Saturday, January 3, 2009

July 31, 2008


July 31, 2008 - Thursday
Now THIS is progress!
Today got off to kind of a bad start. Both of us were really tired & sore from working the past couple of days... and Jerry made a comment to someone in the coffee house this morning that he could see building the cabin taking a couple years. How depressing! This was the first time I have even considered packing up & going back to Nebraska.
We headed out to the lot & there was this pile of 2x12x16 boards staring at us. We wasted no time digging in - getting ready to start attaching the boards to the posts we already had in place. We worked 6 hours... and got 7 boards screwed to the posts. I know this doesn't sound like much (we skipped lunch, by the way)... but when you measure & remeasure and check for plumb & level two or three times, and have to use 2 different bits to accomplish one task it does take some time.
We bought a used Coleman generator from a guy in Pueblo a couple weeks ago and it works like a dream... and it's not real noisy which is a huge plus! We had the drill running off the generator... as well as the circular saw (had to adjust the length on a couple boards). The land is very uneven and rocky / sandy so walking with heavy boards is a challenge. I'm not sure either of us could carry one of these boards alone. The slope also makes us question our ability to find plumb & level. The posts were measured & leveled several times before the holes were filled...then we ran string around & across them in a grid & measured again... but I'm tellin' ya... when we put these 2x12's on... we really started to question what "level" really is! It was as if overnight what had been level was no longer!
Honestly... even though it doesn't sound like we got a lot done today I am very impressed at what we accomplished.
Jerry & I are really discovering how to work as a team! I think that is a huge step for us. Even tho we've been married for quite some time we've never undertaken a project like this. I am also VERY thankful that we are able to use electric tools instead of hand tools that would take much more time & physical energy to use.
Tomorrow we'll add the joist hangers & add floor joists (with the wood we have - have to order more!). Our work week will be be complete... and on Monday we'll most likely start the floor. Makes me tired to think about it!
With today's progress I can finally "see" that what we're doing is going to have a great outcome.

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