Starting in on the electricity

Since Melissa has taken on the wiring, she's learning about wire strippers and needle-nose pilers, and how hard getting those little screws to grab the wire is to do while reaching under some wall:

We realized that because we're going to put a lot of little circuits through the house (instead of a couple big ones with all outlets on them) we need more space to get the wires out of the house to the circuit box. So our 1 1/4" pipe wouldn't be big enough. So I was charged with getting the pipe out of the wall, so that we could make the hole in the 18" thick wall bigger. not so easy.

After hitting first one end and then the other with a hammer and multiple sticks, I finally managed to grab it with a pair of pliers and slide it out:

It's amazing how solidly it was in the cob, considering how slick and smooth-sided it was. I feel better about the deadmen and posts with nails on them now.