Extreme Makeover: Hoghouse Edition

With the beautiful break in the weather (not too hot, not too cold... still unfortunately dry) and a little break between Summer field work and Fall field work, we decided it would be a great time to tackle a little yard improvement job we've been wanting to do for quite a while.  Our hoghouse, which has been on the yard since 1980, was in dire need of a paint job to take care of some rust issues that have come up over the past 30+ years.  So after ordering a few gallons of special paint, gathering together our brushes and paint thinner, and enlisting the help of his father,  Josh got to work.

Day One:




First, he had to wash the building to get it nice and shiny clean for the paint.  Usually, the pressure washer is used to clean and sanitize the inside of the building between batches of farrowing sows (mama pigs having their babies), but this time it was used to wash the outside of the building using a degreaser and clean water.




And yes, I was very nervous about  Josh being up there.  Not so much because he was on top of the roof.... it was more because he was on top of a wet, slippery METAL roof!




As you can see, he made it down safely and began washing the sides of the building.  The "red" that you see him washing here was actually once-upon-a-time blue.  But over time, the paint faded and the metal rusted through.

 Day Two:

Loren was on ground duty:  he kept the sprayer running smoothly, kept the paint loaded and made sure the paint was the right consistency (using the afore-mentioned paint thinner).  It was a guessing game at first: the green for the roof and trim was really thick and it took some trial and error to get it just right to go through the sprayer.  By the end of the job, Loren was mixing paint and thinner like a practiced chemist.

By the end of the first day, parts of Josh made him look like a little green man.  That's my very clean hand as a comparison.

There's the tan going on.  For those of you who don't know, our house is tan and green... as is our shop.  So picking the paint color for this job was a cinch.



Still painting tan.  The guys use their bucket loader for all sorts of jobs, including reaching tough to reach spots with the paint sprayer.  I think its actually safer than a ladder since the bucket won't fall and there's quite a wide area for them to stand on. 




You can see the new color tan along side the old white and rusty blue (red).




Meanwhile...
 The kids had gotten their tractors and wagon out to play in the rocks.  Its amazing how long simple ol' rocks will entertain kids! 




I like this picture because you can see one of our grown kitties (the same ones I posted about as babies this past spring!) and Baby Ford (again, posted about this past spring!) in the background.



Caleb finally convinced Sarah Rose to get out of the wagon to make it easier to go up the hill.  Sarah Rose kept insisting that Caleb was strong enough, but she finally gave in to Big Brother's limitations after being stuck at the bottom of the hill for quite a long while.

Day Three:


What says "farm boy" more than bibs, wrangling a cat and an oversized seed corn hat?  I love this picture!





Painting the trim.  I think Josh thought this slower part of the job was almost as fun as actually watching the paint dry. 




Meanwhile....
This day's entertainment was watching one of the cats catching a mouse, playing with it and trying to eat it.  At first, the kids were curious but kept their distance.  But after a while...




...they didn't see any need for distance and tried to keep up with the cat and mouse chase to see what would happen.  (The mouse eventually got away, leaving the kitty to sulk back to the house to his not-so-tasty dry cat food.)




Still painting trim...




At coffee time, the kids discovered the trees had acorns on them.  They haven't started to drop yet, but we have lots of branches low enough that we can pull them down and gather the acorns right off the tree.  Sarah Rose wasted no time in grabbing Daddy's pliers to crack them open.  She needed help at first...




...but in no time, we heard the familiar "self" coming from her and insistence to do it all by herself.




Besides the cat and mouse chase and acorn discovery, the other additional highlights of the day were being able to climb on the tractor tires and play with Papa's mini tape measure.  Sarah Rose was pretty proud of being able to work the tape measure all by herself and Caleb was excited that the valve stem of the tire was in the right place so he could climb all over it without us fearing he would break it off.

 Day Four:


Josh and Loren were able to paint all the trim but only one side of the roof before they ran out of paint.  We had to order more paint and wait for several days before it came in before finishing the second side of the roof.  It was quite the lesson in patience, as we really were looking forward to seeing what the finished job would look like!  Here he is getting started.




When I took this picture, we had just stepped out the door from having Caleb change from his school clothes into paint friendly clothes (although I kept him well away from the enamel paint, you just never know when an accident might happen!).  It was all the kid could handle to watch from the car as we drove past the job to the driveway, got out of the car and had to go inside and took the time (all two minutes) to get changed.  He couldn't wait to run across the yard to the excitement, as you can see in the lower left hand corner of the pictures.  (He was so excited he didn't even stop to terrorize...um, I mean play... with the cats lounging on the front porch!)




Finishing up the roof!




And onto the last part of the trim!




And finally!  The last section of the last part of the trim is.....




...DONE!




Meanwhile...
The attraction for the kids that day was chicken feathers: gathering them and then tossing them up into the wind to watch them blow away.  Once again, its amazing what'll keep them entertained!




The truck was parked in an unusual spot that day, which I guess the chickens found interesting.  The truck was their hangout location for the afternoon.



Cat meet Rooster.
  Rooster... Cat. 



Sarah Rose tried figuring out the box blade.  The parts wiggled a little bit, but given that they didn't actually MOVE, she wasn't interested in them for long.




You would think that by the end of the fourth day, gloves would seem obvious!  Oh well, he won't stay a little green man forever.  And yep, that's my arm for comparison.

 Day Five:


The reveal.  The front....




...the side (LOVE the clouds in this picture!)...




...and the whole building.  For a little explanation, this is a farrowing/nursery unit.  About two thirds of the building (the right side in this picture) holds 17 farrowing stalls.  The stalls allow the sows (mama pigs) to keep their piglets separate from the other sows.  The stalls also have feeding units that allow the sows to eat individually.  The sows are fed special feed meant for the last part of gestation (being pregnant) and nursing for the sows and babies' health.  The stalls have a special rubber coated flooring and plenty of room to move, so the mamas are comfy.  There are also areas of the floor that are heated just right to keep the piglets warm.  The stalls also allow Josh and Loren to work on the sows if they gave trouble pigging, before, during or after.  The last third of the building is a nursery unit where the babies stay for a while to "toughen up" after being weaned and before they are transferred to another outdoor area to grow up to become bacon and pork chops.  Obviously, a big advantage about the building is that it keeps the mamas and babies out of the elements, be it extreme heat or cold.