Wheee! I started digging holes today. The lumber truck guy came by and unloaded some house materials. He expected cash on delivery - oops! Called up Tangible Assets to get assurance that the money was on the way for the lumber company. I put it on Peter's tab instead. The check better come before the next billing period! Dug 2 1/2 holes.
June 11th
Came back to digging holes after a nice Adirondack camping trip with mom and Steve. It poured all day, which made it great for working - cool, no bugs! Dug 2 1/2 more holes.
June 12th
I've taken to working with few clothes. So much cooler in this oppresively hot weather (100's!!!) I get a lot dirtier this way. When I go to swat and smear bugs, I leave a lot of dirt on me from my gloves.
June 13th
Got up at 5:30 so I could beat the heat. One of my holes is 6 1/2 to 8 inches full of water. Blah! The other 4 holes that need to be dug are very difficult. A honking boulder is over two and the other two have tree stumps where the holes need to go. Mom decided I could dig one hole in between the stumps and not bother with the boulder holes. We'll rest the post on it.
Intermission -
Peter and Caleb moved my rock (Look at the pictures section! Doesn't Caleb have a nice chest?)
Mom and I drove to Montana. I worked as a Student Conservation Association Volunteer in Glacier National Park. Check out my Montana Pictures from it. We came home on September 8th. The next day I went on a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps crew.
June 19th
I haven't been working the past few days because temps have been in the hundreds! Too darn hot to work. Bailed out all water and leveled two holes today.
June 20th
Leveled the rest of the holes. I had to crumple myself into a little ball and stuff myself into the holes to level 'em out.
September 30th
Got back from crew yesterday! Put up 12 posts I handsawed. I don't like the circular saw. Peter came along and helped me place the beams on top. He accidentally dropped one on me. Oops! Nailed them on, then realized I didn't have the joists to continue. Mom kidnapped me to New Hampshire and forced me to go camping for 3 days. She forced me to eat the lobster in Maine and forced me into buying armloads of books at the bookstore. It was horrible! Got back and nailed on all my floor joists.
October 10th
Ripped up all my floor joists for fun and excitement. My house was 13 1/2 inches off square! Peter helped me figure it out. It was nice, 70 degrees today. Managed to accidentally punch myself in the nose while pulling out nails ... twice!
October 11th
Nailed down all the joists, again. Did most of the plywood subfloor, too! Used a ladder to hold up one end of the rim joist while I nailed the other end. Worked great till I realized had nailed the ladder into the structure. I pounded out all the ladder rungs and slid the thing out. Started using nails to tack one end while I nailed the other - and kept getting attacked by falling rim joists. Worked from 8:30 to 6:30
October 12th
Worked from 9 till 6:20 - short day! :) Took almost 2 hours for lunch and mope time. I couldn't figure out how to frame. I finished the floor! Peter explained how to do studs. I've got one wall section almost completed! Got surrounded by turkeys when I was almost ready to quit. Wish I had a gun!
October 13th
Ripped all the plywood off my wall section - it wasn't square. I really must remember to check for squareness before nailing anything down. Geeze! Got it square and put the plywood on the right way this time. Peter helped me raise and brace it into place. Framed the 24 foot long wall entirely except for a big gap in the middle where a window needs to go. I need the windows so I can rough fit them into the openings and figure out the framing. The turkeys went by again this evening to roost in the trees. I kept hearing them accidentally fall out of the trees. Stupid turkeys.
October 14th
Worked for Cornelia to earn money to buy windows. Called some people in the paper last night about windows. Went and looked at them, bought 6. Five combination storm windows, and one big old wooden frame one for 30 bucks! I got paid $36, and had breakfast of yummy berry pancakes and juice over at Cornelia's with Paul and friends. I met the kid next door. Cornelia was trying to figure out a way to get him to help me build my house, so I could work for her more. :-) Good day! I'm taking off from work to write this and develop the other house web pages.
October 15th
Took half the day off. Went to town with mom, borrowed some books at the library and bought some nails at the local hardware store. Framed up the rest of the 24 foot long wall, agonizing 3 hours over the single window opening. I still managed to nail the studs in the wrong places!
October 16th
Put up 7 braces underneath to keep the floor from wiggling. Finished framing and raised the second wall. Woohoooooo! Got to use the come-a-long to make it level.
October 17th
Schlepped wood, then it started raining and being yucky. Went to town to do laundry instead.
October 18th
I totally redesigned my second 24 foot long wall. There are now three windows instead of two, and the door and the windows are in totally different places. Managed to figure it out and not make too many mistakes! Framed up about 3 quarters of it.
October 19th - who knows?
Went to New York to pick up our new handy dandy search and rescue dog
October 24th
Got back from a wine country tour in NY with mom and
Steve yesterday. Framed up the rest of my wall, but got frustrated about its non-squareness. Quit and read inside instead of moping about it.
October 25th
Squared up my wall and put the first course of plywood on. I came in for lunch when it started to rain cats and dogs. Mmmmmmm ...made squiggy noodles with 3 kinds of cheese, garlic, onions, herbs and spices. Went back after a couple hours and finished sheathing.
October 26th
Hammered my shin, almost clocked myself in the eye with the claw, dropped my framed up wall, accidentally sawed the wall 1 and a half inches too short in the first place, had to redo it, gave myself a bloodblister with the carpenter square, and managed to nail ONE board incorrectly into place THREE TIMES. Was not a thinking sort of day ;-) In spite of it all, I managed to raise my 24 foot wall, frame the 14 footer, and shimmy it into place myself.
