Week 2 of the Outhouse Story. The old outhouse almost became history because it developed an unhealthy lean. Kevin was called in to stabilize it and keep it upright. Once the idea was seeded that I wanted it to be the She-Shed-Studio B, much more action had to be taken. Kevin was called back to re-roof and re-side 3 of the walls, put back most of the ceiling boards that were coming down and install 2 new large windows. Later he would rework the south side with the 10 glass panels that I purchased at auction.

Our part started with cleaning out all the stored goodies and junk that was being housed on top of straw that was up to 3 feet in a number of places. Several pickup loads went to auction and a lot went to the metal recycling place. Then the hard, dusty part of hauling the straw from the chicken house period to the garden began. About 60 loads of garden wagon sized loads went to the back garden. We will not mention what was all found in the straw. It was a true artifact dig. Next came the pouring of the new concrete floor to level out and build up the floor. Hours of removing nails, etc, etc from the walls along with scraping and power washing the wall were “enjoyed”. Then the interior walls had to have all kind of rebuilding and since it was made with bits and pieces to begin with and had wood of all ages, we took the “don’t make it too fancy, nothing matches to begin with” approach. It got to be a very long, slow process and at times some very interesting words were shared.

I recall with total delight the year the electrical work got done. Pure joy but still a few years off to finishing. I recall the time Kevin got called back to work on the south side windows and I felt we might just get this done some year. Time, health, interesting words and weather all worked into this 6 year project.

Everything started to fall in place this year and I finally began to see that it would really happen. I wanted to keep the original door so Larry rebuilt it and it turned out great. Our neighbors Tony and Rose have been angels to help us out with so many things and once we finally got the air conditioner in place we could work on hot days. We got to move in all 3 looms from barn storage and currently have gotten one set up in place. Tony is going to come over and with Larry’s direction, put up the old Swedish all wood and wood pegged loom. There are so many things to move and clean from various storage places. I think my collecting has outweighed the space we have and some of the collection will need to be given new homes. The supply of warp, weft and other loom accessories are being unearthed daily and I do have a COLLECTION! To say I am excited and overjoyed is putting it mildly.

Concrete people are booked solid this year so that will have to be done next year. I want to do an area along the outside South wall that will connect to the present concrete grain bin base for a patio area. The flower pots, rainbow chimes and outdoor painting will be a spring 2021 project. I had purchased the champagne for the grand opening a few years back so almost all the important things are in place.

We probably would have been better off taking down the building and putting up a new structure but we so loved the history of the building that we never even talked about that happening. Hopefully everything will be done spring of 2021 and I can just kick back and enjoy the She-Shed/Girl Cave/ Former Outhouse and Storage Shed. I might even have a few things made on the looms by that time. There will be an announcement of the official opening. Dream coming true! Yes, Yes, Yes