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**

Still time for fun

As usual we found time for some fun this weekend in addition to getting concrete done. Dennis and Roxie were nice enough to have us over to their place on Sand lake on Saturday and Sunday evenings for some fishing. Jonah had his friend Adrian with this weekend and all 3 of us caught some decent size Northerns. Enough for a huge fish fry on Sunday night. Didn't have a camera with but maybe Roxie can send us her pictures. The kids also found lots of time to ride 4 wheelers and got to stop and see Paul and Babe in Bemidji on they way there.

Concrete work is still better than peeling logs

Poured the concrete for the footings this past weekend. 52 80lb bags of quickcrete for 13 4+ foot posts. Dad and I hauled the concrete in last weekend and this week I was lucky enough to have friends Dennis and Roxie around to help too. Denny also had a lot of good advice and saved me some time and money! Nice to have people around that know what they're doing. Lumber is being delivered this Friday and then I have 11 days off. The next pictures ought to involve lumber being stacked in a vertical direction and maybe even some actual logs on this until now imaginary log cabin.

Peeling logs

Logs are now all peeled. Think we are going to be short about 10-12 logs. I'll have to take down a couple a week and peel them. They'll be wetter than the rest but hopefully it won't matter too much. Still looking for someone around who may want to sell some logs too.






This is what the girls were doing why the boys were peeling logs. We'll put them to work staining and weather sealing once the walls are up.

Memorial day fun

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. At least that's what the Shining taught me. Here's some pictures of what we were doing when we should have been working.

Making some progress

Memorial day weekend and we got 2 days of work in. Have to admit that we did a lot of playing instead of working but still made some progress. Marked out the site and got the post holes started. 2 of 13 complete. 4 feet deep. Luckily the soil is sandy and easy digging. Only problem is the roots. Fell another 3 trees and got about 6 peeled. Dad and the log wizard were real saviors on this part. I severely underestimated how much time the peeling would take. Headed back up this weekend to finish digging post holes and peel as many logs as I can.

Getting Started

Got started this weekend. Put in about 12 hours between Saturday and Sunday. Got about 20 logs down and 16 of them pulled out and off the ground. Next weekend we've got to get the other 4-5 out of the woods and maybe fall a few more. Lots of peeling ahead. Don't think this project would be possible without Walt and Terry. Terry's John Deere was invaluable.