Work Continues

Starting to doubt if I'm going to be able to enjoy this cabin at all this summmer! The work never ends. We managed to get the porch ceiling on and 3 out of 4 interior walls chinked. Also moved in a shed that I bought from a few miles away. Should be nice to have some storage after we get it leveled and a floor under it. Next week we start in on the interior ceilings and finsh the chinking.

Bonus Post

Here's some more pictures of the progress. Nora made us a nice Tiki for the front porch. Also including a picture of the dinner bell that Dad made. Nice to be close to being DONE!

We have lights

Got the electricity hooked up to the main pole the first friday we were up and now have some lights! Thanks again Denny! I took a lot of crap because I kept turning them on and off to see if they were still working. That's alright though. First electrical I've ever done and everything worked the first time. We also got screens made for the windows and a slide screen for the main door. Made it possible to sleep in it for the first time. Got the chinking done on the outside and got the insulation up on the inside. Took 3 buckets of chinking on the outside. Will have to buy 2 more for the inside. Also managed to get to Pine River, MN and buy some tongue and groove Basswood for the ceilings from a local lumberyard. Got some Popple, which is a type of Aspen, for the floors. Last but not least I found the motherload of dumped field stones for doing the fireplace base and surround. Got some big ones to stack around the foundation and keep the bigger animals out. Think we had a lynx or bobcat living under there last winter.

Electric is mostly done

Got the inside and outside lights and 4 outlets wired up this weekend. Still have to wire in a ceiling fan and 2 more outlets. We have most of the cracks sealed up with foam. Once all cracks are foamed up will cut off the excess and then apply chinking material between the logs. I have 10 days off over the 4th of July so should get a lot done.

Father's Day Fun

Jonah finally got to shoot Dave's AK-47 so he was pumped. Terry caught a nice northern. The sun even came out for the whole day. Very nice.

Electricity, Windows and Shakes

Had a long weekend and made some good progress. Got the electricity trenched in and started wiring up the cabin. Windows are in and the shakes in the front are on. We are home for 3 days and then headed back up. Going to try and finish the electric and start the chinking.

Back At It

We started working on the cabin again a few weeks ago. Hadn't posted because bug treatment and log washing isn't that exciting to look at. Started this weekend with some clean, hopefully bug proof walls and were ready to start staining. We used dark honey on the inside and dark brown on the outside. I think it came out pretty good. Really looks like its made out of lincoln logs now. Forgot my camera so all I have is a cell phone pic. Headed back up on Thursday for a 5 day work weekend. Will run the electricity, cut out the windows and starting chinking up the cracks. Goal is to be sleeping in it by 4th of July.

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.