in time for Santa???

Today's and tonite's weather isn't great.. to say the very least, we are having the "betweens" of freezing rain and sleet. I was a little surprised to find everyone working on the farm this morning as the roads were already getting a little "bad"... but the masons were there for the chimney, Ken and crew for the house, and Chris to finish up a little bit of work in the barn. Actually, I had an appointment with my truck bright and early, so it was mid morning before I made it down to see what was happening.

The chimney is coming along well, these guys don't fool around and know what they are doing. One thing that intrigues me is this "sand warmer" that they have. It's important that they keep their materials warm, including the sand for the cement, so they have a barrel that they keep a small fire burning in, pile the sand on the top, and it stayed warm and dry all day long. (you don't want to stick your hand in that sand... it's hot!!!!) It was such a wet, raw day, that Ed said he spent a few moments near the fire to warm up.

So, here's the chimney coming up from the basement. The big block will be used where the chimney won't be "seen", but now that they have hit the first floor, it will switch to brick. It's a big chimney!!! just the way I wanted it!!! Besides, this will be one chimney that Santa won't get squished in when he arrives... though this year, it will be OK if he just flies by!!!!

This is the hearth that will be in the living room/kitchen area. I forgot to report, but we bought our woodstove last Saturday. We needed to decide what kind of woodstove so the mason could plan on the flue size and where the thimble would have to be placed. So, Ed and I went looking at stove's... we found just the one we wanted, and since it takes a month for them to come in, we just decided to buy/order it. I wished I had taken a picture of the floor model to show, but you'll have to wait until we get the real thing. It's pretty little stove and I think it will look just right.

The pad for the outside wood furnace was pretty much cured, so Ed was able to get it into place. It's nice to have it where it needs to be, we know it's "safe" and out of the way, and now when the winter weather hits, we won't have to "worry" about it.
Would be nice to see some smoke coming out of that little chimney, but there is still some "hooking up" things that need to be done before that can happen. And, we do have heat in the tack room in the barn (when the generator is running..... no CMP yet!!!) so the guys do have a warm place to eat lunch and just regroup.

I worry about them on these raw winter days... I know they are used to this, but I still like it when they can get warmed up before heading back out to work.

My last complaint .... still waiting for the electric company to come and do the final hook up... truly a 10 minute project.. but alas... no one yet. And with this weather and the fact that there will be power outages with this ice hanging on the lines, it will be another weekend that we run on generator!!! I keep promising the horses that their electric buckets will work one day soon.... but I think they are beginning to doubt me!!!