Jim and I spent 1 hour working on the tarp. ¹ I then went up to metal detect with Vincent Staub ² for 2 hours; found nothing of value - a couple harness rings and a thin steel plate, and some other junk. I feel like I have the flu from so much walking around - I ache a lot and am very tired.

Jim³ and I spent three hours working on the tarp. It's almost done - just need to attach navigation ropes, and secure a few more grommets. Still feel like hell from all the running around I've done the last couple days.

Jim and I spent an hour and forty-five minutes out at the barn, measuring roof width, and scoping out other factors to get ready to put the tarp up. I noticed that the yellow jackets (3 of them) were back. I agreed to get materials we need at Lowes tomorrow, so we can build the tarp anchors. Jim suggested I contact Gael's ⁴ boyfriend Mike about mowing behind the barn.

Mother ⁵ went with me to Lowes ⁶ after I took her to get a flu shot, and we picked up hardware for tarp anchors. Got home and found out Jim needed to work with John, ⁷ so we couldn't do much. Jim came out so we could roll up the tarp, as it is supposed to rain tomorrow, and we didn't want it collecting water. After seeing the lag screws I bought, Jim decided they should be longer, so after his fifteen minutes of work, he left, and I went back to Lowes to buy longer lag screws. I paid Jim for yesterday's time and the fifteen minutes today. ⁸ We agreed we will work tomorrow night starting around 4 PM. Called exterminator, and they are to come out again and spray 06 November 03. Jim called later and said he had forgotten he would be busy tomorrow. We agreed to work 06 November 03. Note - I called the Woodford guy ⁹ last week sometime to ask about the number for the roofer and info on the Powder Post Beetle killer he had promised me - he hasn't called back after he was here or after the call from last week (31 October 03, I think).

Cold and rainy, although rain had stopped before I got home. I simply didn't feel like freezing and getting wet to work for an hour and a half until dark, so I called Jim and we agreed to work tomorrow, starting around 3 PM after I get off work early.

Jim and I spent two hours working on the tarp at Mother's house, finishing it up, running the relatively complex array of ropes necessary to lift and deploy it on the barn roof. It was our first cold weather, so it was great. Patsy ¹⁰ arrives tonight - Jim and I plan to work tomorrow if stuff with Patsy doesn't take precedence. Jim is not available 09 November 03, so our next day to work after tomorrow will be Monday, 10 November 03.

Patsy was here, and Jim was busy when I was free, so we did nothing. I took lumber in to Jim's garage and dropped it off, so he could possibly begin work on tarp anchor bars for the barn. I also bought an adapter for the drill I needed at Ace ¹¹ in Tipp.

Spent 45 minutes assembling my wheel barrow to be used at the barn. Took it up as soon as it was finished. Jim was busy with train ¹² stuff today, so we did nothing. I'm to call him later this evening to work on arrangements for working tomorrow and 11 November 03, Veteran's Day.

Jim spent 1 hour at his garage working on cutting and nailing the anchors for the first tarp. We then met at the barn and worked for 1.5 hours until dark putting up the far north anchor on the east side. We hope to put the other anchor up tomorrow, and try to get the tarp into place too. Tom ¹³ and Gael's boyfriend Mike are on-call to come up and help. Mike will hopefully also take a look around and give me an estimate on "bush-hogging" all the vegetation around the barn so it will be clear for the winter.

Went into town to help Jim with his gutters for 1.5 hours. We then spent four and a half hours putting another anchor on the barn, clearing the area beneath for the ladder, and Jim running out to get nails and drill bits too. Mike, Gael's boyfriend, stopped by and looked around as far as giving me a quote to clear all around the barn. Jim called and said he said it would likely be about $180 a day for two to three days. I told Jim OK. This won't include rental costs if he needs a chipper or other equipment. Told him I'd like it done before it snows. Tom stopped by and helped us move the tarp from Mother's house to the back of the barn in his truck. What a heavy son of a gun! And what a rotten day - not too cold but misty and rainy - everything was wet or muddy. It felt good to clear around the northwest corner of the barn. ¹⁴ I'm to call Jim tomorrow to make arrangements to work again, probably Friday after the weather clears and Jim's schedule frees up.

Jim and I talked, and we decided to work tomorrow.

I was freezing from work, ¹⁵ and it was nasty windy and cold, so I decided we wouldn't work until tomorrow. Jim and I talked more about how we would get the tarp on the roof.

