These Guys ROCK!!!

 I'm not going to the farm today.

It's raining.

The road is slippery.

They all have MUD TIRES.

(And Rod has 4-wheel drive...)

My car IS all-wheel-drive,

but I have street tires.

I made Kyle drive my car out 

to the highway last night.

Rod drove his truck.

He was fine.

Jim drove Kyle's truck.

He was being cautious and got

stuck going up a hill.

We turned around and Kyle

drove him out of it.

(IT WAS TERRIFYING TO WATCH!)

And Kyle was giggling uncontrollably 

when he got back in my car.

"THAT WAS SOOOO FUN!!!"

Yeah, his truck is paid for.

(grin)

It was probably less scary than it

looked in headlights.

But still.........

Then, because Kyle didn't want to 

try to turn around, we BACKED up the

hill, and down the next until he got to

a spot to turn around.

I closed my eyes.

So, yeah. 

I'm staying home today.

(Kyle asked what I was going to do

once I moved out there. 

"STAY HOME!"

Hahahahaha.)

Yup, I'm a wimp.

Anyhow.

The guys were heading into town to 

pick up some rain gear to wear since

it's supposed to have light rain 

ALL. DANG. DAY. today.

But they can't take the day off because

the telehandler goes back tonight.

Unless, maybe, the road is too slippery

for the guy to come pick it up!

There is that!

Anyhow.

They also picked up some scaffolding

that will come in VERY handy for the

next couple of tasks.

They saw it at the store on Wed night,

but didn't think I would go for it.

It's $100 off right now.

BUY IT!

Anyhow.

On to today's photo dump.

Moving a rafter from over by the shop.

(Right after that, I moved Rod's truck out of the way.)

The white tube thing is covering the

well pipe so it doesn't accidentally get knocked into.

Admiring rafter #1.

Only 17 to go.

As always, the first one requires MUCH looking,

and thinking, and discussing.

But they got the system all figured out

and rafter #2 went smoother.

Easier without the truck in the way.

Kyle lifts it with the telehandler.

There is a little purple rope tied to one end.

Jim is holding the rafter and the little rope.

They carefully move it into position.

Then Jim goes into the house and up a ladder

to catch it as it comes over and guides it

towards Rod who is on the other end of the house

on another ladder, to secure his end.

Check out that concentration!

He is driving, lifting, and guiding all at once.

So glad we went with a ONE STOREY!

It's tall enough!

Jim catching his end.

And Rod catching his end.

They secure them, and then Kyle

(the monkey) climbs on a tall ladder in the center

and temporarily screws a 2x6 between the rafters

to hold them upright and steady.

And then he climbs ON THE RAFTER

and disconnects the chain they used to lift it.

Need it for the next rafter.

We are hoping today, they are able to

get all the rest of the rafters and the other 

end rafter with zip board in place, secured,

and get the plywood screwed on.

A tall order.

But they at least need to get the rafters on and

the plywood pile up there using the telehandler.

The skid steer can't reach that high.

So..... prayer warriors.

We need you again!

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.

But we might not have the machine anymore.

So they need to get lots done today.

I made a big pot of chili and sent it with some

cheese bread and a jar of instant mashed potatoes.

This morning while it wasn't raining for a minute

I ran outside to the freeze dryer and got

the five trays of mashed potatoes from in there.

I got 5 quarts and 5 pints.

(Sent one with Rod for lunch...)

They took 63 hours, but I let them

run an extra 20 hours.

Partly because one of the trays was

REALLY thick, and partly because

it was raining and too hard to get

them from the garage to the house

without them getting ruined.

CAN NOT WAIT to have an inside

prep room and have my stuff all 

in the house!!!

Rod called and got an appointment

with the fridge guys to come look at

the fridge on Monday.

Meanwhile, I am shopping from outside.

(Speaking of shopping, I need to run

to the local store and get some eggs...)

I HATE not having chickens!!!

(Not that they are laying anyway...)

I have some freeze dried eggs, but 

I don't like scrambled eggs.

Rod will eat them happily though.

And they are great for baking.

Wish I had thought of that YESTERDAY

when I used 3 of the expensive

Vital Farms eggs for the banana bread.

Oh well.

I was stressed.

And they are in jars in the front coat

closet, out of sight, out of mind.

I DID remember to use some of our

freeze dried carrots in the soup yesterday.

(It was yummy)

And I put some FD zucchini powder

in the chili today to give the guys some

added veggies.

Ok.

I need to go clean my kitchen before

I can do anything else.

Wait. 

Maybe I'll go shopping while it's

not raining.

Ok.

Have a great Friday.

And any prayers you could head this

way would be greatly appreciated.

I can't go out tomorrow either.

I'll be teaching.

So relying on the guys to take LOTS

of pictures!

It's dark by the time I get done.