Finished for this year

My goal going in was to get a roof on before winter this year. This weekend we reached that goal. All of the main stuff is pretty much done. Next year will be cutting out windows, chinking cracks and doing finish work. The hard labor is complete. Here are some interesting stats:

* Started cutting down trees on May 2nd.
* Finished the main structure this weekend, October 19th.
* Worked on the cabin 20 out of 25 weekends.
* Used 2 weeks of vacation time.
* A round trip to the cabin from our house is around 650 miles.
* 650 miles x 20 weekends = 13,000 miles on my truck
* 13,000 miles / 16 miles a gallon = 812 gallons of gas x $2.40gal = $1,948 on gas.
* Round trip = 10 hour drive. 10hrs x 20 weekends = 200 hours spent driving.
* Dad worked with me just about every weekend. With a conservative estimate of 20 hours worked per weekend you get: 20 hours x 2 people x 20 weeks = 800 man hours. We also had help from Terry, Denny, Roxie, Tory and Steve. Figure another 150 man hours for that. Total man hours ~ 950!
* If you also calculate out the amount of time and money Dad spent getting up there you can double my own figures above! Pretty amazing.
* THEN if you figure in all of the breakfasts, lunches and dinners that were prepared by Jean, Faye and Shelly you have to figure in about 400 more hours.

I am truly lucky to have a family willing to do all of this to help me out with my crazy ideas! As evidenced above I couldn't have done it by myself. Thanks everyone!

I'll probably be finished updating for the winter but will start up again in the spring. Here's the pictures:

Roof is On!

Put the rafters on this Saturday and the sheathing on Sunday. Really changes the look. Cleaned up the logs on the ends too. Now to order up the tin and do the end walls. One more weekend ought to be enough to get it buttoned up for winter.

Getting Ready for the Roof / Adding the Loft

Most of this weekend was spent getting the top logs cut flat for the rafters. Also added the loft and the support logs on the porch. That about finishes up the prework. Will start on the roof next weekend.

Walls are DONE!

A little late with the update but the weekend of Aug. 28,29,30, we got the last log up. Awesome feeling to know we don't have to hoist any more logs on the wall. I can't say thanks enough to Dad and Terry for helping out with this hair-brained scheme of mine. I couldn't have done it without them. Now to get the roof on in September. Shelly's cousin Steve stopped out on Sunday and had some good insite on the roof. I have no clue how to build a roof so I was glad to have some help. Think we'll go with a 14/12 pitch. That should give us a 6 1/2 foot center height above the walls which we'll be plenty of room in the loft. It's going to be a couple of weeks until we get back up there due to Labor Day weekend and pager responsibilities for me. Next update will hopefully show some roofing!

Have you heard about Brett Favre?

Brett Favre is coming to the Vikings and people in the state of Minnesota are just a little bit excited (See below). Not only do we get a future first ballot hall of famer but we really get to stick it to those Packer fans just across the river (as well as the traitors living within our own borders). Sure, he's almost 40 and has a huge ego but we used to have Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels competing for the starting job, ever heard of them? If nothing else interest in the team has never been higher and the game days vs. the Packers will be like state holidays. I think we are actually getting a few extra minutes of daylight due to the #4 packer jersey burnings that are taking place.

Shelly's cousin Mark stopped out this weekend to show off this little project. I guess the steer horns for the hood are on order. SKOL Vikings!

Nearing the End.....of logs that is

Burned up my last 2 disposable vacation days for the year and put in a 5 day work week. Wanted to finish up the log walls and nearly made that goal. Still have 4 more logs to go. Dad was working with me again (Thanks Pops, wouldn't be close to this point without you) and we managed to put up 13 logs. Considering our previous high was 9 I think we did alright. We had to break out the neighbors big tractor (Thanks Denny!) to get the last few logs on. Dad rigged up a pulley system between trees but we lost control of one and it turned into a battering ram on the back wall. I thought it was going to break right out the other side but it held without a scratch. I guess that was the strength test. Next weekend we'll finish up the logs and finish figuring out how we're doing the roof. Oh yeah and Jonah shot a rabbit.

Long Time, No Updates

After missing a couple of weeks we were back at it last week. We are now 53 inches high with a goal of 84. At 84 inches we'll put a couple of logs across to support the upstairs floor and then 1 more layer of logs. We should end up at a final wall height of about 92 inches or so. I did manage to get some new logs last week. Had to pay through the teeth for them but they are already peeled and are blessedly straight. The original logs we have left are very crooked and a real pain to get seated right. We also celebrated Jonah's 10th birthday last weekend. Hard to believe he's already 10. Only 5 more years until that learners permit. **shudder**

Now we're getting somewhere

Put up 7 logs this weekend. Really starting to feel like a cabin. Dad started cutting notches and having 2 chainsaws going at the same time really speeds things up. I am already almost out of logs. Need to find some more, hopefully ones that are already dried. Only have about half the logs I need. Taking 2 weeks off due to work commitments and hopefully that will give me time to call around and find logs before we get started again.