Ta Da!..It's in place and working so well that it's eerie. The house is actually hot. It's beautiful and smells wonderful. How is it that I didn't do this before? Putting a pellet stove in for heat is one of the best things I've ever done around here. It's right up there with the bathroom and kitchen remodeling jobs. I'm a happy girl.

Three equine can eat down a pasture pretty fast even with hay feedings. The farmer that cultivates the wheat fields on two sides of my property felt it his right to cultivate part of my ground as well. Solution?...fence it. Now Dinah, Moon and Shrek have more grazing space and my boundaries are defined. I liked being able to stand out there and have it open and unrestricted but with the price of hay and repeated failed requests not to till my ground the fence was necessary. There' still more to do but I gained 1.76 acres with just this section installed. By fencing the entire property I'll be gaining even more. It's slow hard work and it took four full days to complete. We're all very happy with the results. The next step is to extend the pasture into the trees to encompass a yard hydrant for filling the stock tank. By doing that there will be no 100 foot hose emptying twice a day when the temperatures drop. This is a very good thing.

This time I helped Eric finish up the new wall in the barn.  Now all three equine can be in the barn feeding or tucked out of the weather together.  The weather is changing and the wind has a definite chill to it.  It's going to take a little time for them to all find their feeding positions but they seem to be settling into the idea that all can be in the barn at once without pushing little Dinah out.

The plan is to finish fencing the back pasture and shutting off the main one for re-seeding this autumn.  It's a good day for digging post holes.

Since finishing the pantry project I haven't spent much time on the WC part of the project. Today I had all the parts and no excuses not to mount the little marine toilet onto its foundation. I had taken a nap one day during which my deceased father came into my dream to show me how to make a base for the toilet. It was a puzzle I had been working in my brain. He, true to his nature, made it out of wood. Me, being true to my love of plumbing, made it out of galvanized plumbing parts. It's built for stout. The beauty of making the legs with 1 1/4" nipples and floor flanges is I could raise or lower a leg by turning thus leveling the unit. Saltillo tile is notoriously uneven.

The top of the platform is actually two 3/4" pieces of plywood laminated together and covered with a sheet of aluminum from the Chelan Mirror's offset printing templates. I had gotten several of them years ago to use as cover for cabinet doors in my Airstream trailer. One side, of course, is the news of the day and the other is a flawless expanse of silver. I personally love the stuff and was able to get it free from the newspaper office. I've heard of people covering sides of buildings and roofs. It's a heavier gauge than a soda can but not so thick as to make it impossible to cut and bend.

I'll get into the reason for a marine toilet after I've plumbed it in. It's cute, though, isn't it? And fits the tiny WC space perfectly.

Wth inclement weather looming on the horizon and having three equine to use the barn's shelter at the same time, the space needed to be enlarged once again. This time as I was off playing with my family, the other half of the team was busy working at home. The design and work wasn't for me to "worry my pretty little head" about. Okay, I could do that but the idea a single person, albeit a big strong one, left to muscle those heavy timbers into place left me feeling a little uneasy. He was certainly thinking stronger. Smarter came later in the day by using the tractor to jostle them into place. Of course everything is double bolted to beams and as square as a person can get construction inside an old barn. By the time it's completed all three animals should be able to be inside without a big raucous. If not then stalls will have to be built.

Eric placed the 2x6's in a horizontal position to give more strength and less flex if bumped by the big horses. Smart! Sheets of plywood cover the beams to keep the animals trying to reach through to the hay.

Having this website down for a couple of weeks made me realize how much I enjoy this part of the process. Documenting each step and writing about it here has become a part of my life. I missed it.

Progress was made despite the heat and lack of connectivity. Tonight was cool and fresh after having had a big storm so I was particularly inspired to wrap it up by hauling out the parts, cleaning and moving in some furniture. There's still carpet to put down, art work to put up and cookbooks to tuck away but the pantry is done.

The little WC is almost finished but that's another story.

The room is now completely painted and the shelves for appliances installed above the freezer. I'm contemplating putting up one more shelf there as this room can't have enough of them. Now would be the time to do it while I'm still stubbing my toes on all the implements of construction.

The floor in the WC is tiled and ready for grout. This is my least favorite job. Mixing grout is hard work. It's a challenge to put it down without covering me and everything within a ten foot radius. Cleaning off the tile seems never-ending not to mention what it does to my hands but I know once the floor is finished I'll be happy with the choice. I keep reminding myself that I don't have enough of them to do the entire room and that Home Depot won't either. Oh, and they won't be getting any more. It's a convenient little fantasy. Carpeting the rest of the room will be easier and cleaner but in my world the look of saltillo tile can't be matched.

The panels against the wall are foam board to go on the ceiling. It's a bit outside the box but then this whole house is being done from that approach. It covers the damaged plaster giving a clean white surface with insulating properties.

Sometimes I step outside myself and watch as I shun traditional ways of doing a project. It isn't totally out of necessity but because I'm addicted to the feeling of the creative process. My approach isn't always easier as the upcoming installation of the toilet will demonstrate. It's got my mind working overtime.

The little water closet (or WC tucked behind the new shelf wall) is painted, the foam board is on the ceiling and the floor covered with plywood. It's a blank canvas ready for me to tile and plumb. I have a plethora of saltillo tiles left over from the bathroom remodeling project of last summer. Since I'm approaching this job by using materials already on hand, I can't justify going out and buying something different. Anyway, I really like the tiles and they fit with the look and feel of the room.

As can be seen from the two 12 inch square tiles on the floor, it's a very small space. It's time to cut tile and map out where the plumbing will come up through the floor before mixing a batch of mortar. There are lots of little steps to do before moving onto tiling which I'm chomping at the bit to start on.

It's a beautiful summer Friday night so it's time to kick back and watch the tractor being used to dig a big pit. Burn barrels are illegal to use but not acceptable waste at the garbage dump.

The shelves are painted so I spent the better part of Monday morning putting the food back into the pantry. What fun to organize and inspect every item. You'd think I was a Virgo the way I got so much pleasure from this part of the project. I couldn't just stop there. I cleaned out the room in preparation for painting the rest of the walls. I'd been using this room as a way station for all sorts of projects long finished. It was time to put it all away.

It may seem like a lot of turquoise (Sweet Escape from True Value) but the rest of the walls are a rich yellow (Bountiful) and the ceiling will be white so the whole room will be toned down. The Mexican rug and antique serapes will tie it all together.

I had Eric pose with the level because he worked hard to make it so. In 90 degree weather he deserves a huge thank you.

The shelves are completed and waiting for me to paint. We moved out the old shelves and all the food to access work space. Being able to stand in the newly opened up room gave us a better feeling for how it would look by continuing the shelving onto the adjacent wall. We talked it over and decided it didn't feel right. Putting a shelf at the same level as the top shelf and building shelves above the freezer feels better. There's something to be said about negative space or blank walls. It's good feng shui.