The walls are up

We were real excited to get back up to Maine this weekend to see what had been done. We had talked to Bobbi (Tim's wife) so we knew they had finished the walls, but it was so neat to see it.


This is the front of the house (without the screen porch).


This is the front from the other side,


Another view.


This is from the front of the house looking towards the bathroom.


This is looking towards the master bedroom.


Just to remind you, we are out in the middle of nowhere, this is a print from a moose that crossed our yard.

The first week

Over the weekend, Rick and I worked on the driveway. I don't think I've talked about "my" Kubota tractor. It is so fun to work with. First we moved all the snow away from the edges of the driveway, the we took bucket after bucket of gravel up to the muddy parts of the driveway. We made some progress, but the only thing that is going to help is time and dry weather!


After a long day, cheese, crackers and a glass (or two) of wine is a nice way to relax.


Monday was a holiday (Patriot's Day), so Rick and I were there when Tim and his crew showed up on Monday morning. He brought both his sons; Devon and Dustin. Steve, an experienced craftsman also came with his son Tyler. It was spring break in New Hampshire and Dustin and Tyler were looking to earn some extra money. They will sort logs, carry tools and do some clean up around the site.
Steve

In case you are wondering how the wiring is put into the walls, here is how. After the walls got high enough, Tim took a long drill bit and drilled holes through the log down into the basement.

Below is a close-up of the holes he drilled.



When we left at 3:00, this is how much they got done.

It finally starts!

After wanting this for so many years, the day finally came! Ric and I took Thursday and Friday (the 17 & 18) off because the first load of logs was due to be delivered. At around 8:00 am on Thursday, Tim and his oldest son Devon came to get set up and wait for the delivery truck.

Unfortunately, we had to wait and wait. We thought the truck would be in the area the night before, but there was a misunderstanding. It didn't leave Sherburne, NY until 5:00 am. So he didn't get to Brownfield until 11:30!

Here it comes, the truck with all of the logs for the walls of our cabin.


I was surprised the logs were covered, after all they are just trees! But they really protect them after they are milled. The semi stopped at the last part of the driveway where he could still turn around, so Tim had to unload there and use his equipment to move the logs the rest of the way to the work site.












The driver and Tim are removing all of the straps before they start unloading the pallets.






Unloading the logs.








Devon climbed onto the stack to make sure Tim didn't jab the forklift blades into the main header beam.




Remember all of that mud from last weekend?

Well a week didn't do much to dry things out. Every time Tim brought another load back to the site, he would make a bigger and bigger mess!

Cannon really liked wading in the mud! What a mess!!She liked the mud, but didn't like getting hosed down before we would let her in the trailer.






The most important part about putting up the walls of a log cabin is making sure the first course is square and level, so Tim and Devon spent a long time dry fitting the first layer of logs.


But it was finally time for the first screw:







You might wonder how all those piles of logs end up as walls, well, each log has a tag on it that tells what kind of log it is and how long it is.
They say things like HH-12'-0" or HH-MO-2'-3" or HH-FO-4'-9". There is also a map of each wall telling what log goes on each course. So, Rick and I sorted the logs so Tim and Devon could
install them. You might think that sounds easy and it was pretty easy finding the logs. But, it never failed, the log we needed was always (ALWAYS) on the bottom of a stack!

After the first course, everything went pretty fast. By the end of the second day (Friday 4-18), Tim and Devon had finished 4 levels.

Rick and I helped any way we could, picking up trash, sorting logs and keeping the work site clean.

Lots of work

The first thing we had to do was clear the snow off the foundation. So while I finished opening up camp, Rick started shoveling.



Before I got out there to help, the sun came out and it was in the low 60's. It was kind of fun, as it got warmer, the tarp got slicker, so all we had to do is give the shovel of snow a push towards the edge and it would slide off. But the snow was heavy and we got hot enough for me to work in a T-shirt and Rick to take off his shirt. It took 3 hours to clear all the snow off. And afterwards, we got out the lounge chairs and took a nice rest. Just sitting there is was too hot, so we moved the chairs "into" the sun room were there was a layer of ice. Even that was hot.



Oh, by the way, when shoveling snow in your shirt sleeves or with out a shirt...
PUT ON SUNSCREEN!
Rick got a bad sunburn and is as red as a lobster!

Lots of snow

As I mentioned, Maine had a lot of snow over the winter, so we were a little worried about the foundation, but as you can see everything was fine:


Well, maybe not everything!


This is the quonset hut that we use as a shed. Now what could have cause this??

Maybe it was all this snow!!!

To be honest, I'm not going to miss it. I think it was ugly and if we replace it, I'm going to insist it is moved to the other side of the driveway so it is out of the way.

Mud Season

Yesterday we went up to Maine for the first time this year. Our contractor, Tim Wood, was up there on Friday to clear some of the snow.

For those of you who don't know, Maine had a record snowfall this year, our neighbors said there was over 150 inches of snow (that's 12 1/2 feet) and 21 storms over the winter.

Here is our first view, the driveway:


This is looking down the driveway from the very edge of our property (those are the solar panels in the distance). This time of year is called "Mud Season, and as you can tell it is well named! All the work Jack did last fall to smooth out the driveway is all undone! But I guess it is to be expected and will probably get worse before all of the construction is done!

Here are some more pictures of the driveway:


These are at the bottom of the driveway looking up towards the field.