Spur of the Moment

We've noticed that many of our hens are getting scratched during mating, so we decided sand down lead rooster Fluffy's spurs a little bit. Although you would think that chickens could use their beaks for self-defense, they really just rely on their spurs to fight off predators. Once we caught Fluffy, we put a towel over his head to reduce the stress and I went to work with a sanding bit on my Dremel tool while Dionne held him steady. I was surprised that there was some bleeding almost immediately after I began sanding (I thought the spurs were solid bone or keratin), but it stopped quickly. We ended up just rounding the spurs a little bit in the end.

Hooray! Tick Season Is Here!

I was petting our dog Mo this morning and felt a relatively large lump on his back. Upon closer inspection, this was no blister. A rather an engorged tick had been feasting on Mo's blood all night long as he slept (in our son's bed!) and was about the size of a large blueberry. Where the tick was attached, we found a second tick who was apparently waiting his turn. We removed both of them with tweezers, being careful to grab them by the head to avoid leaving any parts under the skin. We've photographed Dermacentor variabilis (The American Dog Tick) here just for your viewing pleasure. It's flabbergasting how big they can get after sucking their fill! After breakfast I spotted two more ticks on Mo's face near the edge of his mouth (thank goodness for his white fur). Later in the evening as we were bathing the kids, we found another tick attached to Foster's ribs. He was very brave about the whole thing even though the tick took a big bite of skin as we removed it. Needless to say, now every little dark spot in the house looks like a tick and it is very unnerving indeed. Both dogs got a bath and will get their flea and tick protection tomorrow without fail. Ticks can be disease carriers so we'll be watching for any unusual symptoms in the next week or two. Why so many ticks? The locals will tell you it's because we had a mild winter which didn't kill off as many of the bugs as a harsh winter normally would.

We've Been Framed!

Well, technically it's the garage that has been framed. Dionne stands where the garage doors will be and you can see a future window in the back wall behind her, which will be the laundry/utility room below the staircase.

From the view above, you can see what looks like double doors in the northeast corner. Both of these doors will open to a covered breezeway which leads to the main house, but the far door leads to the stairwell going up to the living area, the other to the garage. True, you will not be able to pull into the garage, park, and walk upstairs without first going back out of the garage...but the concept is to ensure that the parking area on the first floor is sealed against fumes that might make their way up into the apartment. You will also notice three holes dug into the gravel. These will be filled with concrete and will serve as the footers for three main columns to support the main floor beam for the second floor. It certainly seems the traditional stick-built work goes much faster than the ICFs and cinderblocks. On an unrelated note, the well-drilling company did hit water this afternoon, but it had a poor flow rate so they are going to go to 700 feet now. Should've hired a dowser.

Anything But Boring

Today, with all the appropriate paperwork in order, the well-drilling company (Pittman Well Boring) came early at 7:30 am and began drilling to tap into our water source. The lava-like substance (which we thought was silt from the earth below) is actually a chlorine and detergent mixture that periodically flushes the equipment. This strange foam is supposed to neutralize itself quickly, and we had a good rain that helped.

We had budgeted for 400 feet of drilling, but they ended up going to 485 feet until a thunderstorm threatened (big metal drill makes a good lightning rod) and they called it quits until Thursday. If they don't hit water by 600 feet, they will stop and "re-evaluate" which might mean a new spot to drill and, of course, more expense. The well will be located on the South side of the house and we'll want to build a little structure to cover the pump for aesthetic reasons and to protect it from the elements (insulation during winter, etc.). Just say "no" to cheesy plastic boulders!


Today was also the day that cement trucks came to pour concrete into the ICFs. An inspector and our structural engineer came by and required additional vertical rebar (6 inches apart) in the west wall to adequately support the force of the backfilled earth behind it. Other walls that are not fully subterranean have the vertical rebar at various increments tapering off to up to about 3 feet apart. The ICFs had been sured up on all sides (with Dionne's "supervision") and a hole for the basement wood-burning stove was cut and framed prior to filling the walls with cement. The trucks will come again another day to pour the basement and garage slab. Lastly, the initial moisture barrier coating was applied to the outer wall of the basement...

And some framework was started on the garage apartment...

