Weekly Update: 9.7.24
I stood in what will be our kitchen, unrolling insulation and cutting it to length. Grace took each piece, stood on a step ladder, and got to work stapling it in place. While we worked, Bonnie-Jean and Erin carried rolls of insulation into the bunkhouse, stacking it in our living-room-to-be. We were giddy as we sipped Diet Coke, country music blaring all around us. Finally.
The wiring project is officially behind us. We ran one last home-run this week. We hadn't planned to have an over-the-range microwave, but we splurged on one due to Home Depot's amazing Labor Day sale. We had enough Romex leftover already, so we only needed to purchase one more AFCI outlet. On Monday, we had a contractor from our church give us an estimate for wiring our panel box. He will be back this next week to hook us up. After so much time, it is hard to believe.
As soon as we wrapped up our wiring, Grace and I started on insulation. We are using scraps of leftover foam board behind our outlets and faced batt insulation on the rest of the walls. Insulation seems to go so much faster than wiring did, and it has been fun to see visible progress each day.
When we were organizing our insulation for use, we sorted what we have for inside the house and what we purchased for underneath. We had it all delivered last year. As we were unwrapping it, Erin noticed that most our rolls for under the house are unfaced. We knew we had ordered faced, so we called and talked to Menards. We are thrilled that they are willing to exchange our insulation for the correct product, even though it took us so long to notice the mistake. We exchanged our insulation Friday afternoon.
While we were at Menards, we picked up supplies for a dog run next to the bunkhouse. Jeremiah plans to work on it during his evenings, when he likes to get some outdoor activity. It will make life and dog care much more manageable once we move in.
Out in the garden, Bonnie-Jean and Erin have been busy combating late summer pests and keeping up with the harvesting. Our tomatoes are finally ripening. We've struggled with lots of lines and cracking, which have persisted despite Bonnie-Jean trying several fixes. Still, they taste delicious. It's been fun slicing them up, topping salads, burritos, and even take-out pizza (a rare splurge). There have been so many, we've had tomato salads, impromptu bruschetta, and simple sliced tomatoes with several meals.
It was a solid, productive summer week, with every day bringing fall that much closer. The mornings have been cool enough to carry mugs of chai tea or coffee to the bunkhouse when we start work. It was so cold one morning, we realized our days of sunrise laundry are numbered, as we put off the chore until later in the day. On Thursday night, we tuned in to the season's first Chiefs' game -- the sound of cheering and whistles providing a decidedly autumn ambiance in our wall tent. Life on the homestead is exciting these days, and I find myself eager to hop out of bed each morning and get to work. I'm loving this chapter of life, and I can't wait to turn the next page.
