BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin At the Farm
A little oak sprouts near the base of the spreading birch, which is on its last legs.
The front yard oak, the last good remaining landscape tree we have for the new house, took a hard hit from the trackhoe earlier in the construction process. It's probably the seed tree for the little oak in the first photo.
We worked to get the south side of the garage looking better, with the log pile out of sight.
One of the ladyslipper plants down in the woods. It may have had a blossom, but if it did it was apparently eaten off. There is one more plant near the house that is doing well.
June 7-8
The new house takes shape
as summer fills in the woods
I almost ran over a fawn on this visit. After surveying the activity on the new house - which was considerable - I got the Cub out for some mowing, because the place had really grown up in the two weeks since we were there. I rounded a tree down in the north valley and was stunned to see the tiny spotted creature lying just a few feet from where I was mowing. I got too close and it jumped up and ran along an earlier path I had mowed and up into the woods. Some years, we see two or three fawns and some years we don't see any, so I was glad for the cheap thrill this year.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Jim and his crew were working hard in the hot sun. We arrived a little after noon on Tuesday, and they had most of the trusses in place and were finishing that up. Temperatures reached the mid-90s by early afternoon, and the crew knocked off around 3:30 to get some relief from the heat. At that point they had all of the trusses in and the framing around the sides of those and were ready to start the subflooring in the morning.
I mowed during the mid-afternoon and Gayle ran into Mauston to get us checked in (and to enjoy some air-conditioning in the car and the motel). I made a swing down through the pines and jumped up two more deer. The trails needed mowing and I only got part of the work done, but at least it is a starting point for the next mowing effort.
We stayed around after 6 because I had advertised some of the old furniture from the house (hoping to clear a little space in the garage) and a couple came over from Union Center to look at it. They bought the big old wardrobe, the dresser with mirror, small oak chest and old dressing table/desk that had
been in the large bedroom. We got $50 and they got some furniture for the husband to work on as refinishing projects.
We spent another night at the Super 8 in Mauston and tried
a different restaurant.
We've tried three different ones so far this summer and none of them has made us eager to come back.
Wednesday morning we were again late compared to the building crew. They got there at 6 and we got there at 9. They already had the subflooring down and were raising the first section of the wall, the west corner of the living room. It was already pretty warm and headed for temperatues in the 90s, although not expected to reach the 97 of the day before.
We watched as work progressed and worked on our own projects, too. I moved the wood rack from the side of the garage to the back, so that anyone looking out the kitchen window will have a nicer view of a garden along the south side of the garage. Now that we have some nice views to the back, we are going to have to have a little more "landscaping" there. It took awhile to unload the rack, paint the 2x4s with wood preservative and put it back together, then to move the logs.
After lunch, we took a break and drove to the south end and walked back into the ladyslipper area. Since the ones we have at home were about at the end of their two-week bloom cycle, we were hoping to possibly find a few in bloom but had no such luck. We did find five plants in relatively good shape, and I think there are probably a few more but I sure wish we could get them to be as prolific as they once were. There was less garlic mustard this year, thanks to all of our pulling efforts in that area, but some poison ivy is invading.
Jim and his crew knocked off a little early again, but not before they had all of the exterior and interior walls up on the first floor. And Jim helped us get down into the basement f
or a look. Lighting was not great, but you could see the overall size and where the bathroom was roughed in and other plumbing hook-ups put in place.
It was hot and we were tired, too, even though we hadn't worked anywhere near as hard as the crew, and we decided to hit the road for home shortly after they left.
The plan for Thursday (accomplished) was to backfill around the foundation and get the pressure tank hooked up to the well, along with a sand filter. We talked to Jim on Friday, and that got done. We'll be back up Saturday for a look and then probabaly won't make it up for another week. You can look for a new report on the project early next week.
The woods in the ladyslipper area have filled in considerably in the past two weeks.
The new house takes shape
as summer fills in the woods
I almost ran over a fawn on this visit. After surveying the activity on the new house - which was considerable - I got the Cub out for some mowing, because the place had really grown up in the two weeks since we were there. I rounded a tree down in the north valley and was stunned to see the tiny spotted creature lying just a few feet from where I was mowing. I got too close and it jumped up and ran along an earlier path I had mowed and up into the woods. Some years, we see two or three fawns and some years we don't see any, so I was glad for the cheap thrill this year.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Jim and his crew were working hard in the hot sun. We arrived a little after noon on Tuesday, and they had most of the trusses in place and were finishing that up. Temperatures reached the mid-90s by early afternoon, and the crew knocked off around 3:30 to get some relief from the heat. At that point they had all of the trusses in and the framing around the sides of those and were ready to start the subflooring in the morning.I mowed during the mid-afternoon and Gayle ran into Mauston to get us checked in (and to enjoy some air-conditioning in the car and the motel). I made a swing down through the pines and jumped up two more deer. The trails needed mowing and I only got part of the work done, but at least it is a starting point for the next mowing effort.
We stayed around after 6 because I had advertised some of the old furniture from the house (hoping to clear a little space in the garage) and a couple came over from Union Center to look at it. They bought the big old wardrobe, the dresser with mirror, small oak chest and old dressing table/desk that had
been in the large bedroom. We got $50 and they got some furniture for the husband to work on as refinishing projects. We spent another night at the Super 8 in Mauston and tried
a different restaurant.
We've tried three different ones so far this summer and none of them has made us eager to come back. Wednesday morning we were again late compared to the building crew. They got there at 6 and we got there at 9. They already had the subflooring down and were raising the first section of the wall, the west corner of the living room. It was already pretty warm and headed for temperatues in the 90s, although not expected to reach the 97 of the day before.
We watched as work progressed and worked on our own projects, too. I moved the wood rack from the side of the garage to the back, so that anyone looking out the kitchen window will have a nicer view of a garden along the south side of the garage. Now that we have some nice views to the back, we are going to have to have a little more "landscaping" there. It took awhile to unload the rack, paint the 2x4s with wood preservative and put it back together, then to move the logs. After lunch, we took a break and drove to the south end and walked back into the ladyslipper area. Since the ones we have at home were about at the end of their two-week bloom cycle, we were hoping to possibly find a few in bloom but had no such luck. We did find five plants in relatively good shape, and I think there are probably a few more but I sure wish we could get them to be as prolific as they once were. There was less garlic mustard this year, thanks to all of our pulling efforts in that area, but some poison ivy is invading.
Jim and his crew knocked off a little early again, but not before they had all of the exterior and interior walls up on the first floor. And Jim helped us get down into the basement f
or a look. Lighting was not great, but you could see the overall size and where the bathroom was roughed in and other plumbing hook-ups put in place. It was hot and we were tired, too, even though we hadn't worked anywhere near as hard as the crew, and we decided to hit the road for home shortly after they left.
The plan for Thursday (accomplished) was to backfill around the foundation and get the pressure tank hooked up to the well, along with a sand filter. We talked to Jim on Friday, and that got done. We'll be back up Saturday for a look and then probabaly won't make it up for another week. You can look for a new report on the project early next week.
The woods in the ladyslipper area have filled in considerably in the past two weeks.
