Avast Maties!

I am wearing a safety belt - it's holding up my pants!
In my youth I wanted to make a fero-concrete hulled sailboat  and sail around the world.  A one day trip out of Vancouver on a friends ferro concrete boat with a couple of hours of four foot swells disavowed me of that notion.  So when I was gifted an aluminum mast I decided to keep it securely fastend to land.
Were not moving it!  It's great right here..
We put a weather station transmitter on top and it gets info wirelessly to a station inside the house a couple of hundred feet away,  right near my chair.
Hope the light doesn't lead to navigational mishaps..
I don't have to look out the window now to see if it's raining or the winds blowing - and exactly how much! Or if the mercury is dropping.   I can use the window for what it was designed for:  a white board to keep my 2do lists.

On the porcine front we completed the inside pen.  I had some 4 by 8 poplar timbers for makeing uprights and heavy duty trim that runs up the side of the pen.  We reinforced the floor with plywood.  The shed doesn't have too many more years left in it, but between the chicken coop and inside pig pen I've probably increased the chances of it making another winter.
Rough 2 X 6's for the top three rails and ledge, 4 X 8's for the bottom two feet The chicken pen is to the right.

Friends Barb ( Bubba ) and  Mike (Rockey ) and doggies Rusty and Mia arrived and really fast tracked construction with the outside pen and weather station projects.

Bubba climbed in the skid-steer and is now a certified operator!
Fork it over!
Before we could build the outside pen a wall had to come down.  The excavator worked as a lift. And made short work of moving the beams.  The lumber all gets salvaged.
You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelete..
Then fence posts every six feet.
..A little to the right and two and a half feet down..

Rough 2 by 6 lumber for rails.  We wanted it to be sturdy. We also put heavy duty chicken wire on the inside to cut back on rail gnawing.
Bubba ducks just in time! It just looks like she is being threatened with a stick..
Bubba demonstrates proper nailing technique when dealing with 8 inch spiral spikes.
You just have to think of somebody who needs straightening out..
The outside pen is 18 by 24 feet.  The wall we left up acts as a wind guard.  Between the pen and the wall is skid steer access to a set of double doors. The outside chicken pen is to the left.
Strong like Bull!  But time will tell..
This gate gives acces to pasture.  First we have to train them on an electric fence.  I was thinking of running a wire along the inside of the pen to get them used to it.
Looks like the piggy is making a high speed break for it..
This is a sliding gate for access from the inside pen area.
We put a foam head banger on the top,  just in case..
And an insulated door that lifts up for access to the pen from the inside area.
The door has a wedgie.  The rope goes to a pully so the door can be opened without going in the pen.

The seven week old Piglets arrived on Thursday to much excitement!  The greeting committee was on hand.
Just so you know..this is my pad..I get all the mice.
It didn't take 'em long to check out the new digs.
So waddda think, should we stay?

Bubba is now known as the pig whisperer.  She quickly had the piggies eating Deer Tongue lettuce right out of her hand.
Kinda looks like she is blowing lettuce out of her nose!
The female is a little more daring than the male.
They are still afraid of me but something tells me they are coming around.  The name game is going on.  I'm partial to Breakfast and Supper.  Maybe  Egon and Bacon.  What's your suggestion.

Hope your week is going well!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Looks great. I love following your progress. You've done such an amazing job. I really wish I could pick up and do what you did - guess I will just live through you two. Enjoy the left overs of summer!
Gail
Art Blomquist said…
Haya Gail, were not that far away. You should drop by for a visit. We even have a spare house when you get serious...
Art, your ability to use "inventory" makes life for my husband so much easier. The more I read your blog, the less I harp on him. He is grateful !
Carol Browne said…
The compound is coming along so nicely. Pig names? How about hammy and wiener? I would love a pig named wiener!
Art Blomquist said…
Ah were just reluctant to give our food names. Our friend Bubba insisted their names were Charlotte & Webber - and insists she is bringing her own bacon and chops when they visit..

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