So the return to lathe work was an event our lathe installer (Andre) was not looking forward to. Every framing member on the outside of building had to be covered with "Typar" and lathe, all stapled in place. Andre equipped himself with a new knife and stapler and was also issued an air stapler (on probation of course) to complete the task. But he pulled if off impeccably.
I had to visit farmer Alvin for three more bales for stuffing. He didn't have any wheat bales, so we took some barley bales. What a difference in the bales. The barley was baled much shorter, was greener and looked and felt oily-er. Don't tell the building inspector as we told him it was 100% wheat straw.
Anyway, Justin Andre and I used it to fill any remaining voids in the bale walls which were mostly at the corners of the bales. We really only needed a bale and a half.
Once that was done, Justin worked his magic with the weed-whacker trimming the bales to a state of perfection. This makes the plaster application so much easier for the trowellers.
As we were sitting around speculating about why the bales were so different, I was reminded of what we might be. "Citiots" Someone told us that's what you call people like us who know very little about country life except they want to live there.
We speculated that the bales were different because of the baling machine, the genetic engineering of the crop. the skill set of the farmer, or maybe the fact that we truly are "citiots". C'est la vie.
The bottom flashing was installed and lathed over, the windows are all masked off and the tarps are installed in final preparation for the return of the plaster crew.
