A hobby carpenter never rests and neither does the Estate Keeper!

So the last couple days I have been taking a little bit of my time being a plumber and working on being a carpenter.  Back down to Allyssia's barn with the never ending projects I go!  The first was a personal project that has been bothering me.  Behind the water hydrant the wall had a big green tarp keeping the outside, out.  Now I can appreciate a tarp for what it is and for temporary walls they are great!  At this point though the tarp barely needed to be looked at and it shredded off the wall. 

After I boarded the back up I built a box around the bottom of the hydrant to keep the wind from hitting it and to have a place in the winter to set buckets for filling.  I have a heat tape that I am going to wrap it with as well because last winter we had a few small freeze up problems.  You can see the door off to the left in the picture. 

So here is the next part that I forgot to take before pictures of but you all know I always forget to until half way through the project.  I had to run a two by four across the bottom to fill the wall out to make the boards look right. 

As you can see the boards are mismatched but they will eventually all weather the same.  The reason behind the boards is that some come from Grandpa and some of them are rough hemlock from Dimension Lumber in Livermore Falls . 

I did remember to take a before picture on the back side of the barn.  This side has one rafter stuck out past the wall so it will take a bit more wood but it is becoming a good use for all the short pieces of one by six that I have accumulated through all the building that I have been doing.

 

Now carpentry isn't something that I would want to quit plumbing and heating for

BUT I do enjoy it a lot.  It is a nice change from the regular day to day jobs and sometimes it is a nice change when I have had a roadblock on a tractor that I am working on.  Speaking of roadblocks,  that is the only thing that Jake and I haven't hit with the new diesel Bolens. 

Flat tire and all Jake has helped me fix the Estate Keeper up so he gets to test it!

Here is our new battery tray that actually came off the big brother to the Estate Keeper - the Groundskeeper.  I have a parts machine out back and the battery tray fit perfectly on the back.  I also mounted the new solenoid and we wired up to the existing starter.  We also wired in a headlight and mounted it on the front and tomorrow will be mounting the new taillight.

This tractor is coming nicely and I also hope to start on the deck tomorrow so we can test it before the end of summer.  We are also waiting on tires because the mow would be a bit crooked with how it sets on this pair of fronts.  More to come tomorrow stay tuned.