Building A Gypsy Wagon-- Part 4 / Now It Is June...We Begin The Wagon Walls

*Front view of our wagon-- complete with brass water jack, antique mail box, and lanterns.*  (As you can see, Siobhan and I had to move everything into a barn aisle, or else work outside in lightning and rain!)  

 

*Rear view of our wagon-- showing storage box for cast iron cookware, hay cratch, window and shutters for the lower sleeping quarters.

  

How quickly the weeks pass; now it is June...the days are longer, the sky is bluer, and the air is filled with the sounds of summer--bees softly buzzing, water sprinklers whirring, the whine of a saw keeping time to the rhythm of a hammer...The sounds of saw and hammer are our contribution to summer's symphony, as Siobhan and I continue to work on our wagon. 

The rains have been relentless this month, and the air  heavy with humidity.  Neither paint nor varnish can easily cure in such conditions; still, we try.  Air, land, and water are teeming with insects-- most of which try to adhere themselves to our wet paint, or else bite the painters.  Siobhan and I both can attest to that.  She has a horrible spider bite on one shoulder, along with multiple mosquito bites randomly scattered on arms and legs.  I have  fared better, as I have had only one tick bite; unfortunately  I  contracted Lyme disease from that, and now have aching joints and a fevered brain...   Even so, with all our ailments, we have managed to get quite a bit of work done on the wagon.    

Siobhan and I now have completed the 3 panels that make up the back wall, the six panels and door that make up the front wall, and the bottom panel and ledge of both left and right sides. We have finished the framework for both upper and lower sleeping berths.  (The upper berth is to be Siobhan's, the lower berth is to be mine.) We have done quite a bit of work on the lower sleeping berth; we  have finished the ceiling, as well as four small cabinets and a built-in nightstand for the left side wall.   We now are now working on the cabinets and nightstand for the right side wall.  When those are completed, we can nail down the flooring for the upper sleeping berth, and begin building Siobhan's cabinets.

 Sometimes it is hard to curb our enthusiasm now that we are over halfway finished, and the wagon is starting to LOOK like a gypsy wagon...(Siobhan likes to say "Let's go stand and look at the wagon, and Just Beam!!")  And just as soon as we finish beaming, the work will continue...

*Rear view of wagon--showing windows and shutters for both upper and lower sleeping berths.

                                           *Interior view of lower sleeping berth, back wall.

                                       *View of lower berth's stained and stenciled ceiling.

*My first attempt at cabinet building!