n Thursday, my grandpa Pete and his son, Joe, both who work in construction, came by to help me demolish a large concrete manger or feeding trough, that was taking up about a quarter of the ground floor of the barn.  My uncle was afraid I was going to spent years trying to remove it by swinging a sledge hammer at it, and incredibly, offered to bring his skid steer down to help bust it out of there.  The quarters were tight! and I was astounded at how carefully he controlled the powerful piece of machinery.  We got pretty far in a few hours but eventually found we needed a jackhammer as the concrete thickened to some 10 inches thick.  \/  So we rented a little ‘dingo’ with a hydraulic jackhammer,

and finished the job after 9 hours of chiseling, smashing, and ramming the concrete.  (Live Action!)

I got to work on my sledge hammer swinging skills, and wore out my back pretty good trying to move the large chunks of concrete.

And now we have a big hole and room to insulate under the new floor with in-floor heat that Dom and I hope to put in this spring.  

I also have a giant pile of concrete rubble behind the barn.   

My mom suggested that getting rid of the trough, and opening up the space might feel like it will move the project forward even more than repairing the roof.  Both are big hurdles, and feel pretty good.  I am so grateful to my uncle for wanting to help me with this project.  He has a huge heart and when I asked him how I can show him how much his assistance means to me, he said, “you’ll be called to help others in the future as you’ve been helped, and you’ll just have to pay it forward”.  I hope to do my best at this.