Board with Y2K

A weekly event of mine is scanning the La Crosse area newspaper classified section for any good deals on building materials for the house. Two weeks ago, an ad was placed for barn board. I became interested in using barn board for our house after seeing how Ed McAllen used the board to build his own interior doors. They really came out nice. So I figured I’d take a chance and drive up to take a look at boards and to possibly offer to buy the boards.

I drove up New Year’s Day evening and made it most of the way without incident. Unfortunately I ran into freezing rain about 45 miles from La Crosse. (I still think you can see the imprints of my fingers on the steering wheel.) It was a very long 45 miles, but I made it okay.

Early Sunday (in the pouring rain) I met with the fella who was storing the wood in a broken down tractor trailer graveyard. The wood wasn’t as good as I would have liked. Although I am not expecting perfection with 60 year old barn board, I felt the wood did not have enough structural integrity to be “door worthy”, so I passed up the deal.

I did (of course) take a trip out to our land to see how the house was doing. It must be Y2k compliant because it was still standing. I did notice however that Jeff (master plumber, septic and cistern installer) had been out doing some work. I was rather surprised that he came out this late in the season to dig the trench from the well to the house to install the water line. This was actually a good thing though, because now in the spring I should be able to start pumping water.

Over the next two months, I will firm up the plans for the plumbing, electrical and heating systems for the house. I will also be looking for a good deal on some windows for the house. There’s quite a few window manufacturers up in northern Wisconsin, so a road trip may be in order. Stay tuned to Day Creek Journal. I will be posting the plans for all of these systems in the coming weeks.

Until next time, have a Happy New Millennium and remember it’s not too early to begin stockpiling supplies for Y3k — I’m sure there are plenty of good deals out there!