Completion, demo, not quite sick

I spent the morning Tuesday morning getting the insulation put up in the small well house. I discovered when I cut the plastic wrapping on the first package that I had bought the wrong type of insulation batts. I needed the best deal I could get so I settled on the purchase without studying it thoroughly. I bought six-inch-thick insulation when I only needed three-inch-thick batts. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I bought only half the amount I needed – I thought. As it turned out, I separated off three inches of the spun fiberglass and installed that portion without any backing. The part left with the backing I used on the upper portion of the walls. The unbacked portion was used on the lower portion of the walls. When I had finished the walls and stuffed insulation into openings where the roof met the walls, I still had three complete pieces of the insulation left. I will use it on the covering for the well at the large well house. I still lack the threshold (to seal the doorway) and the railing and gate for the porch (to keep the cattle out), but I am close to completing the project; close enough to keep the well and tank from freezing during a cold snap. I took a shower right after I finished with the insulation.

While I was doing that, Nate began tearing up the old pig pen. I made it three years ago out of pallet we got for free. It allowed us to raise four or five pigs over those three years, but it was time to get it replaced. In order to get rid of the wood, we used the gravel pit in the patio in back of the house. I needed a place to burn the pallets where we would not have to worry about the nails and screws being left in an area where we will need to drive the tractor. The open pit in the patio made good sense. The only issue was that we had to carry the pallets to the pit – which was less of an issue for Nate than it was for me. As the demolition progressed, Nate and Grant found a series of rat nests; one of which was inhabited by two large rats. One of those is no longer a threat to us. We kept the fire going in spite of the constant drizzle, but finally had to stop when the drizzle turned into actual rain in the late afternoon. By that time, the pig pen was almost completely dismantled. Only a couple of the pallets are in good enough shape to keep and even those are probably better disposed of than kept for future use. I can usually get more pallets when I need them. It was good to have the help on a project like that.

In the absence of the pig pen I will have to put up some cattle panels to keep cattle out of that area, but that is an easy fix. Right now, it is open to the back of the property and Sam and Sasha have been investigating the area pretty thoroughly. It has not been available to them in the past. At the moment the ground is dry and covered with leaves so you cannot see the actual mess the pigs created in rearranging their habitat. It will look much better once I get the tractor and level the ground where the pigs rutted out rather large holes; again, it is an easy fix. It will look different, perhaps better, with the pallets gone. It always amazes me how little remains after something is burned. The forty pallets used to create the pen will be a small pile of ash once the fire devours them. I will scoop the ash out of the pit and put it on the garden when we are done. Nothing will go to waste – except the nails that bound the wood together.

Mama, Victoria and I did not go to church last night. The two of them are still feeling poorly. I am constantly nauseated, on the verge of throwing up but have not done so yet. I woke up a couple times last night because of a roiling stomach, but I laid still and each time the nausea passed. I thought about not coming to work this morning, but I am not sick enough to justify staying home; no fever, no diarrhea; no throwing up. But I did  not want to chance exposing anyone at church to the flu.

One more day and we will finish out the work year. That went fast.