In the biggest example of bullsh*t I've seen in quite some time, when we got out to the barn, and the northwest door had blown in again, but this time falling and fatally damaging Jim's ladder. So we get to waste more time (and more money) to fix the SOB again. Oh, and I got to buy Jim a new ladder too. And, we got nothing done tonight except that. We plan to put the door up again tomorrow. My guess is, it won't be coming down again in my lifetime. ¹⁶ Jim called late, and came up with an improved method (hopefully) of getting the tarp on the roof, using a third ladder. We agreed to start work sometime after Mary Renner and I got done looking around Sid's property. ¹⁷

Finished looking at Sid's place with Mary and got with Jim about 12:45pm. A cold, drizzly day. We opted to work right away on the tarp lifter, ¹⁸ and let the collapsed door go. We goofed around for hours trying to get two ropes over the barn and in the right place. We worked for a little under six hours, until after dark. We plan to start around 10AM tomorrow, and actually (hopefully) try raising the tarp to see what happens - finally!

Jim and I spent seven hours putting the first tarp up. There was so much walking and moving stuff around, my feet were killing me. The tarp went up great using the three ladder method, but we had some trouble unrolling it; it was loose, sliding around on the roof, and too much stayed on the west side. Lines were tangled too. It hangs over both sides though, so it's really fine I guess, it just doesn't have the relative lengths on each side I wanted. We started at 10:30AM, and ended around dark at 5:30PM. I WAS SO TIRED! We left the ladders up, and the ropes just laying around, as I just wanted to get home and rest. We agreed to work sometime later this week on cleaning up, and fixing the west door. Now the real test - will the wind rip the thing apart?

Jim and I spoke, and talked about meeting tomorrow out at the barn to inspect the tarp, and figure out just what we needed to finally secure the west doors.

Went out to the barn with Jim and spent 1 hour figuring out what we need to do with the west doors. Tarp looks good, but had shifted a bit. Lines needed to be tightened. We agreed to go to Lowes 21 November 03 and get whatever Jim we needed.

Jim and I worked for 1.5 hours on clearing brush, fixing the stairway ¹⁹ and tightening the tarp ropes on the east side. We made agreement to go to Lowes tomorrow. Jim said Mike Douglas (Gael's boyfriend) called and wants to work tomorrow and the next day on clearing the area around the barn. Looks like Tom might come out tomorrow or the next day to help out also. Though Sunday looks to be the last of our good, warm weather.

A very productive day, and the weather was like a Summer day. Jim and I spent about 2.5 hours in the morning traveling around gathering materials, including to Tractor Supply ²⁰ and Lowes. We then moved out to the barn at about 12:15PM to begin work there, where we worked for 5.5 hours until dark. We got the southernmost north door solidly in place with turn-buckles and hooks. Gael's boyfriend Mike came out and worked four hours on clearing brush and long grass behind the barn, and it looks great. He will be back tomorrow to work more. The weather, the progress we were making, even the remembrances of the Kennedy assassination on the radio (and the quiet out there too) made it a very memorable day. ²¹ It doesn't get any better than today for barn work and a feeling of satisfaction. Gave Jim money to buy additional materials in Beavercreek sometime tomorrow. We also plan to work in the morning tomorrow, and hopefully finish up by noon so I can do some other things and Jim can help Don ²² do some stuff. Told Tom not to come up to help clear stuff yet, as I want Mike to get as much work as he can, since he has went to so much trouble to bring things up to help in his work, like a Gravely, etc.

Jim and I worked for three hours in the morning, and got the corral area much more cleared, and the east door closed with two block and tackles. Mike was there and worked for six hours, clearing much of the back and north side. Unfortunately, he broke his Gravely on a rock, and I felt obligated to offer to pay for the damages. Gave him $75 toward repairs, and told him to tell Jim what further I owed him. The place looks much better, but still needs much clearing work since Mike's workday was cut short because of the broken Gravely. Very comfortable for a late November day, although overcast.

