing-making worked on. Here are some sewing preparations being done for some clothing:




And here, even the younger ones helped:





Seems to be a fun time too!




And here, Mrs. Sustaire is functioning as a seamstress and a lounge chair:




And finally, here are some of the ladies and children helping with the mesquite pods:






All in all, it was a very nice time of fellowship, community and work. It's tiring, but rewarding as well. We did have a few guest families that visited this year, and it was a pleasure to see them again or meet them, and we thank them for the help and work they provided.

We are grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to gather in His name to work together, and we're thankful for the teacher He has granted us.

-- David