Not the end of the road, yet.

Good day and welcome back (to me too I guess).

A reader sent in a comment asking if I was done and thought I'd do a quick post about the status of the ship.

We spent this past summer and fall taking actual vacation time and working on a few other projects.  Had to build a new raised chicken coup that would blend in to the surroundings.

The chicken coup was partially built out of used pallets.  That's a bit where we're heading with some of our projects, salvaging and giving new life to materials.  My wife has been spending quite a bit of her online time on Pinterest and she found some nifty uses for used pallets.  There is one project in particular, a small cabin made out of pallets that is just amazing and we have started to collect pallets to make one.  We have maybe 8-10 pallets but I guess we'll need about 100.

We also decided it was time (the Mrs. has actually been asking for one for years) to build a greenhouse.  So I recycled to metal frame from a used temporary garage and added in some wood components and we covered the thing with greenhouse plastic sheathing and voilà, instant greenhouse.  Actually, it wasn't as instantaneous as that.  I built sidewalls so we wouldn't have to shovel snow away from the sides during the winter.  Still need to rearrange the interior but I should have some neat pics of this project up at some point.

Other projects ahead in 2015:  well in continuing with out recycling theme, the workshop is in for a major overhaul.  Yes, the little red barn that we had always planned on demolishing once we got around to (and have the budget to) building a garage, will be SAVED!  We are going to tear down sections that are not salvageable but the main 2 story section will be saved.  We will add a small garage (22x12 maybe) and also a covered porch section in the back.  Be sure to check in on this project, should be a fun one.

So the list for this summer is now (not necessarily in order of completion):

• finish pirate ship
• renovate the red barn into something AWESOME.
• Finish greenhouse (it is pretty much done but once we start using it, there will undoubtedly be some changes to be made).
• Finish chicken coup (actually only a few pieces of trim remain and we'll probably finish that this winter)
• Finish the actual barn (this is the one with the actual farm animals in).  It's a board and batton but I never actually got around to putting the battons on.  Also need to rethink the windows in the hayloft as some rain does make it's way in.

Lots of other small projects but the big ones will be the ship and the red barn.

On the pirate ship, I'd be interested to hear your ideas as to what you think is missing.  Here is what is planned.

• Crows nest with rope bridge to the bridge.
• Finish railings
• Cargo net (we bought one but I find it very flimsy so will buy a spool of rope and make one from scratch)
• Possibly use some netting to make a mock-sail.  I don't want something that will catch too much wind but would like something that "simulates" a real sail.
• Finish the cabins (need to put in some sleeping areas) and brig area.
• "Child proof" a few hatches.  I don't have any springs or pistons slowing down the shutting of hatches and although doors aren't too bad, the hatch in the middle of the deck has ALMOST caught a few fingers.

That's it for now I guess but check back soon for progress reports on the ship and any other projects I'll have on here.

And to everyone, a very happy 2015!

André