Lookin' like a cabin!

July 16-18, 2010

There's so much to tell about this last weekend! The progress was most encouraging and included Sandy's favorite part, installing windows! Like Jed Clampett, our trailer was loaded down and stacked high! We brought ten windows from our porch and dining room storage facility at home (man, will it be nice to get our house back!). But even more exciting than emptying out at home was putting them in at the cabin and seeing and feeling the transformation at the cabin! So much light and air poured into the rooms, they actually began to reveal their true character of  being a bedroom or living room. You could just imagine life and activity taking place!

One of our craigslist finds needed to be cleaned up a little.

One of the window installers was a little creepy though!

Kelly is getting the rough opening ready for installation, cutting and stapling back the Tyvek. This is the window over the kitchen sink.

Oh, oh, Chris and Kelly must be IN the kitchen sink!

Sandy, gleefully peering out an upstairs bedroom window.

By Sunday evening, we had installed nine of the ten windows! Absolutely awesome! The next time we have the strong assistants with us, we will put in the two big lake-side windows and french door and the front door! Can't wait for that! And for now, we still need the little gable opening to climb in and out onto the roof. So, that window will come later.

In addition to that big change, the front porch that extends the full length of the cabin and will certainly be one of our favorite spots, has its beam and roof trusses. This was no little undertaking! In fact, it took many hours by many brilliant minds to come with a way. The goal was to get three 32' x 18" x 2" 300 pound beams hoisted to the top of the deck posts.Once in place, they would be joined together to form one 32 foot, 900 pound beam that would span the length of the porch and support the roof. All of this with just four lay men, Doug and Sandy and Chris and Kelly.

How, you say, could this even be possible?

Well, you begin with a very complex whatchamacallit rigged up inside the cabin, with a very long multi-plank arm extending out the big gable window...we liked to call it our trebuchet of sorts...

on it you would attach a pulley with a rope, being certain to test the rope. The joke was, if it could hold Kelly, it could hold 900 pounds! You would then build a ten-foot-wide ladderish thingy with rungs on which the beam could pause during the lifting process. Each of the 300-pound beams would be picked up and hauled from their delivery location across the yard by the four-man construction crew and placed on the porch right in front of the cabin. The rope would be tied securely around the center of the beam.

At the other end of the rope would be two able-bodied, brilliant women pulling with all their might and great volume. So, in theory, on the count of three, the two-man Brut Squad would lift with all of their might and with even greater volume as the two brilliant women pulled on the rope. All of this, just to get the beam to rest on the bottom rung. The process would then be repeated for each rung. Until at last, again in theory, the beam would climb up the ladder and land on the top of the two corner posts of the porch. At this point all would sound their barbaric yawp and pound one another firmly on the back with great pride. The beams would be attached to the end posts. The team would begin again until all three beams have been lifted and secured to one another, forming a MEGA BEAM of 900 pounds spanning 32 feet!

Chris, one half of the Brut Squad

Doug, the other half of the Brut Squad

Kelly and Sandy and Maddie, the brilliant and able-bodied women

After a good night's rest a lots of Advil for all, the17 roof trusses were installed, one end sitting on the beam and the other in hangers attached to the front of the cabin.

What a team! These guys are awesome!

The front view with the beam and all of the roof trusses. There's our beautiful bedroom window in the big gable too!

Every time we're at the cabin we get to enjoy some new surprise from nature. This week God showed us this weird thing. We think it is a mushroom, but it was about the size of a large dinner plate and was a strange and lovely orange push pop color. We're waiting for Doug to "research that" for us!

BIG THANKS to Chris and Kelly for their part in this hugely-successful weekend! Kelly and Sandy could not have installed the porch beams without the guys' help!  ha ha!