Whew.

I managed to fit in a good handful of projects lately. The weather here is still gets a bit odd, as in we should be in a rainforest. The rain and heat has the grass and weeds showing it. While most of the after-work farm trips involve mowing and weeding, there was some harvesting. The Romaine finally gave up to the summer heat and the last of the peas finally gave us some snacks after the rabbits had their fill. The Sunflowers are getting tall, and the potatoes are still growing strong. Around mid-june I finally planted pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe. We’ve done good with pumpkins before, the rest are more for experiment. Those, along with squash and zucchini are growing well. I vaguely remember Garrison Keillor having a bit about zucchini season, that they appear on doorsteps, mailboxes, inside cars, and in everyone’s outstretched hands. This is the only time of year to lock your doors, as I successfully zucchini-bombed my dad’s kitchen with an armload.

Anyhow. Remember that I got a huge huge deal on clearance at Lowes? $91 full glass doors. One had a bad seal and was foggy and it took several weeks for a replacement to show up. However, the replacement shattered on installation. The replacement for the replacement showed up a few days ago, in perfect shape, and the door even know has a doorknob on it.

We have gotten underway with the window project for the South wall and finally figured out how we will do it. For anyone who has seen it this Spring, the 2 storm windows were not permanent and will be disappearing soon. This week, the work was done inside – measuring marking, framing supports, etc. The first few windows and siding should start appearing soon.

Other projects include:
–Finishing installing treads and risers on the main staircase done.
–Got the platform at bottom of staircase started
–put flashing where rain was sneaking in between old and new work
–cut out opening for bottom of stairs.
–Added some extra support to copula framing, although it is not permanent.
–salvaged several 2×10′s from the barn. In fact, this 80 year old wood is still stronger and straighter then the lumber yard’s selection today.
–House: finished bench, ripped last deck board for against house, ordered a nifty raining for back door.

Coffee: The Jefferson Farmer’s Market is going great this year. We have been serving iced Colombian coffee, with coffee-ice on Tuesdays, and a toss up of either hot or iced coffee on Saturday mornings. We watch the forecast to see if the AM will be blazing or cool to make the final call. I did get a new toy, a bottled water pump. This will let us hook up the commercial brewer at remote locations and brew on demand. This should be a hit.

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