Progress... and Sadness

 Dad and Paul made excellent progress on the cottage today - Paul installed the back door, and Dad got Tyvek on the western gable end, and sealed up a bunch of cracks with caulk and expanding foam insulation. I ran errands, including picking up some exciting supplies - the first round of drywall and insulation!! Things are really starting to come together! ❤️ Here is my back door: 

In other news, I learned a tough lesson... if you are pretty sure the fence separating your ducks from your dogs is too short... don't wait to fix it!! 😟 When I got home last night, Breeze and Henry were in the duck pen, and had clearly been running rampant for a while. I have four dead ducks, one dead chick, and two chicks unaccounted for. The final two ducks are in tough shape and may or may not make it. I was absolutely crushed... I love my ducks. I can only blame myself, though - the dogs have not been trained not to chase the birds, and the fence was too short. 

It could have been worse...last night 4 chicks were missing. But this morning I found 2 wandering around in the woods. I caught one by myself, and chased the other for an hour before Paul came along and helped corner it. Here's the little dude lurking just out of my reach this morning: 

I'm grateful that God allowed those two to survive the dogs and a night alone in the woods. ❤️

Since this was a bit of a sad post, here are some cute dog pictures taken with my new phone to cheer us up. 

Bit by Bit!!

 The cottage is coming along bit by bit, thanks to Dad, our friend Paul, and occasionally me, lol. Dad and I got more windows installed on Monday, and some more framing done.  Then he and Paul continued to work Tuesday, Wednesday and today, installing windows, building soffits, and doing lots of site cleanup. Here's what it looked like this morning... isn't this spectacular?? ♥️♥️♥️

One of my favorite features is this big bank of windows. Eventually they will hopefully be looking out over pastures.

I forgot to take a picture before it got dark, but today Dad and Paul installed the front door. They also draped a huge tarp over the roof, as the tarpaper is falling off and we're expecting rain tonight.

Thanks, Dad and Paul! It's very humbling to think that I will be warm and cozy in my little cottage this winter because of the time and hard labor donated by you two and others. ♥️

In other news, I'm now getting more eggs from the four ducks than from my eight mature hens. I think the chickens are moulting. 

Also, Kat is in heat, so poor Thane is having a sad time because I have to keep them separated. Kat has come to work with me the last couple of days and has done very well - she's a sweetie.

Going back to the chickens, I have a slightly funny farm story. So... sometimes chickens will eat their own eggs. This, of course, is an annoyance because then you don't get to eat the eggs. I was sure that was what my chickens were doing, because I would have a hen sitting on a couple eggs one day, and the next day there would be none. Well, as it turns out, they haven't been eating them ALL... when I was in the coop this evening, I spotted something white down in a crevice by the nesting box. I shone my flashlight down there, and saw some eggs. I pulled them out, and found a total of four eggs that had rolled away and been lost. I'm just glad I found them before they turned into rotten eggs and exploded!! 😬

Anyway, I hope everyone is having an awesome week. Happy Thursday!! 😊

From Dome to Cottage!

So Saturday was a huge day... I went from living in a 20-foot geodesic dome to living in a 20x28 cottage!

Dad and I, along with an occasional helper or two, have been putting up the walls for quite some time now, but getting the rafters up required a huge workday. 

Counting my Dad and brother, I believe we had a total of 16 people there at various times of the day, most of them from the church. 

Here are a bunch of pictures:

1. Lowering the dome. The dome is 12 feet tall, and the cottage walls are 8 feet tall... so we had to take out a bunch of struts so that we could get the trusses up there.

2. Figuring out how to get the trusses up. The original plan was to slide them up this ramp. That's my brother walking up the ramp, by the way. 

3. A wide angle view. My Dad doesn't mess around when he builds stuff, so each truss probably weighs at least 200 pounds.

4. Plan A was ditched when Jason arrived with his forklift. This was much better, but still took some fine-tuning. It was quickly decided that ratchet straps were a better idea for holding the truss in place than having Nathan do it. :P 

5. It was a lot of work to slide the truss to the front of the building. Here people are probably resting and contemplating how to stand it up. 

6. First truss up!!

7. We broke for lunch after the second truss was up. A couple of the church ladies provided lunch, and it was delicious!

8. Getting the third truss in position. Several men spent most of the day climbing around in the rafters! Those of us who stayed on the ground fetched tools, held ladders, ran errands, did site cleanup, and removed the rest of the dome.

9. Paul...he keeps telling me he's smarter than he looks. Guess it must be true since he spent all day up there and didn't fall once! :P 

10. I had to leave for work at 3:30, but the men kept working another four hours!! They got ALL the trusses up, and half the plywood sheathing. I couldn't see much when I got home that night, but this is what the cottage looked like Sunday morning. Isn't that incredible? ♥️

11. A few of the men came back Sunday afternoon between church services to finish the sheathing. They even got the tarpaper on! 

12. Nathan getting a lift down from the rooftop. 

13. So that was the incredible workday. God really provides help when we need it! ♥️ 

Dad and I puttered today. We were both pretty low energy, but we got a bit of framing done, finished sheathing one wall, and stuck one window in. I'm very excited to have real windows!! :P 

I have to decide soon about roofing. I wouldn't mind metal, except that I'm concerned about a heavy snowfall sliding off and burying a dog. Anyone have thoughts on the pros and cons of metal vs. shingles? Cost is definitely a factor.

Anyway, many thanks to those who came to the workday, and to those who have been praying for this project... it's so cool to see it coming together! ♥️

Introducing Kat

I had an opportunity come up a few weeks ago that I couldn't pass up - in 2016, two Ovelheiro Gauchos, a rare, Collie-type working breed from South America, were imported to the US. I recently inquired about the female, and the owner was willing to part with her because she has had trouble getting pregnant. We shall see if I can accomplish what he couldn't, but it's worth the attempt for me, as she would bring rare and valuable genes and traits into my breeding program.

So....met Kat de Ste. Terezinha, the newest Collie at Butterscotch Farm! 

So far she is an absolute sweetheart. She seems very friendly and happy. She's a bit nervous about loud noises, and she is scared of Bartholomew (who is in a huge snit, by the way, LOL!). But she is very people-oriented. She has the potential to be an excellent working dog, as well - her parents herd cattle on an everyday basis.

In other news, Saturday is the roof-raising day for the cottage. There's lots to do before then, including disassembling the dome! Dad and various friends, especially our friend Paul from church, have been spending many hours building the rafters so that we're ready to go on Saturday. The plan is to get the rafters, plywood, and tar paper up on Saturday so that the roof is weather resistant. 

I'm incredibly grateful to God for putting people in my life who will give so much time and effort to help me with projects, both small and epic!