Plans are moving forward to demolish the barn over the summer. My favorite crew from Monaca Royal Construction Enterprise could be here any time now – they are loosely scheduled for “sometime in June,” when they are done with their current project.
So it was a bit of a race to make sure we had everything ready. Thanks to our electrician Steven’s work this week, we now have completed the critical points that had to happen before tear-down – move the power and Internet out of the building.
When we built 555 in 2023, we knew the barn reno would be our next project. We planned ahead and ran electricity underground from the house to a junction box in the barn. It was in active use powering the NTT ONU (Internet equipment), outdoor WiFI access point and the aerator for the sewage plant.
Getting the power out of the barn was straightforward. He put the junction box on a temporary pole near the Tile Mines (which are dwindling thanks to friends coming to take them.) At the same time, he installed a 220v charger for Neeps.
We also had to figure out where to put the ONU for the time being. And that was trickier because the fiber cable runs above the driveway to the roof of the barn, and will be right in the way of heavy equipment.
Fortunately, Steven is very clever and also fearless. He climbed on the roof of the Tractorport, got the cabling off the barn, slung a long ethernet cable along the driveway and into the brush where we have the extension cord for my shed studio. The utility pole that carries the optical fiber sits right next to the shed. So now the ONU is in a waterproof box and the shed is permanently on. How convenient! No more running through the garden to plug in the extension cord.
Another small task was accomplished this week. I recently learned that suzumebachi (giant Asian hornets) forage on pussy willow. Many have been buzzing the massive bush at the corner of the barn. So I read up about their habits and on a cold rainy morning, I chopped the pussy willow back significantly. It was way overdue for attention. It might not survive the barn demolition, but for the next little while, it looks very tidy and the hornets have gone away.
So if the guys show up with an excavator and sledgehammers tomorrow and start tearing down the barn, I guess we are about ready. Though I don’t think we will see them for a little while yet; jobs always take longer than planned.