Worked for about 45 minutes in the morning clearing weeds. Jim stopped by to drop off some door parts he bought. Tom then arrived, and later Mike, John and somebody I didn't recognize. Mike picked up the Gravely, and wanted to look at Joe Lesher's ²³ Cutlass, to possibly buy it. John looked around and expressed doubt about my ability to save the barn, which didn't help. We probably walked around and talked for an hour and a half or so. Came back late in the day by myself and worked for 1.5 hours clearing weeds. Warm, but very windy from SSW. At times, the entire tarp on the west side of the roof would lift from roof. Asked Jim to come up with a solution for this, as over time it might cause problems.

Wind has been blowing like hell from the SSW all night and day. Cold with very cold wind chill. Went up on the way home from work and the tarp had separated at the center. Came home, ate and changed and took mother up with me to look further, with her binoculars. It appears two nylon straps have broken about halfway up the roof to the north. Great - why are these busting? You should be able to tow a car with them. Called Jim; we agreed to work tomorrow as soon as I get home from work.

Went up and looked at the tarp. Jim climbed up to it on the north side using the 40 ft ladder. Two tie straps had broken, and the tarp had slid north. We screwed around for an hour and twenty minutes and managed to slide the tarp south some by me pulling on it with a rope, but managed to break another tie strap on the south side. Jim attached the tarp corners to their respective pipes, but the tarps barely overlap over much of their width. If the tarp hadn't been completely lifting off the roof as witnessed on 23 November 03, the stupid tie straps would have never broken and we wouldn't have had this problem. We must have ballast on the next tarp. Jim felt like he may be able to use a ladder to build a support device so he could get to the roof and fix the tarp. He bought sandbags today to help with ballast. I have my doubts, as they will slide down the tarp until they rest on the pipes and over time will stress the tie-straps. They have to be anchored so they don't put too much weight stresses on the tarps or the tie straps. Jim said Mike called and there was no damage to the Gravely- just a bent guard/slide rail which somehow kept it from working. That will be $75 back I can use. Jim and I agreed to work tonight, if there's something we could do to significantly help the tarp in the light of day we would have.

Jim and I spent about an hour and a half out at the barn, figuring our tarp-fix strategy and clearing brush. I shoveled my first load of stable dirt and moved it to the largest groundhog hole. Used my SUV to pull several things from the NW area of the barn to the garbage pile well behind the barn. Jim said Mike said there was some damage to the Gravely after all, so I'll have to wait and see how much money (hopefully) I get back. Mentioned to Jim about Mike maybe would be interested in the reel mowers for $1,000. ²⁴ Jim thought he could make the ladder-roof device pretty quickly, using mostly materials we already have. Apparently I've gotten more Poison Ivy from work last Sunday - itches, but not as bad as last time. We'll work tomorrow (Thanksgiving) if it's not raining in the morning. Heard from Sarah ²⁵ who owns a barn north. The first team of people Woodford sent were rude (one of them was), and she argued with the company and got a new team, and they are working now. She invited me up to look at the work when they are done. The stupid culvert is fixed so I don't' have to drive a detour to get to the barn - 38 trips around it was enough. ²⁶

Thanksgiving. Raining pretty good in the morning, so no work today.

Miserable cold, snowy day. We decided not to work, but will try tomorrow. I drove by the tarp from Evanston ²⁷ and it looked OK, although some part appeared to be sticking up on the south end of the west side tarp. Likely part of the tarp that was loose now that we broke a south side tie strap.

Sometimes sunny, but cold day because of the wind. We worked for two hours inside the barn, making the ladder that will let Jim move around on the roof. While Jim was constructing the ladder, I spent time cleaning the dirt and boards off the bad sections of the floor. There was a little snow inside the barn, and the lower lever floor was a mess because of all the rain. Jim told me it would likely not cost to have electrical service installed - I wasn't aware of that. We plan to return tomorrow (when it will hopefully be warmer) and place the ladder on the roof, and hopefully Jim can get the west side tarp edges overlapping properly again and lay the four 60 LB sand bags on it so the tarp won't move again under the strong winds we seem to be getting. Jim also thinks tarps on the floor will be a good idea if we can channel water out through holes in the floor. ²⁸

What a living hell! 1.5 hours of worked squeezed into 6 hours and 10 minutes as Jim and I tried to get a ladder on the roof so he could work on the tarp. It took hours to get a rope over and get the ladder to work. The wind was of course blowing like hell. My feet were killing me. I was so p*ssed, and very discouraged. There has to be a better way to get this stuff done. What a son of a b*tch! We finally got three sandbags onto the damn tarp. I told Jim I would call him tomorrow.