With the end of the year here, Boxes in Fields spent the last few days wrapping up some odds and end projects in preparation for next year. In order to move forward, one must have a good footing. Working around in a mess is not the start to a solid foundation.

To obtain a solid footing foundation, the very first thing needing completion was the clean up and organization of the two Storage boxes.  One box is mainly being used as a storage facility for all our crap belonging in the house and the shop when they are finally completed along with our few recreational activities supplies.  These are items only used occasionally, yet cannot at this time, be donated to those with more pressing needs.  Maybe these are someday activities since all of our time is spent on Boxes in Fields but it is my hope a time will come when there is time to take a break.  One can only work day in and day out on the same project before a break is needed.

The second storage box is the box we are using as the temporary workshop.  It stores all the materials and supplies needed for this endeavor.  It too needed to be cleaned up and organized since a shipment of supplies was delivered on Wednesday.

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Being they came the day before the Planner was making a quick trip to big city #1, they were quickly shoved into the one of the boxes.  By looks of the picture, there should have been plenty of space to work around it but there was no room to store the tractor and additional tools and materials were brought back from big city #1.

And no, before you ask, the tractor cannot be stored outside.  Have I not mentioned the level of salt corrosion?  This tractor belongs to the Doubter, therefore it gets taken care better than anything we own.  On a side note, let me talk about this fantastic trailer the tractor came on, also belonging to the Doubter.  Trailers are not all the same and I am not talking about length, sideboards, and weight capacity.  I am talking about ease of use.  This trailer has a hydraulic switch. Never on any of the half dozen trailers owned, borrowed, towed, used, has one of them had a hydraulic switch.

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It is this installation of a simple machine that makes this trailer so fantastic.  Raising and lowering a trailer with the use of a jack is time consuming and can be very difficult.  This is especially true if there is a lot of weight on the trailer.  Lots and lots of rotations of the handle must be done before the trailer is lowered or raised.  All parts of the body hurt when raising the trailer since it takes even more effort.  It is very tiring.  

But not with this trailer!  With this trailer, raising and lowering the tongue is as simple as the flip of a switch.  Easy peasy.  I just love, love this trailer.  One day when I grow up, I am going to have a fancy trailer like this one.

Anyhoo, I digress.  So yes, materials were ordered, shipped, and delivered.  There was a pallet of bagged concrete, rebar in various shapes and sizes, and two concrete tubes.  Additional tools like a portable concrete mixer and materials, such as these base plates, were brought from big city #1 along with the tractor and a bigger backhoe attachment.  With all these new materials and the tractor, the work box is bursting at the seams.  To prepare for the new project next week, the storage boxes needed to be methodically cleaned and organized.

Completed projects such as the water management system hadn’t been properly cleaned up after.  PVC parts were strewn about, electrical wiring had come unbounded and had become a tangled mess, and there was just a collection of dirt and debris from weeks worth of work in a construction zone.  The concrete pallet was divided in half and the remaining bags were moved into the second storage box.  Even with half the bags removed, the tractor was at max carrying capacity.  Just look at those tires.  Concrete tubes were hung from the ceiling, rebar chairs were stacked as nicely as possible, and rebar sticks laid along side of the box leaving just enough room to drive the tractor in.  It was a very tight fit.  But that is okay, cause the new project starts next week and these materials will be used quickly.

With everything cleaned and organized, the rest of the holiday weekend was spent contemplating new materials and the work they just created.  New materials are so exciting.  In separate forms they are just rebar and concrete.  But together….  together, the possibilities are endless.  Oh, this new project is so exciting.  Have you figured it out yet?  Can you see why I am so excited?  I mean just a few short months ago this was raw land.  Now it is home.

Tomorrow Boxes in Fields takes one step forward hopefully with a strong footing. Tomorrow’s footings starts the foundation to implementing our plan, our Boxes in Fields. Here’s to a Happy New Years!