loft apartment

For those of you who know me and maybe have been wondering why I have been so reclusive, let me share with you  my latest consuming project; it has been the loft apartment that we are trying to build.  I shouldn't say "trying to build"; we ARE building it.  It just feels like its going really slowly when I am used to having as many crews as I need around me whenever I want something done.  Alas, since we are busy at work, and nobody is paying me to do this; its just me and whatever volunteer help I have at the moment.  

I have spent nearly every waking moment of daylight on this loft for the last month or two.  (With the exception for Apple Day and Salami Day) Now with the help of lights, I can spend waking moments of dark, as well.   It is really nice to have a project that is not only at my house so my kids can be around, but is actually working on my shed that has all my tools in it, instead of having to run back home after something, etc.  But now it is "crunch time."  Wifey's youngest sister, and her new husband Jonathon from China are supposed to be here in 3 or 4 weeks, and will be in our basement until we get done.  I don't pretend to think I can have it completely finished by the time they get here, but I may have a good start on it, by at least having it be a livable space, even if the bathroom and kitchen is incomplete. 

These pictures uploaded weird, so if you want to see them sequentially, start at the bottom and scroll up... 

My little helper and most faithful of followers!

Herself "hanging" out with me, even though I didn't need help.  She brings her magazines because she knows I get super bored without anybody around to harass.

Back when I did this stuff for a living; Moisture Resistant Sheetrock (for the bathroom) was Green; for some unknown reason, it is now Perry-winkle.

View of bedroom.

Ceiling insulated.

View from lower floor.

Stairs to loft

And then, just for fun, here is picture of my youngest with a good reason to wear shoes around...  He must have stomped his foot on them to get them stuck as bad as they were.  Poor little shaver...

The day of the Salami cometh!

I love October!  I actually feel like getting outside and doing stuff!   It was another big day at the Foster Farmlet this weekend; Saturday I framed exterior walls on my loft apartment in the morning and then the kids and I spent most of the afternoon stuffing sausage.  It was really big fun, at least for us kids!

13#'s of Pure Foster Ground Beef (alas, Not Daniel Foster beef)

My Sausage crew and equipment!  (the eldest wasn't feeling well)

Thirteen lovely All-Beef Salamis (Raw).

Salamis, cooked and smoked, hanging to cool.

Since I had the ol' smoker going anyway, I threw a brisket on; it turned out pretty nice.  A full 1/4 inch smoke ring...

In unrelated news, I took my three little pigs to the butcher today.  It was really quite the adventure; my truck does not have working gas gauge and so I usually can tell when I need gas by watching the tripometer, but somehow messed it up; I ran out of gas right on Highway 54!  I NEVER run out of gas... NEVER! It seems a really horrible waste of my precious time, way worse than filling up.  And on top of that, I had the WHOLE family with me, stuck in the pickup, waiting for Grampa to bring us some fuel.  He finally rescued us, but not before we played at least 10 rounds of "20 questions".  But we are really looking forward to having some readily available pork again.

I told Herself this evening that someday they will have the technology to be able to identify a specific gene in people like myself that causes a fixation on preparing massive amounts of  homemade food for one's family, even in completely unnecessary conditions.  Someday there will be a cure; they will be able to inject me with some "Fix-all" medicine, and then from then on, all I will want to do is sit around and watch sit-coms and watch/talk about sports.  I'm pretty sure Herself is praying for that cure...