Today was one of the days where, despite being busy, there is little enough to show for it.

It is very cold right now – more than twice as cold as it has been up to this point – so we stayed inside until after lunch, hoping it would warm up a little bit. It didn’t, much, but we went to work anyway. With the increased insulation in the building, it isn’t awful inside.

Much of today was spent with blocking drafts. Gaps that are too big for foam got covered with wood. Measure, cut, nail, repeat. There are still cracks, of course, but foam-able now. I will work on that a bit at a time. Most of the foam residue os off my hand now from last time.

The trapdoors closing off the loft stairs are installed now, too, so that should help with keeping the heat in the livingspace. In the reduce-reuse-recycle lifestyle we live, we were pleased to be able to make use of some leftover doors from my mom’s last couple houses. It gets them out of her basement, saves us money, and prevents construction waste. All good things. I will need to fill the doorknob holes, but for now, they are at least taped over.

We finished wiring the chicken pen also. Hardware cloth is hard to get here for some reason, as well as being expensive. So to close off the top part of the pen, we finished with rabbit wire. I hate the stuff, as it is extremely floppy and annoying, but it is considerably cheaper and requires only staples. Won’t keep a darn thing OUT of the pen, but it will keep the chickens IN, and that is all that is needed at that level.

And sweeping. Lots of sweeping with a very stiff broom. GoodNESS the floor was filthy. It still is in some places, where the piles of scrap remain, or where there is still ice, but bit by bit the floor is becoming respectable. A concrete floor, surrounded by thick mud and open to the elements for 2 months can’t be expected to remain pristine, I suppose. It is very satisfying to clean it, though.

There are days when this dream seem possible. Days when we know we are making our mark and setting up a legacy for our children. Other days, this is not the case. It is these days – the days when we work for hours and have nothing to photograph or any visible changes, days when we see the deep cold of winter creeping closer with inadequate shelter. These are the ‘down’ days, when this whole endeavor seems like a giant mistake and we wonder if we will ever be able to move from bus to building.