October 27th
Woke up to rain. Then it snowed, then it sleeted. I tried to work in between breaks of weather by building stairs. I had no plans, experience, or patience. They ended up a mess. I almost hurled the circular saw and went at them with the claw of my hammer. Went inside and stewed instead.
October 28th
Put on the first layer of plywood on my fourth wall! Then almost killed myself trying to raise the second layer up into place by standing on the ladder and in the window opening...felt in a sour mood at not being able to go further, went inside and read for the rest of the day
October 29th
Had Peter hold my first piece of plywood into place while I tacked it. Worked like a charm! Finished the wall, woohoo! It was 33 degrees out while I was working. BRRRRRRRR.
Oct 30th
I'm drawing a blank on this day. Must've been abducted by aliens.
Nov. 1st
Scooped out about 30 gallons of snow, slush and rain from my tarp. The supports fell during the night. Went grocery shopping with mom and didn't get back till dark. I need floodlights....
Oct. 31st
Put some top plates on but had to tarp it and call it a day in the afternoon - big wet flakes started besieging me from the skies.
Nov. 2nd.
Who needs a real roof? I'll just mount some canvas up there instead. It'll be like a big sunroof. I'll just roll it all back when it's nice out. I planted 300 flower bulbs and some garlic with mom today, since we've been putting it off since September. Gazed at my house for a while.
Nov 3rd
Worked at Cornelia's with Paul today, helping them get ready to rebuild their barn. Made enough money to buy my driver's learner permit test!
Nov. 4th
Peter helped all day with straightening the remaining two walls, putting on the top plates, and nailing loft joists. It feels so nice to have that out of the way!
Nov. 5th
It's snowing out - yuck! Sat inside and read all day by the fire. tried to excape to a corner of the house where I couldn't hear the rude visitors we had snorting their snot all day. Nobody liked them. Impolite as they come.
Nov. 6th
Hehe, I had fun today! Went out at 9, because the visitors still weren't up. Blasted my radio at top sound on the most annoying stations I could find <Heavy metal, whiny country, and a preacher preaching gospel on rejection> not 15 feet from the camper they were staying in. (My house is right next to it) When they finally got up 45 minutes later, I politely told them we had nothing for them to do, we couldn't entertain them, and they had to leave. They left skid marks. Got some wall sheathing done, and borrowed at least 30 pounds of books from the library.
Nov. 7th
Typared 3 quarters of the house before I ran out. Accidentally broke the stapeler and wasn't able to finish even if I did have more typar!
Nov. 8th
Yucky out. Borrowed another 30 pounds of books from the library.
Nov. 9th
Hmmm, it snowed again. Read some of those 60 pounds of books.
Nov. 10th
I'll give you three guesses as to what it did today - that's right, it snowed! Only part of the time, though. The other parts Peter and I made a rafter pattern after many mistakes. I traced about half the rafters and nailed part of the floor.
Nov. 11th
Yippie, I got to work again today! Cut a whole mess of rafters and put up about 12 feet worth of them. They started to get shorter and shorter for some reason...hmmmmmmmmmmm.....
Nov. 12th
It snowed all day and left about 2 inches. I didn't tarp it last night, silly me, now my house is FULL of snow! It looks kinda nice, actually.
Nov. 13th
Snow snow snow
Nov. 14th
Rain rain rain
Nov. 15th
Sun Sun Sun!
It was nice for a change, even got to 57! My walls get narrower and have started to mess up my rafters. Managed to make and put up one rafter set!I think I may have set a speed record.
Nov 16th - Nov 20th
Yucky weather. Nice Weather. Yucky weather. Tried working on my rafters, but needed a steplader. Washed a neighbors windows instead. Went hiking, too!
Peter made me some inside scafolding! I managed to put up 5 rafter sets all by myself. Almost broke my leg falling off the ladder and getting my leg stuck in the rungs. Kept accidentally dropping the rafter sets while trying to get them into position. It's a miracle I haven't offed myself or at least broken something!
Nov 21st - Nov 25th
Didn't work on my house. Instead, I managed to make it to 4 thanksgiving dinners in as many days. Mmmmmmmmm. Got my permit on the 19th, and put in my first experience driving ever this weekend. Took Steve on all the scary dirt roads I could. Heh heh. :)
Nov 26th
Scraped up all the sawdust off my floor. I couldn't before, as it was frozen to the plywood. Tried to put up another rafter set in the rain, but managed to almost kill myself slipping on wet ladders. I found a skylight! It had been sitting around on the ground for a few years. It'll shape up nicely. It's going to be an impressive cathedral ceiling when I get it finished. I want a chandelier. And a hammock. And a trampoline to bounce up into the loft instead of taking the stairs.
December 5th
Cut about 5 of my rafter tails in between doing town things. The lumber guy came at 5, just as we pulled in the driveway. He dropped off my roofing materials and yacked. Nice guy. :)
December 6th
Had Peter hold up one end of a board while I nailed it into place on the outside of my house for the scafolding. Finished cutting all of the remaining rafter tails! My chalk line stopped working on the other side of the roof. I had to wedge myself between the rafters while kneeling on the top of the wall and leaning over the edge, to draw the cut marks manually.
