Hay

Very little has happened to the hay barn since Tyler left but some progress has been made. I bolted the rest of the posts to their respective Simpson brackets. Last night our neighbor John helped me put a couple rafters up and I added more support cables. But look at the quality of this lumber:

It is warped, twisted, and split, but at least it was expensive. A friendly neighbor said it was "some of the best lumber he has seen..." and that was when I learned that my neighbor needs glasses.
More progress has been made on the hay barn since I began this post. We hired a local reggae DJ, Doctor Fresh, to help. The major time sensitive job that needed doing was the moving of twelve tons of hay into the barn. I moved 4 tons on my own and I think it was my physical appearance that made Jenny decide to hire a helper. In Jenny's words, "You look like you climbed Everest without oxygen during the Himalayan war and you lost. And it was hot and sunny and you got too much sun. And thousands of paper cuts. That's what you look like." I paraphrased (or completely made that up).

Before

After

Doctor Fresh also helped put more rafters and support cables up. The hay has proven to be an effective scaffolding to stand on while putting up rafters.

Chicken update:

Our chicks have turned into chickens - half of them roosters. These, by the way, are what you get when you cross a bantam Phoenix hen (second from right, rear) with a bantam Cochin rooster (deceased).