This could be called odds and ends weekend. Brad and Bob finished putting up the short pieces on the top of the east and west sides. There was also a lot of cleaning up this weekend. They picked up the rather large mess we had with boards, and pieces of boards and ladders everywhere on the outside. Emptying the floor inside was no small task either. They took the lift back to the barn. Monday December 18th
Marc and Trevor Slingwine came over and took some dirt out of the barn, hauled stone and filled in with it, leveled and compacted the stone. Bob was amazed....and very happy.... to see this done when he got home from school.
Tuesday December 19th
Brad and Bob put a drain in where the sap storage tanks will be.
Wednesday December 20th
Brad filled in stone around the drains and up next to the building. Grant Decker came and put rebar down. The weather forecast looks like we there might be a window of opportunity.
Friday December 22nd
We did what everybody does on December 22...we poured concrete today...or more accurately Grant and his crew poured concrete. The morning of the pour was pretty nice weather wise. Later in the day things took a turn for the ugly. Bob had a longer day at school, so Brad and Dale brought straw over from Sandhill Rd. The pour itself went well. They had to bring a 3rd truck out. It began to rain in the night.
Saturday December 23rd
It was white by sunrise today. They came and sawed the concrete late morning and Bob and Brad stacked the straw up to block the doorways. They moved the big heater inside but did not start it til later. The picture of the woods was taken at 1124am today. The back yard at 1500 (that is 3pm Bob)
Had to go look at the concrete of course. There was a little water on it where the snow had blown in. Brad brought home firewood for the fireplace. It snowed during church and left a pretty coat of white on everything. It was a very pretty Christmas eve. Everyone trecked to Sandhill Rd to put out lanterns in the late afternoon and back to church in the evening. The roads were rather lousy making travel slow on this holy night. 
Evan and Brad put special effort into their Christmas eve attire this year. Merry Christmas to all!....no visit to the woods today!
Tuesday December 26th, 2017
Back at it. Bob and Brad went over and started the heater up. This was the beginning of the "great freeze" . Bob is praying everyday that the concrete cures...correctly....but quickly. The original forcast, before pouring the floor, was for some days in the teens, but we did not think that the high would be the teens! The forecast this week is cold and then colder.
This week was primarily a game of moving the heater around and babysitting it. Straw doors make heater placement crucial. The heater has worked great...but we are noticing the grate on the front is drooping a little. Bob called NAPA and they have a new one on order.
Thursday December 28th, 2017
Bob and Gerri took a field trip to Indiana to pick up our new doors. We decided that ultimately this building needs to be a little more sealed and secure than the previous, so these doors seemed like a good idea. They were made and retrieved from a snowy and cold Butler, Indiana. We fit it all in the trunk of the GMC and Jack's trailer. It is cold, Bob just about froze just getting it tied down to come home.
Friday December 29th, 2017
Bob and Brad carried the doors into the building, opening straw doors is tricky by the way. so was carrying the longer doors through the camp to get through the walk in door. They proceeded to install the first and smallest of the doors. 
Saturday December 30th, 2017
Windy, snowing and blowing. And very, very cold. Miserable cold.
INSERT ISCICLE PICTURE!!
Brad and eventually Bob, spent a little time getting a friend's car out of the ditch in the early afternoon and then BOB decided to put door number two up. Brad and Gerri were literally along for the ride. They were supportive for about an hour. The heater has ran all week, and clearly needs some TLC, parts are ordered but not here. It kept turning off at intervals, and when you restarted it , for the first time today, it was smokey. Bob thinks we ran 30 gallons of diesel through it this month, estimating it takes about 5 gallons for a whole day . In the beginning of the project, it ran all day without fail. It never started to cough until it was below zero the last day or so.
before.....
(Dr. Mike explained to Bob on Tuesday the most probable cause of his shoulder pain, as he laughed.)
after....
The second door up was 8 foot long and Brad and Bob mistakenly thought hand carrying it up the ladders seemed like a good idea. Brad was groaning loudly. Bob could not even groan. By the time the door was up in the air, it was dark enough, again, we needed a flashlight. We literally hung it and got out of dodge. Gerri was sure that her toes were going to fall off before she got home. Bob thought it was too cold to take the dog. Something wrong with this picture.
December 31, 2017
Brad toughed out the weather and split some firewood today. Everything is frozen. Wally is frozen in place and the dump does not raise. We could not move rocks.
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