There have been a few projects over the last two years that I have missed including in the blog for one reason or another. I'll admit, I haven't been all that good at regularly maintaining it, especially recently now that I am in West Virginia living in a hotel. One nice thing about living in a hotel, though, is that you are forced to significantly downsize. All of my belongings can fit in the trunk of my car and if need be, I can be completely packed and moved in about a half hour. And you know what? I don't even miss all of my stuff. Sure there are a few books and clothing items it would be nice to have, but aside from that, I really couldn't care if I never see it all again.
Accumulating stuff overcomplicates our lives in an unhealthy way. We get tied to the stuff and even if we don't ever use it, we also can't bring ourselves to dispose of it. I had fallen into that habit. There were a lot of things I kept simply because I could think of something "I might be able to use it for someday." It is much easier not to have it all laying about to have to worry about.
However, I digress. This post is supposed to be about project oversight.
As winter 2010 approached, we knew we would need shelter for the rabbits. Their hutches simply were not well enough protected from the weather to enable them to survive through the worst of winter. Ultimately, we made three attempts at a solution before finding one that worked well.
The first attempt utilized some of the metal fence posts we had accumulated via craigslist and a tarp. The problem was that the tarp simply would not stay in place. It gets extremely windy at Blue Spruce Farm and the tarp simply ripped where it was connected to the poles. Plus, as you can see from first glance, it doesn't really protect the rabbits from anything except direct wind. Not a workable solution.
Solution two really wasn't any better. It involved a wood frame on the west side to better withstand the wind, but we still didn't have a solution to protect the rabbits from ice and snow. Time to return to the old drawing board...
We began to construct a post and beam shelter. Using the manual post hole diggers, we dug out holes to sink the posts into. The tree roots, compliments of the tree in the background, made this a difficult task.
Construction more or less followed that of our previous projects - rushed and lacking a specific plan. Despite that, though, the shelter shaped up rather well.
Roof supports weren't all that strong, but they did the trick.
Dad doesn't particularly care for heights, so it was my job to climb up and secure the roofing panels, which were just leftover scraps of tin from other projects. We ended up having just enough to finish the whole roof.
Now that the rabbits were protected from above, we had to decide what to do about walls to protect them from wind and sideways snow/rain.
Attempt one wasn't all that successful, but it did give us the basis for our final solution.
Straw bale wall construction! Using the extra length of the tarps, we basically folded the first two rows of bales into the tarp to protect them from moisture from the ground. To do this, we did have to attach tarps around the entire structure, but it ensure that the walls stayed strong and dry all winter. The following spring when we took the bales down, the expose bales were riddled with worms, mushrooms, and rot, but the ones that had been wrapped in the tarps were almost all dry.
The rabbits much appreciated the bale walls because it made the temperature in the rabbit shed comfortably warm all winter. After the walls were up, we didn;t even have to worry about frozen water dishes any more. It was a good thing that we finished when we did too, because the very next weekend, it looked like this...
Brrr! The rabbits stayed warm and dry all winter, though, which is more than I can say for dad and I when we went out every morning to feed and water them. Well, that's one project caught up, more will follow in the next few days since I'll be trapped at the hotel while my car is in the shop. Stay green, folks!
Having used the neighbor's tractor to dig the post holes, we used seven foot two-by-fours and stakes to stabilize the four posts. If I remember correctly, the dimensions are about fifteen feet by twelve feet. We then filled the holes with dry concrete and followed with water.
Next, we bolted the cross beams into place, ensuring that they would support the weight of the roof, the beams, and would hold the posts steady. It appears that we didn't take many photos of the progress, because the next photo I found was of the finished product...
After bolting in the four exterior beams, we attached the roof beams to the exterior beams using brackets for additional support, seeing as they are rather heavy. Once done, I climbed up onto the beams and, balancing precariously, nailed the roofing panels down to the roof beams. So far it has upheld some fairly strong winds, so I guess I did a fairly good job.
Once finished, we laid a few pallets underneath and began stacking wood for winter. They burn a lot of wood over the winter - several cords worth - so every fall, the shelter has to be completely filled with wood to last long enough. Believe me, chopping and splitting wood in the middle of the winter is not fun, as evidenced by the photo below...
It's much more fun to push the old man down a hill...
It's winter again, and there will be more opportunities like this ahead. Before I left for West Virginia, I helped dad split enough wood to last through most of the winter, so he and Shawn should have plenty of time to go sledding. Despite the snow on the ground, stay green!
