Finally, our new Goat Tractor!!!

After two years of desire, a year of failures and then another six months of planning, Penelope, Arwen, Big Mama and Maybelle finally have a comfortable new home! Sunday morning found us up early and shopping for lumber at the local lumber store. I'd much rather have scavenged construction materials from Craigslist, Freecycle or local construction sights, but my wonderful Mom offered to purchase all the materials new. And since we were unexpectedly scheduled to have the Tractor done before the first of September, we were left with few options.
That said, we began the actual building of the Tractor after hours of debate and price checking, in wonderful spirits and under the direction of the Lord of Construction, Aaron Reick. In addition to being an engineering student and a building guru, Aaron also happens to be the kids' Godfather. Despite personal constraints, Aaron not only designed and spearheaded our project, he worked and directed us for 12 hours on Sunday. What a guy!

I love this photo of Aaron, to the right. He spent much of Sunday in this pose. Kindly listening to our uniformed advice before respectfully teaching us how things are really done. Such patience! In addition to Aaron's assistance, Luke Russel and Mike Bird also lent their strong backs and nimble hands to our project. Without each of them, we'd never have been able to finish this project. Hero's I tell ya!
Mike and Jenny are our neighbors to the East and their kids Bryson and Carson also threw in their effort. Jason, Josh, Bryson and Carson nailed together the header over the doorway as well as offered us hours of entertainment.

At this point the Tractor is structurally finished. We're planning on painting this weekend and I'd like to find some corrugated metal roofing and a gutter on Craigslist to finish the roof. Then we'll pack bark chips and straw on the ground as a floor for the goats. After it's all finished we will re-fence the East side of the Habitat and fix up the coop. Then we'll be done for the year! I just can't wait to head back to the Habitat and see everyone happy and safe and warm in their specific homes. I'm thinking we'll try to plan a "Habitat Warming Party" sometime in September, so mark your calenders!