Our sills and low-hanging boards across the front of the barn were rotting, and some porches on our porch were also rotting. Dan Rogers, our friend and the hero of the beautiful Compost toilet upstairs, finally had some time to work on the farm—he is very much in demand.
Sills are critical for an old barn structure; they can cause the whole barn to collapse in a strong wind or snowstorm.
I’ve become fond of Dan. He’s funny, intelligent, and honest, and he has many great stories to tell. He is also meticulous and does great work.
Maria jokes that he and I spend a lot of time gassing each other, country style. But when he gets to work, there is no stopping him until he’s done, no matter how cold or hot. We are friends now, and we have a lot of fun together.
I love having him around. He’s swamped, but he comes running when we are in trouble. He spent the morning working on the sills rotting in our barn; he’ll return soon to finish the job around the barn and front porch. We know when he is coming, but he always texts me the night before.
He is the best, as you can see from the photos.
This is the first layer of wood he installed around the electric pipe wire – it was tricky.
He was keen on putting stains on the wood to protect it.
The stain made a huge difference. Dan even makes sure that there is what the farmers call a “cat hole” for barn cats. All the farmers have one. Zip will have quick access to his heated cat house in the barn in the winter.
I really love hearing about the every day things you post. I love your flower pictures, and being a animal guy, I love your stories, pictures and the antics of your animals.
Thanks Iain, for that note, I think I love you back…
We have yet to find out exactly how that “heated cat house” is actually “heated”….60 million dollar question…
What Iain said…
People like Dan are worth their weight in gold! We have had a plumber like that for many years. Unfortunately he is at the age where he is trying to “retire.” Fortunately for us he has told us that we can keep calling him as needed and if the job is something that he can still comfortably take on, he will do so. He will be nearly impossible to replace. We have tried, thus far unsuccessfully, to find an all-around handyman/maintenance person to assist us as we get older. Some of them won’t even return our calls. Some day they might be thankful for older, but well-paying customers. Not our problem. We are not about to ask someone twice to receive pay for a job well done. Good luck to those in that group.
Ooh, I want to see the Zip cat hole.
Finding a good handyman is a rare thing. Around here where I live, they are few and far between. A girlfriend of mine just found one, he lives on the same street as she does, and he did some very good work for her. She texted all of her friends his business card. He will be inundated with work, as your Dan is. I love the new red stain but I love the faded stain, too! I love old barns – they are a hallmark of Americana, filled with all kinds of interesting history.