Moving day, meeting, finishing

For some reason Grandma and Grandpa wanted to come over yesterday. Originally, Mama had planned some kind of shopping outing, but that fell through, but Grandma wanted to get out. So, Mama told Grandma if Grandpa wanted to come over and look over the area where we wanted to place the little building we used as a birthing center when it was moved, he could give her an idea if that was the right thing to do or not. They showed up just before my lunchtime. Mama visited with them as I continued to work. Mama had showered and was headed to a meeting with her mentor, so she was not dressed to do anything on the farm at that point. After a few minutes of visiting, Grandpa went out to look things over. He approved of the overall plan and decided to fire up the tractor to see if it could life the little building. It was able – and the work was on. I had not anticipated making the move but there we were. Sometimes it is just best to roll with the flow. Grandpa was there and willing. I was there and able to make the time to work with him.

I very quickly tore out fencing that was in our way and got the large straps from the truck so we could wrap the straps around the building in the move. I very quickly gathered the cinder blocks we had at various places around the farm and put them in the general area where were we planned to set the building. Once it was pulled out of its place there was no turning back. I had to re-strap the building to the tractor about a dozen tomes as Grandpa repositioned the tractor to ensure we headed the right direction. Grandma videoed part of the process as we dragged a short distance, disconnected the straps, repositioned the tractor and hooked the straps back around the building. We had the building in place and blocks under each corner in about an hour and a half. I had used my two-wheel dolly under the side of the building opposite the tractor for many of the short pulls. It lifted it just enough not to drag heavily on the ground, easing the stress on the foundation of the building. Grandma was impressed with the application of equipment. Once the building was in place I had to quickly change and leave for the office. I had a 1:30 meeting with my boss.

I got to the office a little after 1 pm. We were doing my yearly review at 1:30. It went well. We spent most of the hour chatting about things completely unrelated to the review, but I did get some insights into how Crystal and our management feel about me at the moment. In their eyes, I am the foundation of the Instructor Led Training program. The other things I am assigned to do are an adjunct part of my duties. Training is my strength and that strength adds to the company’s ability to offer the variety of training we are currently offering. They consider me essential. That is a benefit. One of the issues they are running into as they try to hire an additional trainer is the salary requirements of experienced trainers in this industry. Those requests come in at more than double what I am currently being paid. It has been an eye-opening discovery to my company. Will I benefit from the information? Not likely. But it at least increases my perceived value with this company.

After my meeting, I finished out the day at the office, getting home a little after 4pm. I had not eaten since breakfast, so I took time to eat dinner before going out to feed and further work on the building. I raised the building higher. I wanted it to sit on two blocks so that we could give the chickens being raised in it the room to scratch and dust themselves under the building. I got set up to move the kennel we were reattaching to the building and I cleaned up all the debris where the building had set. We moved that when Victoria was available to help me and Mama. I will work on getting access for the chickens from inside the building to the “yard” we are creating, but that should be easily accomplished. Once that is done, I will put a permanent cover on the kennel, both to protect the chickens and to keep them from escaping the yard. Then I need to build steps and a small porch so we can get into and out of the building safely when it is raining. It will be cute and serviceable where it now sits. Grandpa built this building about four years ago for one purpose, now it serves another.

Perfectly fitting my idea of making structures that are multipurposed.