Homesteading Home Stretch

The Homesteaders have had marvelous weather here in the home stretch.  The project was delayed a bit by the rains of June, but to have weather like this in the second half of October is a blessing.  

Fall colors with off grid power, solar panels and neatly stacked fire wood.

Or if you prefer, fall colors and ongoing work...

Much of the current work does not photograph well.  Drywall finishing for instance.  But my assignment was not inside.  It was necessary to add a layer of insulation under the floor.  The house sits off the ground - but not very darn far - so one person could crawl under while the other fed rolls of insulation in to be secured.  Hot, tedious work while lying on uneven, hard ground.

It's always fun to work hard alongside your children.  Unexpected conversation topics are frequent.  Such as...why are rolls of insulation called bats?  Well, it is a delightfully obsolete word that refers vaguely to rolls of cotton that had been pounded with bats, or batons if you prefer.  The name just stuck around for rolls of insulation.

OK, then what about brickbats?  A brickbat is a partial brick.  Here a little "Stonehenge" of brick leftovers has been set up on the picnic table.

Brickbat means a partial brick.  It comes from a middle English word meaning a lump or piece.  Perhaps related to the sense of things being hit or knocked with a stick.  In more recent years it has acquired another meaning.  Severe criticism, as in things like theatrical reviews.  Evidently brickbats were popular things to throw during riots and protests.  In more recent times they have turned up in the imaginative comic strip Krazy Kat, a personal favorite of mine.

I must admit feeling a greater kinship with Ignatz than with Krazy.