Garage Plans

I thought that we had posted the garage plans before, but I guess not. The official description is "New England Gambrel 2 Bay Garage With Apartment Over" and we will be making some modifications to maximize the upstairs living space which includes a full kitchen since we'll be living here for a few months until the main house is completed. One of the considerations we had was to ensure the garage was deep enough to fit our 2001 Suburban (affectionately known as "Jewel"). There will be a laundry/utility space on the bottom floor and the side door will lead to the main house via a covered breezeway. Click here for a link to the plans by CADSmith Studio LLC, based out of New Hampshire.

One of These Things is Not Like the Others...

One of our customers sent us this comparison shot while making breakfast this past week. Two of the three yolks in this shot are from grocery store-bought hormone-free, antibiotic-free (but still caged) chickens. Can you tell which one is a Blue Harvest Farm egg? (Hint: the one with the rich marigold color). What a difference free range makes! Thanks for the pic, Lorenzo.

Clownie Has Gone AWOL

As of last Monday, May 12, one of our Black Star hens has disappeared. We do a nightly count and came up one short at dusk just before closing up the coop. We weren't sure which hen it was, so we called 8-year-old Maya to do a chicken-check (she's the only one who can identify all 26 simply by looks). The verdict was that Clownie did not come in for the night and she has been missing since. While we are worried that she might be a casualty of predation, we have seen no signs of a stuggle nor carcass, and remain hopeful that Clownie is hiding out somewhere on the property sitting on some eggs. The typical gestation period for a chicken egg is 21 days, so we'll be keeping an eye out for Clownie and chicks around June 2 just in case. I suppose that situations like this are simply a part of the free range practice.

It Huffed and It Puffed...

Some surprise weather came through the southeast this past weekend and a lot of the preliminary arrangement of our basement ICF panels was undone by the winds of Mother Nature.




We were luckier, however, than other areas of North Carolina that were stricken by full-blown tornadoes and even fatalities. By Tuesday, Chris and Richard were able to rebuild the basement walls and reinforce them with the wood planks across the top edges. Note: The only wall that remained after the strong winds was the one that was already braced. All windows in the basement have been temporarily framed and next up is the pouring of cement into the ICFs starting at the corners since the 90-degree angle can be a problem for adequate concrete flow.

Like Building with LEGOs

The rebar was set in the footers of the main house and the ICF assembly has begun. Each ICF panel is essentially styrofoam (which accounts for their high efficiency rating) with some plastic, so they are very lightweight. The edges are modular and they connect to each other like LEGO bricks, and then they are easily cut for doorways and windows. A rebar framework reinforces the panels and holds them in the correct position while concrete is poured into them resulting in a solid concrete wall.



Now you can really see the home taking shape as the walls are put into place. The wide opening you see in the photo above is the french doors that open to the back patio. With the ICFs to help us envision the layout, we've begun to think about furniture placement and where to put the wood-burning stove and 52" plasma TV (I wish!). One problem we ran into with the basement is that the ceilings need to be taller than we expected due to the steep grade of the hillside where we placed the main house. We are now expecting 10' ceilings in the basement to accommodate any Wookiee visitors.

As is evident from the photos, the kids are loving the construction site and refer to it as their "playground." What is somewhat less evident is that the children no longer have any clean white socks.

Garage Gravel and Main House Footers

It rained last weekend, but we managed to get our temporary house numbers up to make it easier for future construction deliveries to find us, and it was dry enough for Chris and Richard to continue construction. Concrete blocks were built up atop the poured concrete footers for the garage.


While there are some gaps and cracks in the foundation cinder blocks, we are told that they will self-seal once more concrete is poured into them.

The interior space was then filled with gravel.


The dumpster was also delivered so trash now has a proper home. (Note: the intent is to recycle or burn as much as possible on-site since hauling the trash off the property and dumping it can be quite expensive.)


The remaining earth below the future main house was also cleared and, much like the garage, channels were dug with the excavator and filled with concrete to form what is essentially the footprint of the house. It may look small, but remember that there are really 3 levels (basement, main floor, and second floor) plus a porch on front and back. As always, you can click any of the above photos for enlargements and the full construction gallery.